I am having an incredible week with my grandson Brayden. Brayden is 8 years old, and he lives in Belview Washington. We spent 5 days camping in Donnelly and now we are back just as the smoke has lifted in Boise. Like most boys his age he is very interested in all things military. Knowing that Lynn and I are going to Normandy in three weeks to say thank you and pay homage to the thousands of young men who stormed the beach and saved liberty, Brayden started asking all kinds of questions—many of those questions adults are asking today. Without getting into the complexities of a moral “just war theory” and without referencing Encyclicals and Papal Bulls, I tried to answer his questions simply and in the same way I would answer the questions of an adult.
His first question was: “Why is there war?” My answer was because there is evil in the world, but most importantly there will always be evil in the world as long as there will always be imperfect men some who are capable of doing very bad things. The first job of a moral person is to always confront evil—no matter what form it may take.
And we must always be prepared to fight evil. We teach our young people to box or perform it-Quan-do not so they will become bullies themselves, but rather so they can protect other people who can’t protect themselves—many times they haven’t prepared to protect themselves.
It is the same thing when a country has to confront an evil country. Almost all the time it is not the people of the evil country who are evil, but rather it is their leaders, and the people don’t have the courage or the means to confront their own leaders. This was exactly the position our Founding Fathers were in when they confronted King George. It takes great courage to confront evil—on the playground, in the adult real world, and between countries. As we confront an evil person or another great dynasty, we must do so with an eye toward liberation and never with an eye toward conquest and the holding of conquered property or holding a people in bondage as a “spoil of war”. Some evil tyrants look at people only in a materialistic context and only as a means of production. The soul of any person is what defines their humanity. It is not what they do, but rather who they are. It is the difference between a leader with Christian values or a humanistic progressive who sees themselves as their own god. It is understanding that the “free will” given to us by God, is the moral predict for any ideal of liberty or freedom. Free Will and liberty do not come from government but can only be secured by government.
So, then he asked me if there was anyone still living who had fought on the Normandy Beaches. I told him very few, but then I remembered the videos of President Reagan’s Speech at Point-du-Hoc. I showed him the Video and what happened next was remarkable.
This 8-year-old boy with “ants in his pants” who hasn’t been still for more than a minute his entire life, watched every minute of the video—twice! The cadence, the sincerity and most of all the simplicity of Ronald Reagan’s argument inspired an 8-year-old boy 40 years after the speech and 80 years after the invasion itself.
I offer the video below and recommend it to your attention. I also would ask what was it that made Ronald Reagan so relatable? I offer two ideas. He was always sincere, gracious, and was always comfortable in his “own skin. Secondly, he never placed himself at the center of the picture that he was painting. He always deferred to the accomplishments of others—never his own. He was always sitting at the edge of the picture pointing to those in the center where the real story was unfolding.
One final trait that followed Ronald Reagan throughout his political career—he always in a simple and unforced manner referred over and over again to “Almighty God” or Divine Providence. Just like our Founding Fathers did at the Continental and Constitutional Conventions and in their writings. Just like Abraham Lincoln did over and again. All acknowledged openly that they prayed to God and believed in Biblical and Natural Law Principles. I will vote for and give every penny I have to give when I find candidates who are able to follow the great examples given above.
Graciousness, humility, and an unapologetic supplication to God is what we need in a new President. If that is good enough for Brayden Livingston it should be good enough for our nation.
WE need another Great Awakening
