Reflections on the Fourth

Two Hundred and Thirty-Three Years.

When the Continental Congress emerged from that earth-shaking vote, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin: What have you given us? Franklin replied: A Republic, if you can keep it.

If we can keep it.

I worked 16 hours today but still managed to watch some of the fireworks. The university where I work is on a hill that overlooks the river, where the fireworks are staged. It's a good vantage point.

As I watched the fireworks and listened to the oohs and ahhs, I found myself thinking about Dr. Franklin.

A Republic, if we can keep it.

God, please, do not let us fail to do so.

The Lone Survivor

Marcus Luttrell isn't an average guy.

He started training to be a Navy SEAL when he was 14.

He joined the Navy in 1999 and became a SEAL

In 2005, was sent to Afghanistan.

On June 28, 2005, Marcus and SEAL team 10 were sent on a mission to kill or capture Ahmad Shah (nom de guerre Mohammad Ismail), a high-ranking Taliban leader responsible for killings in eastern Afghanistan and the Hindu-Kush mountain. They were, instead, betrayed by a group of goat herders they let go.

They fought a superior force of anywhere from 40 to 140 Taliban fighters. Luttrell was the lone survivor of the group and managed to survive six days before he was rescued.

Luttrell was in the news recently when four thugs killed his dog, DASY. She had been given to him to help with his rehabilitation. Luttrell chased the four vermin until police caught up with them. As the thugs were lying on the ground, one of them was taunting Luttrell about his dog. I'm sure Luttrell wanted to do more than turn them over to the cops.

That's all part of what makes him a hero.

If you haven't read his book, "Lone Survivor", you should.

Quotations on Heroes

~ A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. ~
Joseph Campbell

~ It is surmounting difficulties that makes heroes. ~
Louis Kossuth

~ A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. ~
Christopher Reeve

~ The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by. ~
Felix Adler

~ Not the glittering weapon fights the fight, but rather the hero's heart. ~
Proverb

~ Who is a hero? He who conquers his urges ~
The Talmud

Anti-heroes

You know who I mean.

The ones who do nothing. They stand by in dismay but they don't lift a finger to help. Their lives, it seems, are too important to risk.

And yes, I hold them in complete and utter contempt.

Here's an example:

GARY, Ind. (CBS) ―

A 26-year-old convenience store clerk was shot and killed in broad daylight in Gary, Ind., and police say witnesses stood by and did nothing. CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports there are critical clues that may help crack the case.

Lessons from my Father

He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. ~ Clarence Budington Kelland

He's been gone for 32 years. A lifetime. A second.

Today would've been his 97th birthday.

He was a kind, generous man.

He loved his family and gave us a life that was good.

He didn't have much and worked hard for what he had.

He loved our mother.

He loved his children.

He wasn't perfect.

But, he was a strong, compassionate, caring man who did so many things for so many people simply because it was what needed to be done. He did the right thing without expecting a reward and he expected us to do the same.

If there is a better definition of a hero, I don't know.

Ronald Wilson Reagan

If I have a hero, other than my parents, it was this man. He took charge of a country caught in difficult economic times and a sickness of heart and spirit that had people believing America's best days were over.

He would have none of it. He believed America's best days were yet to come.

We need his spirit now.

******

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.

***

Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.

***

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

***

The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

***

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'

***

The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas-a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.

***

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.

Ronald Wilson Reagan

February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004

Heroes: The United States Army

Again, nothing more needs to be said