An occasional reader sent me an email with these photographs from American cemeteries in Europe, wonderfully evocative of the sacrifices our fathers were called upon to make.
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- St. Mihiel, France – 4153 souls
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- Somme, France – 1844 souls
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- Sicily, Italy – 7861 souls
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- Oise-Aisne, France – 6012 souls
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- Rhone, France – 861 souls
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- Netherlands – 8301 souls
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- Meuse-Argonne – 14246 souls
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- Luxembourg – 5076 souls
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- Lorraine, France – 10,489 souls
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- Henri-Chapelle, Belgium – 7992 souls
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- Florence, Italy – 4402 souls
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- Flanders Field, Belgium – 368 souls
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- Epinal, France – 5525 souls
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- Cambridge, England – 3812 souls
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- Brookwood, England – 468 souls
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- Brittany, France – 4410 souls
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- Ardennes , Belgium – 5329 souls
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- Aisne-Marne, France – 2289 souls
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- Suresnes , France – 1541 souls
The American Battle Monuments Commission maintains the final resting places of nearly 125,000 American soldiers overseas. The cemeteries are all marked with American flags and the vast majority of the grave sites are marked with crosses, row upon row, as far as they eye can stand to see. This was as perfectly unremarkable a practice at the time as abortion, say, was unimaginable.
The cross has become somewhat more controversial back at home, however: On most weekends I fly over the cross at Mount Soledad in La Jolla, first installed in 1913, and incorporated into a memorial for Korean War dead in 1954. The ACLU continues to object to the presence of the cross on public land, and the subject has been in continuous litigation since 2000.
That same year, around 1.3 million surgical abortions were performed in the US. The products of those procedures, one suspects, are neither marked by flags nor crosses.
Today we learn that – for the first time ever – more Americans define themselves as “pro-choice” than “pro-life.” “pro-life” than “pro-choice.”
Thus, progress.
Update: Oops. Read it wrong.
Still. Lovely photos, yah?
The lead says, “A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves “pro-life” on the issue of abortion and 42% “pro-choice.”
Want to reduce the number of abortions? Reduce the number of unintended pregnancies by offering more options than just abstinence. Like it or not, kids are going to have sex. Make condoms available to them. Plus that’ll help reduce the spread of STDs and HIV. Sounds reasonable to me.
Condoms and virtually every other form of birth control ARE available to them. And still there are tons of unwanted pregnancies.
What else ya got?
I have been to several cemeteries in Europe but the one in Luxembourg has the resting place of General George Patton. The head stone is the same as all the rest. The only thing that’s different is he is placed at the head of the cemetery vs. in the main body with the rest of the troops.
There were so many that went to Hmm to visit Patton’s grave , they moved it for the convenience of visitors, and to keep the traffic down through the cemetery.
He wanted a grave like all the other troops. He had an ego half the size of the galaxy, but a heart for his troops.
How could the ACLU have standing to ask that the crossed be removed? I contend it is not public ground they’re on. It is, in fact, private ground, bought and paid for by those who lie there.
That public money may have been spent to purchase it is irrelevant — those were the terms of the contract, no different from their monthly pay.
– Max
I seem to recall that an atheist objected to the cross on public grounds (“separation of church and state”). Did the ACLU pick this up on his behalf or am I confusing two separate cases?
Good question, Bruce, but the way I see it the honored dead own that ground, not the living atheist or anybody else. It was part of their service contract that they would have a military burial, and that includes headstones.
If a relative wants to have Uncle Joe’s cross replaced with a Star of David, or grandpa’s Star of David replaced with a cross, I really have no objection.
Heck, if one of them wanted a headstone depicting Cthulu I wouldn’t care a whit.
When some non-related fellow or group of lawyers wants to impose their view upon all our hallowed dead, I object.
– Max
Oddly enough, the ACLU agrees with you. While the ACLU has pushed for the removal of the Soledad cross, they have not pushed for removal of crosses from military cemeteries. They have very actively pushed to expand the religious symbology available on gravestones.
Max — how about a Wiccan symbol?
I have to tell you that Wicca usurping the Pentacle for it’s symbol just angers me to no end. That symbol was purloined by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant when he invented his “Mystery Cult” back in the 1950′s.
Wicca, to me, is a great scam, no more relevant to religion than “Dungeons & Dragons” is to the Middle Ages. In fact, it has all the trappings of adolescent LARP’ game.
As a Pagan, I find Wicca almost a mocking parody of actual religion, especially the ancient rites and philosophies to which I and many others subscribe and preserve.
The pentacle became associated with the Goddess Ishtar, (later known as Venus, and from whence our modern word ‘star’ descends) because it was observed that the planet Venus (with which Ishtar is associated) transcribes a pentacle, or 5-pointed star, during an 8-year cycle in the sky. The pentacle became her symbol.
Other’s mileage may, of course, vary, but that’s how I see things.
respects,
Sorry, but the “Wiccan Symbol” is in fact a “church symbol”, this is in accordance with the Infernal Revenue Code, even humanism
meets the standards. This final resting place is their home and we should show it due respect to the residents.
They could put a flippin’ Thor’s Hammer on there, or even a statue of Zeus for all I care. I’m not about the beliefs. I’m all about a man’s grave being his personal property and he or his next of kin get to decide what symbol identifies him to his maker.
But, these being military dead and the military being a team effort, I do accept the fact that the markers will be uniform with only a small personal touch. That was in the contract as well.
– Max
jpr,
How about having the little tramps keep their legs closed and wait till they are married to get knocked up.
The main problem is that it is no longer shameful to be a bastard in America.
Nothing shameful about being a bastard. Not like the kid had a choice in the matter.
Unkawill,
That cuts both ways – how about men (esp. those who are determined to have sex and then abandon the women whom they’ve used) also learn not to fornicate? Pleased as punch will I be if every young man who eventually seeks to court my daughters has enough honor not to be overly pushy (until then will work on acquiring a shooting license and persuading said daughters to consider the joys of karate and firearms).
Here. Here…
Taking responsibility for one’s deeds is at the heart of the issue.
Unless they changed biology in the last 55 years, it takes one of each sex. *Both individuals are responsible for the making of that child!*
Of course, we could always have the other half of the little tramps keep their zippers up and their legs closed too so they could wait til they get married to knock anyone else up. That might work too, right, unka?
Grumpy knows.
Michelle, she’s not even 2 years old and I’m preparing my speech for prom night.
“Sex without a barrier method of contreception can lead to health problems and diseases that can kill you.
I am that barrier, because I will cause you health problems and can kill you.
You’ll have her home by 10, right?”
Yeah, needs a little work but I think I have the message down.
– Max
Heh. When my niece was born I offered Bill Engvall’s advice to my BIL: “Son, I’ve got no problem with going back to prison.” He was already prepared: “Go out and have a good time. Just remember, when you bring her back, whatever you’ve done to her, I’m doing to you.”
Max, sounds about right. The problem is preparing both of them for hearing it and compliance. “If it looks too good to be true, it is a good *probability*, it is, somebody is pushing on the wrong “barrier”, you.” Of course, this is not a threat, it *is* an honor bound promise. V/R Grumpy
MAX/
You know the old saying about having girls vs boys, don’t you? When you have a boy you only have to worry about one dick–when you have a girl, you have to worry about every dick in town.
Cheers.
VX,
When my daughter (the older one) started dating, I took the opportunity ti wait for her gentleman caller on the front steps. I also used the time while waiting to disassemble and begin cleaning my Mossberg 12 gauge.
You’d be surprised how polite these young men are today when they realize daddy has a shotgun…
Good luck with that, Max. As the father of three young women, you’ll need it! 10? You gotta’ be smoking something…
I think cleaning the shotgun at the kitchen table or on the front steps might seem a bit, I dunno, cliche. The kids these days, they are smart and can recognize such things.
I’m thinking I’ll dig a nice large pit with the back-hoe and invite all my biker buddies on over. We’ll tap a keg, sit around, and Mister Right can roll up and see the grave he won’t be missed in and all the friends of Dad he’ll have to answer to.
That’s the trouble with raising daughters — as a guy I *know* what the SOB she’s going to prom with is thinking.
God help me, for I have seen the enemy and it was me.
– Max
…more Americans define themselves as “pro-choice” than “pro-life.”
Lex, I think you have that backwards. The articles says it’s more pro-life for the first time since Gallup started keeping a poll on this.
Skipper, I think that your tagline in your blog entry has it backwards – the article states that for the first time ever, more Americans are Pro-Life than Pro-Choice. Sorry to be pedantic!
I will be going up to the cemetary by Monte Cassino this Memorial Day. If any of you have any special requests regarding that cemetary and ancestors who may rest there, please ask.
Zane, it sounds so trivial, but give all of them a “Thank you”, from all of us. *Thank you,* Grumpy
Grumpy,
Mission Accomplished.
Zane
Thanks, Zane.
Lex … Thanks for showing those photos of American cemeteries abroad, especially of the American cemetery outside of Florence Italy. That’s where my nineteen-year-old ski-trooper fiance is buried. He was killed on Mt. Belvedere, and awarded the Silver Star. I wanted to travel to Italy to see his grave, but life and financial constraints intervened.
I’m glad to see how beautiful the cemetery is. His last two letters described how beautiful a city Florence was and how much he enjoyed it.
Brave men, all of you. I’ll never forget.
Marianne
Marianne, I am going to Nettuno this Memorial Day, but later this summer I will be in Florence again (well, Pisa, but there is still much to see in Florence). Please pass me via Lex the name of that fine young man, and I would be honored to pay respect to his final resting place.
Lex, the photo labelled Sicily is in fact the Sicily-Rome Cemetery, in Nettuno, Italy, south of Rome. More information here: http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/sr.php
I have not studied the Italian campaign, but the article cited the landings at Salerno. While Salerno is easily accessable from the sea, it is entirely surrounded by mountains and cliffs, and even the short distance from there to the coastal plains of Campania is through the mountains. The 101st came through the town I currently lived in crossing Campania, and a short distance from me is an old Bourbon summer house (that is, huge palace) called Carditello, which became a major radio center for the duration of the war.
The Italian campaign reminds me of the hard, hard truths of war. There was no way we could have mounted an invasion of Germany or France from Italy. The Germans could have choked off those passes for years, and the costs were incredible for the ground we gained. We fought this campaign to tie down Germany’s forces, to force them to remain committed to a front far away from France. We also gained airfields within striking distance of much of Eastern Europe, which we couldn’t reach from the UK. Not much talked about, these same air forces were later committed against Soviet forces reaching into Austria and Czechoslovokia.
No one following the “Powell Doctrine” or modern notions of applying just sufficient force against key nodes would have considered taking Italy. In considering who may be wrong, the planners of the Italian campaign or the planners of our current wars, I fear it is us, not them, who better understand the application of force, and the tremendous sacrifices it entails.
Reputation to the contrary notwithstanding you are really one fine Pecker-Wood…doing Gods work by visiting our honored dead in Bella Italia and hopefully putting a smile on MMs face….bravo… bravo. Best
PS, Just one small quibble…in the third paragraph of your comment you make a reference to the 101st … when in all likelihood it was the 82nd Abn.
Pedantic pecksniff though I am, you are indeed correct. It was the 82nd Abn. If you look at this link here: http://www.allamerican82nd.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=68&osCsid=6b58bfaba191e67751879e61832fd440
the obvious city below the 1:50,000 marking is Casal di Principe, where I live. The road running NNW from it eventually veers east and heads to a ring, but which has no city inside it, about 1/3 of the way up on the right margin. That is Carditello.
An aged soldier who is dear to a dear friend of my wife’s recently visited us, and came right up this way as an 18 year old soldier. 60 years later, it is amazing he remembers where everything is just driving through, and could have taken us straight to Carditello without help from us.
And I got my conclusion backwards too–I fear it is they, not us, who better understood the application of force. Thank you for allowing me to correct that.
At the risk of being more pedantic…Throughout is spelled wrong in the title.
It’s been a long, boring day at work for me, can you tell.
Which is not to disrespect this post at all. I am humbled by those pictures…all those men & women who gave their lives – willingly with the thoughts of others rather than of themselves.
There is a powerful lesson in those images.
I go with Comments 5 & 6—the trend is towards not favoring abortions. The “pro choicers” have been on a downward trend for several years.
But okay–you misread the poll–but you sent some beautiful pictures of cemeteries. What I’m worried about is whether the devout secularists among the progressive crowd will ultimately forbid putting a cross up on the little 6 foot by 4 foot space of “federal property” occupied by someone who gave it his or her all in Iraq or Afghanistan.
One of the most moving experiences in my life was to visit Omaha Beach and the cemetery that overlooks it. It is, due to its prominence in the opening and closing scenes of “Saving Private Ryan”, perhaps one of the best known of such resting places. Its beauty betrays the haunting nature of the place as I left feeling I had done so little to honor the sacrifice of those interred there along with all the others in all the other places from all the other wars.
When one walks the road that separates the Cemetery from the head of the bluffs overlooking the beach you are able to answer your own question; “How did they ever take that beach so perfectly defended by such advantageous firing positions?”; by a furtive glance over one’s shoulder, seeing the perfectly aligned Crosses with the occasional Star of David, extending in rows that seem to go on forever.
My Uncle landed on that beach and survived until old age. He, however, never saw it again after his brief visit that fateful day.
May they all rest in eternal peace.
One of the joys of my extended European vacation was the opportunity to visit most of these cemeteries, at least the ones in France and the Benelux. They are uniformly beautiful, stirring and at the same time, peaceful. The sacrifices — the last full measure of devotion — represented under each of those gravestones is, to use an over used phrase, awe inspiring.
Interesting that you weren’t sent a picture of Colleville-sur-Mer, the cemetery OldT6flyer references. If you want some, I’ll be happy to supply. But I think my favorite is the one in Brittany. It is one of the smaller WWII sites in France, and a short trip to the famous landmark of Mont St Michel,
The ABMC does a wonderful job, not only with the cemeteries, but also with the historic sites such as Pointe du Hoc and Utah Beach.
Once again proving that blogs beat the dead tree media – corrections delivered on the fly!
Been to the Allied cemeteries along the Market-Garden trail with my grandfather (a former PT boat commander in the South Pacific) who wanted to see the resting place of an Aggie classmate.
unkawill, that’s a pretty tall order. How you plan on teaching them all? What about the men? As mentioned, it takes two (usually!) to make a child. Too, what about those who become pregnant because of rape or incest?
a child has no saying in who and why conceives him/her but this child is a living breathing being. If a mother does not want to have a reminder of what happened, she can give up this child for an adoption. There are so many couples waiting to adopt a baby…
As to how to teach them all, this is the parents responsibility. Ultimately, it all comes to the issue of taking responsibility for your actions, whether you like the consequences or not. Something that this nation is missing big time on a much larger scale than whether or not to use a condom if you decided to have sex before you have a family and before you are capable of supporting a family. To make a parallel to the Guiliani’s ‘broken window’ doctrine, taking the responsibility either by abstaining or using a condom or facing the consequences is like those ‘broken windows’ that ultimately lead to the greater problems
jpr, First of all, I tend to agree with “Olga”, with one exception. Condoms do have a failure rate of about 10%, therefore are not “idiot-proof”.
You raise the question of abortions as the result of rape or incest. Of all abortions, what is the percentage caused by rape or incest? The last I heard, it was a small portion of one percent. Adoption is one strategy or solution. But what if the father will not agree?
Now, we get down to the education of “males”. I knew an old father, who had a rather extensive arsenal and collection of knives. He would take the young male into his arsenal to have the “Prom Night Chat”. They would look at the guns and knives, he would say, “Don’t worry about that stuff!” He would have a 22 ounce checker faced framing hammer laying on the table, totally out of place. The old man would then explain. It was his responsibility to protect her and have her home on time. Failure meant a “liberal sex education”. This is where the hammer comes in, it becomes a teaching aid, it will be applied liberally and you will *not* have sex drive issues again. No, you will not die, but you’ll surely hope for it, but we don’t always get what we want.
I did not want to get too graphic, but I think all of you got the drift of the discussion.
First encouraging cultural poll I’ve seen in several years. Thanks for posting it.
Good linkage. Sacrifice-local interest-impact story. You’ve a keen mind.
b2
I’m just sitting here more melancholic than usual when I view such sights/sites thinking of the prospects of what will happen to those sacred places once the Talibanic Muslims gain control of Europe in about a century or so……..demographics unfortunately suggesting the overwhelmingly tragic inevitability of it all……..that they will have perhaps died in vain after all…..and that the descendants of the people they died to save will have been in large measure responsible for it…..
Virgil, all we have ever asked for liberating other countries is enough room to bury our dead.
Should we, and our dead, no longer be welcome there we can remove their mortal remains to our own soil. We have plenty of room here, and their final resting places can be properly cared for and guarded.
And for those places they gave their lives for? If they wish our dead out, they deserve no favors from us thereafter.
I share your despondancy, but history is full of stories about the 300 Spartans who’s efforts didn’t stop the fall of Greece, but delayed it for a while. Eventually Rome fell, Byzantium also fell, so did the Greeks and the Turks and the Brits and on and on and on.
Nations rise, decay and fall. I’ve no delusions that the USA will not also fall someday.
All I think is that her war dead should lie where they are revered. If that means moving them from Trashcanistan to Texas, I say let’s do it.
– Max
MD, while I commiserate with you that all things must pass, I am compelled to point out that the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae did not delay the fall of Greece, but rather enabled the rise of Greece. What we know as the “Classical” period, the 5th and 6th centuries before Greece devoured itself (it wasn’t an outsider that ruined the Greek cities, a perilous lesson regarding the demos that our Founding Fathers knew well), came as a consequence of the Persian invasion, in much the same way that the Napoleonic wars resulted in German, Czech and other “nationalisms” in Europe.
Zane, while true, it’s safe to say that in the case of the Spartans they sowed the seeds of their own demise, choosing the path of the warrior rather than having babies. And while it’s also true the 300 saved Greece for a period of time, and allowed her to grow and become the classical Greece we all know and revere, their sacrifice did not prevent the decay and collapse, it merely put it off for a while.
Some day, I fear, America will bring home her war dead because Europe no longer remembers them. South Korea is already looking as if they don’t care,
Nothing lasts forever. A nation, a way of life, a Constitution, even a language must eventually either decay or expand. Entropy, the advancement of chaos, is one of the constants in the universe.
In 300 Million years our sun will be a Red Giant. Earth’s oceans will be scorched into vapor, life will cease to exist here save perhaps in deep underground warrens where we eat yeast and shield ourselves from the heat with layers of mantle.
Eventually, the sacrifices of those who charged the shores on D-Day or fought at Pusan or those who crossed the fence at Gettysburg will be forgotten. Maybe, like the 300, the D-Day invasion will be remembered through our history.
Maybe.
But in a world so different, I doubt there will be many who care.
– Max
I take the liberty of recommending a movie to you all, ‘A Foreign Field’ starring Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Jeanne Moreau and Lauren Bacall.
AW1Tim/
Wasn’t ISHTAR that 1987 $50 million bomb (a record for that time) of a movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty? It was SO BAD that in one of Gary Larson’s “Far Side” comic strips entitled “Hell’s Video Store,” the entire store is stocked with nothing but copies of the movie Ishtar. Wiki quotes it as the prime example of “studio suicide.” MAD Magazine even has a satire of “HBO’s “Entourage” doing a parody of Ishtar according to Wiki. (I’ll have to get that copy!)
SO–don’t know if I would be so eager latch my personal load-star to a Goddess–however alluring–whose name is associated in the modern mind with such a debacle and publicly proclaim my devotion. But then that’s just me….
But then I’ve not exactly heard you say that you sit around pining for approval from the “modern mind,” have I?
PS to AW1Tim/
BTW, did you ever check out that blog I recommended: “The Port Stands at Your Elbow?”
VX,
Yes I did. A wonderfully eclectic mix of articles. I still enjoy Port & a Cigar once in awhile, but not at the “popular” prices.
Call me a peasant, but even the best decoctions all taste the same after the first glass or two. Heck, it’s even in the New Testament from the Wedding at Canaan story.
While researching some other work, I discovered this article:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/05/04/wwi.graves/index.html
The staggering part is towards the end, when it is simply stated that some 165,000 Commonwealth and British soldiers are still missing in action. Can you imagine those numbers? That is a larger number than the US alone has deployed in Iraq.
Dear Lord, it so brings home the breadth of that tragedy.
Something more to ponder this Memorial Day.
My ill worded missives certainly raised some hackles. For that , please accept my apology.
“The main problem is that it is no longer shameful to be a bastard in America.”
I should have said ” shameful to be the Mother of a bastard in America”
What I failed to point out is, that as little as 30 years ago having a child out of wedlock was a MAJOR Scandal and brought SHAME to all parties involved.
I don’t care what any body else thinks, to me this is wrong. Fatherless children are much more likely to be involved in criminal activity. They and their Mothers are much more likely to be a burden on the Taxpayer
.We as a society,have suffered an amazing amount of debasement in my lifetime and I am sick of the hold that the “progressives” have on the media and the learning institutions in this country.
I place the blame squarely on their shoulders.
We don’t need to condone loose and irresponsible behavior that damages the country.
While it was common for an eager young Bride to produce a child in less than the normal nine month gestational period.
The operational word here is “Bride” as “Shotgun” or quickly arranged nuptials were the norm
Lex, Could you please move my last to where it belongs behind Michelle’s
Thanka, Unka
Uncawill, your clarity is well-noted, but I note that societal norms have changed. It was a real eye-opener for my then-fiancee to have invited the ladies of the township over for coffee one afternoon and discover one topic of conversation was the deputy sheriff. Living with a woman. Can you imagine! Why, they’re probably, you know, doing it. And not married!
And here’s my soon-to-be-wife, sitting at the table, not yet married to me and we’re living in the same house. With all that implies.
Another interesting trend that we should pay attention to. 30 years ago a single income could support a family. Today? I’ve no idea why, but it seems two incomes are needed to satisfy the spending. Being a single mother was a difficult path, but today between day care (we used to call it baby-sitting) and welfare and the other social services available it’s perhaps not comfortable, but it is livable.
That wasn’t the case 30 years ago.
It might be that this is progress. If it is, I’d rather have less of it.
Because every dollar that goes to that single mother is money taken away that I could otherwise dote upon my own child.
And that makes me want to find the father and take it out of his wallet. He got the gold mine, I’m getting the shaft.
Shotgun weddings are fine in my book — actions have consequences, and if you think you’re old enough for the actions you’d best be prepared for the consequences.
Which, I might as well admit, through various medical problems and a life that was steady and blissful we put off having kids until we were 40. Because when I was 30 I didn’t think we could afford one. Same when I was 25.
Unlike classical economics would predict, kids do not get cheaper the longer you wait.
I *can* tell you that they will not adapt to your sleep cycles, and if you wait to have money before having kids you’ll gladly spend all that money on another hour of sleep, which when you’re 25 you won’t miss as much as when you’re 45.
So yeah, it’s a convoluted subject. And I’d really love to discuss it. After the kid has her nap and I finish writing that check to pay for somebody else’s kid. Oh, and do my job.
– Max
Over forty years ago this issue was addressed by Senator Moynihan, for which he was vilified by both parties: http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/webid-meynihan.htm.
The Senator also addressed the problem of “secrecy”, including classifying documents, the subject of a recent post on this site. http://www.amazon.com/Secrecy-Honorable-Daniel-Patrick-Moynihan/dp/0300080794.
Society lost powerful tools when shame, shunning and ostracism were taken off the table. Moral relativism I guess. (As with any tool, they could be misused)
Ron, while I’ve no solution for that problem Moynihan noted, I did find something that slapped me across the face and gave me hope.
He used the word Negro.
At one time negroids, as I understand the scientists’ term would be denoting race, were called negros, blacks, then African-Americans and other such popular group labels.
Likewise we’ve Indians, Native Americans, First Citizens and even aboriginals being bandied about when it comes to, well, not sure what to call them these days… The folks on the reservations who own the casino’s?
I find this to be complete and utter codswallop, of course. Labeling me as white, norwegian-american, or a cracker doesn’t change a thing, and indeed is only useful as identifying me as a member of a group I never chose to associate with, a group I was born into by serendipity and happenstance.
I am not a group. I am a man.
Seems we’d do well to remember that the individual is responsible, not the group. We vote as individuals, we commit crimes as individuals, we garner awards and move ourselves up the social and economic ladder as individuals.
So with all that said as a preface, the real question is am I my brother’s keeper? Am I responsible for rectifying these statistical disparities, and as viewpoints change and kids who’ve never seen a record player come to power will they even comprehend the Jim Crow era of our past, let alone feel any shame of it or complicit in allowing it?
I can tell you the future of the gay marriage fight — it’s been lost for those who insist upon a ban. Folks older than me think it should be outlawed, folks younger than I don’t give a darn, and there’s more of the younger than of the older around.
The same was true in the civil rights era, a more numerous youth did not feel obligated to defend tradition and voted for expansion of the social order.
Our society has changed from single bread-winner to dual-income, it has changed from Jim Crow to equality for all, it has changed from shunning and social ostracism for unwed mothers to support for same. It has changed from deadbeat fathers being marched in front of a judge to take responsibility, it has gone from the family unit as the measure to the community (whatever that means) as the measure.
It will change some more, I’m sure. In the mean-time, perhaps the Republic will survive.
– Max
This discussion has covered many different views on this subject. “Max” and “UnkaWill”, it says a great deal about a person who admits an error. The issue is what do you do with the future? To those of us in or have been in The US Military, we have values that have been built into all areas of our lives. This would include our Military, Civilian, Operational, Display, Public, Private and Intimate Lives. We have all failed in some way! The idea is to give it our absolutely best try. This core value is named, “HONOR”.
To be very honest, I do *not* have all of the answers. There is one class, I did not list and yet it is most important, yet it is the most difficult. Be honest with yourself. Well, welcome to the rest of us mere mortals.
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