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bktheirregularIn New York City, in Battery Park on the southwestern tip of Manhattan, there's a memorial to New Yorkers who fell while serving in the military. I'm going there this afternoon, to pay my respects. (If any New Yorkers on the flist want to join me, the company would probably be welcome.)
In the same general neighborhood, you will find a large building, number 100, Centre Street. That building represents, to me, the core of why anyone should be in uniform, why anyone should take up a rifle in the name of the United States of America.
100 Centre Street is a courthouse: the Criminal Courts Building serving the city, county, and state of New York. Recall the Pledge of Allegiance, and how it ends: "with liberty and justice for all." Recall the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." In a sense, it is a statement that the rights that we of the United States are supposed to enjoy as Americans are ours not because we are Americans, but because we are human beings, the rights we hold are common to all people, the only difference being that those who govern us, by our informed consent, are charged with defending those rights above all else. It dovetails with the concept I learned as a child, that anyone can become an American.
In the same general neighborhood, one will find the hole in the ground that used to be One and Two, World Trade Center. A hole in the ground, a tomb for thousands, used as a rallying cry for millions, in one form or another. A flashpoint for a war - several wars - that the men and women holding rifles and wearing the Stars and Stripes wage, whether they believe it to be the right thing, because the military is not the creator or judge of policy, but an instrument of the government, which is charged with wielding their power responsibly.
Whatever one may think of the government that commands the soldiers, one must bear them in mind today. Not just those who have fallen, but those who still stand.
I offer this thought.
To the fallen: so long as your country does not abandon the principles on which it was forged, your sacrifice, whether in a just war or a misbegotten adventure, should never be in vain.
To those who still stand: may the force you represent be used never for vengeance or glory, but always for justice. Liberty and justice.
For all.
(Anyone who reads this: could you let me know, and maybe pass it on?)
In the same general neighborhood, you will find a large building, number 100, Centre Street. That building represents, to me, the core of why anyone should be in uniform, why anyone should take up a rifle in the name of the United States of America.
100 Centre Street is a courthouse: the Criminal Courts Building serving the city, county, and state of New York. Recall the Pledge of Allegiance, and how it ends: "with liberty and justice for all." Recall the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." In a sense, it is a statement that the rights that we of the United States are supposed to enjoy as Americans are ours not because we are Americans, but because we are human beings, the rights we hold are common to all people, the only difference being that those who govern us, by our informed consent, are charged with defending those rights above all else. It dovetails with the concept I learned as a child, that anyone can become an American.
In the same general neighborhood, one will find the hole in the ground that used to be One and Two, World Trade Center. A hole in the ground, a tomb for thousands, used as a rallying cry for millions, in one form or another. A flashpoint for a war - several wars - that the men and women holding rifles and wearing the Stars and Stripes wage, whether they believe it to be the right thing, because the military is not the creator or judge of policy, but an instrument of the government, which is charged with wielding their power responsibly.
Whatever one may think of the government that commands the soldiers, one must bear them in mind today. Not just those who have fallen, but those who still stand.
I offer this thought.
To the fallen: so long as your country does not abandon the principles on which it was forged, your sacrifice, whether in a just war or a misbegotten adventure, should never be in vain.
To those who still stand: may the force you represent be used never for vengeance or glory, but always for justice. Liberty and justice.
For all.
(Anyone who reads this: could you let me know, and maybe pass it on?)
