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You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it is going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt. --Robert M. Pirsig Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance |
Above is the infamous shot of Lance Corporal James Miller for the Los Angeles Times. The image is stark and weary; a bit raw for some, inspiring thought for many. I think the picture asks us to contemplate war. When I was an eighth-grader in high school, my father once told me that he had once tried to join the marines upon arriving in New York City at my age. Unfortunately, a couple nights before he had his physical fitness exam, he had a row with my grandfather which caused him to fail his test. You see, my grandfather and grandmother had my father when they were in college. They were young and unsure of what to do with their lives. It's hard for a young couple to live in southern China, let alone have a child. And so, they gave my father to my great-grandmother to take care of before they left for Hong Kong in their escape of China. My grandmother and grandfather both received degrees in architecture, and subsequently moved to the city that never sleeps. In New York, they started anew. My aunt Leenor (born in Hong Kong) and uncle Johnny enjoyed life in the hustle and bustle city, while my grandparents created the large edifices of NYC, and the tunnel that connects Manhattan Island to the coast. Throughout their travels, my grandfather always wrote to my father and also sent money. He was racked by guilt for his "lost son," the boy with nothing who belonged in this land of opportunity. The opportunity came when my father was able to come to America. At my same age, my father arrived in LaGuardia Airport with two bags stuffed with clothing, and a copy of his father and mother's English names and addresses. My uncle and aunt saw my father for the first time, welcoming him as a brother who had just returned home from a long vacation, and my grandparents had a heartfelt embrace. Life, however, is never as picturesque as we want it to be. My father had left a college opportunity to study medicine in Southern China, and had come to America because his father had requested, indeed implored that he come. After a few weeks, my father was angry at his father for taking him to this place, where he was treated like dirt, where he couldn't find a job, and where he had nothing to offer. The fight ended with my father leaving the home and going out into the cold of NYC. He caught tuberculosis, and fortunately was able to recover. The lingering TB disqualified my father from ever serving in the military. It seems unclear why my father wanted to join the military; maybe he wanted to serve and be a hero, and maybe it was the last place in America where he could fit. Perhaps what's important is not the intention of joining, but the circumstances of your life once you join. During a lunch at the American Legion Post 1655 in Colorado when I asked, "During Vietnam, with all of he protests back home and being unsure of what you're fighting for is true, how could you have kept on fighting?" One veteran who served as a paratrooper said, "It doesn't matter really. Once you land in the jungle, the bullets start flying and you can only think about the guy next to you." Perhaps, asking questions of intent when joining the military completely misses the true nature of heroism, patriotism, and valor. I think we all join for our different reasons, but in the end, we all end up soldiers. Even though Lance Corporal Miller said, "Tell Marlboro I'm down to four packs and I'm here in Fallujah 'til who knows when," he still came back to say, "I lost a few of some of my dearest friends." I do think that Pirsig (above quote) is right, that we are unsure of things. To be sure, we must believe, but it is in humanity’s nature to think. Once we stop contemplating, we aren't human. I hope these below quotes give you pause to think:
| "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."--Dwight Eisenhower 1953 speech |
| "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."--John Stuart Mill |
| "War is nothing but the continuation of policy with other means."-- Clausewitz |
Other News
- Took a tour of the White House. I was most impressed by the size of the portrait saved by Dolley Madison when the White House was torched during the War of 1812.
- Went to the Sunday game last week where the Nationals beat the Diamondbacks, 7-3.
- Went to Annapolis on Saturday to see a posthumous wax figurine of George Washington in the Maryland state capitol. Ate crab cakes, and had a blast with Prof. Spalding's two kids: Joseph and Catherine.
- Congratulated myself for contributing a small part to helping small and seasonal businesses get their H2B workers.
- Had a wonderful time finishing up my paper on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. A big thanks to Steve Black, Energy and Natural Resources LA for Senator Ken Salazar, for taking time out on a friday evening to meet with me (to the irk of his wife Nina).
- Glad to say that I am not of the "only Easter" crowd who attends St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Liz and I have been enjoying the services with Pastor Umholt and Vicar Lovell. The service is wonderful and the music is "divine" (you saw that one coming).
Websites The Llama Song- hearkens back to the songs of old, e.g. Badger, Badger, Badger. Good reading on Positive and Negative Liberties Could the Swiss Finance Academy help your career? Just an interesting thing from the CMC Career Chronicle. I promise I will begin updating more frequently (like weekly), but I may be held up by updates to the Links page and Life @ CMC study guides.