Where are their Morals??

I just finished watching an interview of a Marines Father that was recently killed in Afghanistan. The Father is upset, as would I, that the glorious Fifth estate published pictures of his wounded son against the his wishes and the Secretary of Defense’s explicit request.

Put aside the war, I don’t care what the political opinion is. What has happened to common decency and respect for others? And the AP and its minions wonder why their readerships are plummeting? Its quite clear from were I sit.

Just another example of the fractured morality of this nation. This Marine is a hero, as is his Father, who also seized the opportunity to question the rules of engagements, which in his opinion killed his son  and other brave military members, is too. They should be treated as such. Instead this nation elevates the despicable likes of Paris Hilton to near god-like levels, and forget real heroes like this.

Its almost to much too handle…..

Political Virtue and Honor

These are three words that this day and age seemingly no longer go together among people with political aspirations. However many of the great minds that penned our Constitution believed them to be paramount qualities for elected office. They spoke at great length and tried to safeguard against unscrupulous people entering government service.

They viewed elected office as a high honor, they labored for it to become the most respected position of employment. Yet today politicians of all levels are labeled among the least respected professions in opinion poll after opinion poll. Congressional approval ratings rarely cross 20% and thousands if not millions of Americans distrust our government for one reason or another.

SO what has happened to the vitreous leaders of yesteryear? Washington, Lincoln? I don’t know, could it be the thousands upon thousands of ethics violations? The hundreds of scandals? Nixon? Clinton?… No, this problem wasn’t caused by Nixon or Clinton, those are but symptoms of the disease.

The answer is the loss of morality plaguing this nation. Morality has been replaced by relativism which in itself can not serve as a guide to life. By its very definition it implies every thing is permissible, relative to the circumstances, that there are no absolutes.

Morality, however, defines itself in the context of absolutes, it implies standards to be followed and rules that define good from evil. Relativism has no constructs allowing for absolute right and wrong. It is a sliding scale of morality to be defined by the circumstance. A perfect fit in a society that where personal accountability is growing to be bygone concept. Weak morals equates to little virtue and little honor.

Even mention virtue and honor among many sections of our society and you get a reaction akin to a group of ten year olds when some passes gas. The Comedy Central crowd that imbrue the likes Jon Stewart with respect simply because he is “funny” have hardly a concept of it. And many of the supposed adults of this generation appear to have no interest in it all. Aside from the US Military you will be hard pressed to find a trace of either.

I now see what my parents saw. A downward spiral of social virtue and honor that seems to be gaining speed. Honestly, would you have believed ten years ago that in the future you’d be exposed to TV commercials for erection producing pills?

Its difficult being a student of history not see parallels to great societies of the past and the moral state of contemporary America. Greeks, Romans… do we remember how those stories ended?

Is that our lot, a great nation lost by morality consuming disease? I pray not. I am ever the optimist. I still believe there are vitreous people in this nation, honorable people. I believe they are there, maybe they aren’t fed up enough, or haven’t been listening…. but they are there. My question is where are they?

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While Michael Dominated the News…

 

Michael Jackson dies and it’s 24/7 news coverage. A real American hero dies and not a mention of it in the news.

 Ed Freeman

You're a 19-year-old kid. You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , November 14 1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam . Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the Medi-vac helicopters to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter and you look up to see an unarmed Huey, but it doesn't seem real because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.

Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway. And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out, through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses. And he kept coming back, 13 more times, and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.

Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died on Wednesday, June 25th, 2009, at the age of 80, in Boise , May God rest his soul.

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