11-6-17 <\/p>\n
George Santayana famously said that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. A cartoon-meme popping up on the web these days has an old guy reflecting that those who DO know history are doomed to watch other people repeat the mistakes.<\/p>\n
That IS a danger. Rather, it is a reality. We see it around us, every day.<\/p>\n
Without delving into whether this is unprecedented or one of history\u2019s tragic cycles is open to question, but ultimately the question is silly \u2013 in the face of reality. In this world, today, it surely seems that a large portion of humankind has gone mad. We have rejected in many ways the concept of Absolute Truth, the possibility of its existence, and the benefits of seeking to know it. History\u2019s masses, let us say in the West, often suffered as a lot in life. However they usually believed in improvement; in advancement; in better things and better days. They believed in themselves, in leaders they respected\u2026 in God.<\/p>\n
The world, in turning inward instead of outward, living for today without regard to an afterlife, abandoning standards that nurtured their ancestors, of course will reflect disharmony and chaos. Art imitates life, after all (what Plato called \u201cMimesis\u201d). This should worry us very, very much about the state of things \u2018round about us. This world is not one politician or one new fad or one hangover away from righting ourselves. We fool ourselves when we think so. And meanwhile we are diverted by bread-and-circus movies and sports and TV shows and celebrity orgies…<\/p>\n
Never since the Flood has humankind, over the face of the earth and not in isolated pockets, rejected Truth and Purity in such determined ways.<\/p>\n
So, we fight. We fight as individuals, we fight as nations \u2013 or, we give in as individuals and as nations. This<\/em> truth reflects a crisis of the age, and the great challenge of our time. It has always been our portion to fight \u2013 \u201cLife is real; life is earnest,\u201d Longfellow wrote:<\/p>\n Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each tomorrow Find us farther than today.<\/p>\n In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife!<\/p>\n Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.<\/em><\/p>\n About these fights as individuals and as nations, Theodore Roosevelt reminded us that it is beyond our choosing to participate in our fate. Our only choice is whether we play our parts \u201cwell or ill.\u201d<\/p>\n For more than a generation America has had a volunteer military. I cannot imagine American society, our country\u2019s youth, ever returning to a military draft. To have to interrupt (or fulfill) your life\u2019s path by having to serve in one of the military branches? Frankly, I wonder even if America were attacked whether the spirit of service and sacrifice, across the population, would exist again as in the past. I wonder, further, that even if there were universal social-work service for one, two, or four years whether American youth would comply.<\/p>\n We have compartmentalized military service. In an intellectual manner we have come to treat the military as slaves. We \u201cthank them for their service,\u201d yet keep our hands clean of their work; the sacrifices; the threats; the separation, injuries, deaths; the stress and trauma. At the same time, sadly, we also separate ourselves from the glory of service, the thrill of victories and fights well fought, and the pride of wearing those uniforms.<\/p>\n That is a tragedy. Unfair to the servicemen and women; robbing the rest of the population of necessary components of healthy souls.<\/p>\n In these days of \u201cadvanced warfare techniques\u201d (a sanitized term for more efficient means of maiming and killing) it is almost beyond comprehension how men and women enlist \u2013 and often re-enlist, and volunteer for repeated tours \u2013 knowingly assuming the collateral \u201concoming\u201d of separated families, variable support from the System, oftentime insufficient medical and psychological care as veterans. <\/p>\n We cannot admire these servants enough. Even if we dissent from foreign policies, overseas involvements, controversial missions and nation-building… we must stand in awe and gratitude to the people who serve.<\/p>\n And. For those of us \u201cat home,\u201d we cannot forget that we serve too. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines do our bidding in faraway places. Which makes it easier to be seduced by the feeling that all our battles are being waged by others. But we, all of us, have battles too, every day. <\/p>\n We must fight for our souls, against evil. We fight for our families, against all manners of threats. We fight for our culture, against corruption. We fight for our civilization, against enemies seen and unseen. We fight for our God, against the devil and all his ways, and for the Kingdom that is to come.<\/p>\n Or… we should. <\/p>\n If we don\u2019t fight these battles, we surely will be subsumed.<\/p>\n On Veterans\u2019 Day let us honor those who have served… and let us re-enlist, the rest of us, for the battles of life. Sooner or later, we too will be counted as veterans of those good fights.<\/p>\n + + + <\/p>\n