Where Character Still Matters

The Warrior Princess checks in from New York City with these observations from the recently completed Fleet Week:

60 years ago, members of the Greatest Generation stormed the beaches of Normandy to fight for freedom and democracy. The courage shown by our nation and by members of the armed services during World War II has always fascinated, inspired, and humbled me. However, I had long ago resigned myself to the fact that self-sacrifice of this kind is dying with the generation that displayed it so resolutely 60 years ago; that the self glorifying unadulterated pursuit of self interest permeating our culture today has corrupted us as a nation beyond redemption. I was mistaken.

Last week I took a much needed vacation to New York City. It so happened my time there coincided with "fleet week". For my friends from the south, no it was not a week devoted to enemas. During fleet week, ships from our U.S. Navy travel to New York Harbor and dock at Pier 88. For one week, members of our Navy and Marine Corps take the time to give us civilians a peek into their world. They give us tours of the ships they call home. They explain the equipment and its purposes. They show us some of the vehicles and artillery that help them protect our nation. They tell us about their jobs, their experiences, their training, all the things I've always been curious about, but never had someone to ask.

The Seamen and Marines I spoke to hailed from places like Norfolk, VA, Baltimore, MD, Baton Rouge, LA , and my hometown of Sacramento, CA. Their jobs ranged from encoding and decoding messages on navy vessels to flying marine combat helicopters. The professionalism, respect, and honor they displayed gave me a newfound admiration for the uniform, and the men and women who don it at home and abroad.

At one point I was standing in line, and behind me two Vietnam Vets were reminiscing about their time in the military, and their experiences coming home to anti-war protests and a nation turned against them. I hope, rather than believe, that those fighting today will be shielded from the animosity that those Veterans experienced when they came home. Especially if the nation they come home to is one that elects a President whose contempt for
the military has been so consistently displayed throughout the last 30 years.

Our nation was founded with principles and values. Governmental institutions like public education, and the military were originally infused with these moral values to promulgate character qualities our founders thought necessary for the success of the nation. Any consideration of character training has long since exited the public education system. I'm thankful that the character qualities the Founding Fathers believed were so essential for sustaining our nation are still taught, if not to the general population, at least to those we would choose to protect it.