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Bit’s Greatest Hits: Of Noble And Ignoble People (11/09/03)

Bit notes: Its veterans day.  Today is a day that we set aside to honor those who have served as true.  To honor those who have proudly worn the uniform and have helped keep this nation in pursuit of its ideals of freedom. Sometimes, this pursuit has cost them their lives.  Such is the nature of the pursuit of freedom.  There is much I want to say on this day, but unfortunately most of it I don’t have the words for.

So allow me, please, to attach a piece that I wrote into my Palm Pilot while waiting for a Trace Adkins concert to get underway, in a high school gym in Euclid, OH… an anniversary present, that year, to my wife.

Euclid, OH,110903141032-

Ignoble

We’re in Ohio this afternoon to catch a concert. We came down last night, and will be back in town on Monday. As this is being written we are waiting for Trace Adkins to take the stage, and as we wait, I am mulling over the news we got on the way here regarding the car bombing in Saudi-Arabia.

As of this writing, all I was able to get was that 5 people had died, more injured, and I got the impression more would die as a result of their injuries. (Editor’s note: 15 people as of 11/11)

This attack, and the results of it are very different from the rest, and it appears a new trend is starting to show itself.

What is so remarkable about this attack, what is different, this time, is that it appears Muslims were targeted. Else, at the least the attackers didn’t care how many Muslims they would kill and injure. I fully understand that judging what the attackers are after, based on what they attack, is problematic at best because there are a number of forces at work, here that are not all of a piece.

Yet logically, based on these attacks, one could ask now, as never before in recent times, if a religious fervor was *ever* at the heart of the reasoning behind ElQuieda and it’s actions. This question is far more central than some here in the US would make it, because it speaks to the question of other Arab nations supporting the remainder of the world in their war…..and war it is… with ElQuieda.

I suspect that as a result of this attack, we will see far more in the way of support from Arab nations, both direct and indirect. The notable exceptions of this would be Syria and possibly Iran.

It seems to me that by their reactions the battle lines will be drawn. I fully expect the Saudis to be very co-operative indeed with the west going forward.

And the cause for this bedrock change in conditions was the inevitable… the bloodthirsty idiots attacking the people still sitting on the fence… and pushing them over to our side of it. In the end, the only thing this will do is help us in our struggle.

Noble

I want to speak briefly about Veteran’s day which comes up this week. It’s always been a special day for me, more so the last 15 years because my Donna and I got married 11/11/89.

It’s always been a special day for me anyway, though, because honoring our vets has always held special meaning for me; it’s a lesson my parents instilled very well, indeed. It was brought home to me, as I was recently looking at pictures from a trip we made through the Gettysburg PA area some years ago.

It’s a particularly meaningful thing, when you’re standing on that field…. something that goes well beyond the cold facts and figures about who died from what company, how old they were, or even where they were from. It’s more a feeling you get…. you can sense it… not unlike being at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, or visiting Arlington National Cemetery. I’m told Omaha Beach, and Pearl Harbor and many other sites are the same way. I’ve been at the funerals of firemen and policemen who died in their line of duty, and that was also remarkably similar.

In each case, we’re dealing with places and concepts of death. But death alone doesn’t do it; doesn’t create that solemn atmosphere that is so unique to the above places. After all; there are lots of mass casualty accidents have happened over the centuries and their sites are well marked, and revered, or at least held apart, and yet, their impact doesn’t approach that of an Iwo Jima or a Pearl.

Even under the shelter of the relative safety of the time that has passed since the events, as you stand in each place, you can still feel it; Lives were lost there that were willingly (And in the case of the civilian deaths at the towers, unwillingly) sacrificed toward a higher ideal.

Our feelings and conclusions can be far different from what those lost experienced. Yet, their lives and their sacrifices still count for something. And the thing is, it doesn’t take much for us to out ourselves in their mindset.

Think of it this way; Every single man who died at Gettysburg, at Normandy, at Pearl and all he rest, has meaning for us because each of them, had their own lives, just as we have our own lives.

These people loved, they laughed, they cried. They had a favorite food, a favorite color, a particular bit of music, or of poetry stirred their souls, like none other, just like we, ourselves. Every bit as much as you and I love our lives, they loved theirs. Their lives were as precious to them, as yours is to you. Their loss was as keenly felt by their loved ones as yours would yours. And yet, they gave their lives up, for something bigger.

I have a neighbor, whose father just recently needed a liver transplant. This neighbor willingly gave up part of his liver to be transplanted into his father. A noble action, certainly, commendable, and impressive. But with all respect to my neighbor, the choice to do that is comparatively easy to make. He knows and loves his father, and the sacrifice is fairly light by comparison.

How much more noble is a sacrifice of one’s life for people that one will never meet? Well, the people we honor today, those in uniform particularly, but some who were not, gave of themselves for the benefit of people they would never know…. you and I, and countless others from many nations. If not for their sacrifices, you’d not be reading this BIT, because I’d not have written it…. we’d be living in a very different world, possibly, one not nearly as good to us as it has been.

Look upon those actions, those sacrifices, and know what you’re seeing is strength, courage, and nobility in measures that should not… can not, be ignored. It must be honored by us all; it was made, after all for our benefit.

Think about that as we deal with the solemn proceedings for their day.