It oftentimes becomes the job of the poet or great writer to encapsulate a feeling or idea in a few words, so that we can all remember and feel not only the emotion of the thought, but the veracity of what follows:
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” — Charles Dickens, TALE OF TWO CITIES
“All Great families are the same…” — Leo Tolstoy, ANN KARENINA
“We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights….” — Thomas Jefferson, DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
“Four score and seven years ago…” — Abraham Lincoln, GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
In a few words, in a single phrase a great reality is transmitted through the ages. Maybe at the time the people reading or listening to those words don’t begin to understand or maybe they are lacking the perspective and context of history themselves to understand what is being transmitted from author to audience.
Sometimes the emotion of a speech or a feeling one has when reading a great work of literature comes back to haunt us days and weeks and sometimes years later. I had such an experience last week when I watched the events at the Christening Ceremony of the USS Idaho on You Tube.
Forty years ago, I served proudly on the USS Virginia that was a nuclear cruiser. I had the opportunity to interact with sailors and officers on the crew and the many shipyard workers who were members of various unions working on the ship. In both instances I was struck by how much each group cared for each other and how much the team of civilians and the team of military active-duty officers and sailors reflected the same values and virtues. Both groups reflected their service to a higher cause. There are often times an “us vs. them” mentality projected by the fake news media, and the ceremony seemed to go to great lengths to put to rest such a false narrative. In a world where false political divisions are used to create leverage in a political campaign, common cause, common purpose and common virtues are stories that are left untold. We share more as a people regarding our faith in God, our belief in Natural Law Principles, and the way we care and respect for each other, than those wishing to destroy our country from within are willing to acknowledge.
Patriotism, militarism and nationalism are often times purposefully used in a derogatory and falsely interchangeable fashion. From the Greek “patriota” — from one’s father, patriotism can have a cultural, linguistic, religious, or even homeland connotation. Be careful when words like “Nationalism” and “patriotism are used interchangeably.
I also think that patriotism and militarism are used improperly — especially in modern times. When I see shipbuilders standing in line overlooking their great accomplishment, or a Navy Seal Team unraveling the American flag at an isolated base ops camp, those two groups I believe share the same sense of purpose.
Militarism does not show certain men to be more virtuous. The evil of militarism is that it shows many men to be weak. “The professional soldier gains more power as the general courage of a community declines. G. K. Chesterton Heretics.
Mr. Chesterton continues that the military man gains the civilian power in proportion to civilians losing their virtues…there never was a time when nations were more militaristic, there never has been a time when people were less brave”.
He was not talking about physical bravery or even intellectual bravery. He was talking about a moral commitment to civic responsibility.
Throughout the ages the fact of the matter is that what attracts so many people to militarism is not the idea of courage, but rather the idea of discipline.
The modern military including the building of a ship or a plane or the deployment of ground troops into dangerous territory properly requires the valor of individuals, but most importantly requires the miracle of organization.
The interdependence and efficiency of our military and all of our society belongs quite as much to engineers, sailors, pipefitters and welders, as it does to teachers, and pasters, and those who drive trucks. All labor is virtuous. Labor for the greater good is to be highly esteemed. The real romance that the great authors write about — from the Bible — “in all toil there is profit” — Proverbs to Kipling, Tolstoy and Chesterton, is in the division of labor and the art of production and distribution. The same can be said for the writings of Adam Smith and Hayek, Von Mises, and Milton Freidman.
The lack of patriotism is really a lack of involvement in the civic process — the lack of attaching oneself to any cause or community.
Thank you to everyone that built the USS Idaho. Thanks to all who will sail it and use it as an instrument for Peace. Thanks to everyone who works to make our country better in their own significant ways. Thanks to the mothers and fathers who raised children to be patriotic — to be shipbuilders and sailors and contributing members of society.
In one of Idaho Governor Brad Little’s greatest moments he opined on the podium on March 16th:
“THIS SHIP IS BADASS.”
Yes, it is, and hopefully our enemies won’t ever forget it. For me that ranks up there with “It was the best of times…”
Photo Courtesy of General Dynamics Electric Boat
