Military service stands as one of the greatest forms of service that any American citizen can render to her or his country. There is a selflessness involved in military service that has no equal in other walks of life. To be sure, no one joins the service with the thought of dying. Yet, the inescapable truth is that no soldier is a good soldier unless the soldier is prepared to lay down her or his for the United States.
Indeed, a good soldier must not only be prepared to die for her or his country, but the soldier must also be prepared to die in order to help her or his fellow soldiers, should their lives be at risk.
The Oath of Enlistment for the United States reads as follows:
I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
This is an extraordinary oath. This is an extraordinary commitment. For Memorial Day, we should not lose sight of the significance of this oath. We should never forget the people who honorably discharged that oath.
As an aside, it is has always been my view that military service should be required of everyone. I hold this view because it is my view nothing configures the soul for the better like having the experience being a member of a community which privileges selflessness. Precisely what makes some experiences completely unforgettable is none other than the fact that the experience is part of a larger community. For instance, a meal with friends can be extraordinary owing to the fact that together there was a joy and laughter that no single individual could have occasioned on her or his own.
Military serviced at its best is that environment in which the whole is very much greater, morally speaking, than the sum of its parts.
Of course, we know that nowadays people join military service for all sorts of reasons, not the least of these being that it is a way of paying for college. Still, this truth that college is being paid for does not detract one iota from the extraordinary commitment that these individuals are making. And the proof of this is just the fact that there are countless individuals who would rather do just about anything than sign up for military service in order to have the military pay (all or a significant portion of) their college tuition.
In the King James Version of the New Testament, St. John 15:13, we find the following words:
Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Quite arguably, it is this love that is definitive of military service at its very best. These individuals are not only willing to lay down their lives for one another, but for their country—that is, for well-being of their fellow citizens.
It is one thing to put one’s life on the line for a family member. This we can all understand. Indeed, the bond of friendship can be that close as well. However, it is another thing altogether to put one’s life on the line for a complete stranger. Yet, this is exactly what a military person commits herself or himself to doing.
Those who attack the military exhibit a shortsightedness that is beyond my comprehension. I am thus extremely dismayed and embarrassed when my university colleagues self-righteously criticize the military by looking at this or that defective part rather than the entire picture. After all, if the only way that anyone could be praised is that the person were entirely without blemish, then surely the world would be completely void of praise. I cannot grasp why so many professors cannot see the bigger picture.
Any of us can quibble over the merits of this war or that war. Just so, the unexpurgated truth of the matter is that the United States has fought no war that is even remotely akin to the war fought by Hitler.
Lest there be any misunderstanding, I certainly hold that the military can be criticized for this or that practice or activity. But in words of King Solomon: “Unto everything there is a season”. Just as there is a time to criticize the military, there is just as surely a time to honor those who so valiantly gave and are giving their service.
Memorial Day is one day out of 365 days in the year. Every single American citizen should find a moment to honor those who are presently serving in the military and those who have served in the military. In particular, we should honor those who gave their lives for the survival of the United States of America.
Freedom is not a merely a gift that descends from the heavens like manna. Not at all. Freedom comes with a price. The constitutional make of so very many has been such that they were willing to pay that price with their service. And so it is for many nowadays.
One of Frederick Douglass’s most poignant observations is that ingratitude can be a form of evil. In a country, such as the United States, where people seem to be far more interested in exercising freedom in the pursuit of ridiculous ends rather than aiming to live a meaningful life, we might just find a moment to stop and be grateful to those who have served in the military of the United States as well as those who are serving so that we might continue to have the freedom to live with the reckless abandonment to which we have become so very much accustomed.
