1/20/2004: A soldier's funeral

[richlevy]

OATH OF ENLISTMENT

"I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I WILL SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC; THAT I WILL BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SAME; AND THAT I WILL OBEY THE ORDERS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE ORDERS OF THE OFFICERS APPOINTED OVER ME, ACCORDING TO REGULATIONS AND THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE."


All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope.
--Sir Winston Churchill

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
--Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political theorist, writer

I like the Churchill quote the best. Of course I believe he oversimplifies the situation a bit. What these words evoke in the people who hear or read them is as unique to each person as a fingerprint. When we see an object like an orange, those of us who are familiar with them bring our experience of what is an orange.

Freedom, honor, justice - are all concepts. They are not tangible, and are sometimes only noticed in their absence. People who have known oppression can better appreciate freedom. Injustice makes more of an impression than justice in the same way that we only notice the air we breathe when it is cut off.

It is an amazing sacrifice to give up one's life for duty. Many of us would fight hard if we could see our house at the edge of the battlefield. Fighting and dying in a war thousands of miles away against an enemy who probably could never have reached our shores demands a great commitment and sense of duty. Each man and woman who risks themselves because of an oath deserves everything we can give. In a nation where many of us live in comfort and safety, the example of what some must endure should be a reminder of what we take for granted each day.

They deserve our respect. Their families deserve everything we can give them.