by Kerry Thomas
October 24, 2006
Inscribed on the base of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington D.C. is the tribute of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz to the fighting men on Iwo Jima: "Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue."
That simple statement says a lot about the character of the boys who went to war two generations ago. These boys grew up fast. And when they returned home, they proceeded to build the greatest economic and industrial power anyone had ever seen. Truly they were the Greatest Generation.
In a time when political mudslinging and the total lack of character exhibited by most of our federal and state elected representatives might have a tendency to diminish one’s faith in America, a simple reminder like Flags of Our Fathers serve to remind us of the greatness and the limitless self-sacrifices our fellow Americans are capable of.
Between the media reports about everything that's wrong with America and the blitzkrieg of negative political ads choking our airwaves, you might get the impression that America, like ancient Rome, is in the midst of her decline and fall. Our elected representatives busy themselves with important matters like renaming post offices and sense of the Congress resolutions, while core Constitutional questions like private property rights and the defense of the nation are put off for a future Congress to address.
We’ve allowed our elected representatives to anoint themselves as our masters. We would do well to remind them they are our public servants. They serve at the pleasure of the People. Only the People are not being served. It’s more like we’re getting shafted by our government at every turn.
While it is the obligation of every Citizen living in a representative Republic to exercise his right to vote at every election, the candidates we have to choose from in this election leave much to be desired. Our elected representatives have all but forgotten the Constitution they swore to protect. Very few exhibit the basic qualities of honesty and integrity that should be a prerequisite for every candidate seeking public office. Common virtue and plain old common sense aren’t quite so common any more.
Or so it would seem.
All across this great nation, men and women from every walk of life perform simple everyday tasks in heroic fashion. It is a tribute to the indomitable American Spirit that so many of our fellow Americans are so willing to give of themselves every day to help their fellow man. You won’t see these stories on the nightly news or read about them in the papers, because they’re not “news.” And maybe, because they happen so frequently in America, all these little acts of generosity and kindness really aren’t news as such, because we’ve come to regard them as normal in America.
There are times in our history when uncommon American valor is on full display for all the world to see. What we sometimes forget is that when the glare of the spotlight fades and the reporters move on to the next big story, we Americans still share that common virtue passed to us by the previous generation. We do our best to, in turn, pass that virtue to our children. As Americans, it is one of our greatest legacies.