Honor and privilege are earned, not bestowed.
Marine Corps Honor Guard. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Today is a bitter sweet time at our home here in Texas. On Monday, July 12th, 2010 our son left for San Diego and the United States Marine Corp boot camp there. It is hard enough letting go of your only child much less seeing him swear in and ship off to boot camp where he will be for the next 13 weeks.
The Marines are different from the service that they were when I grew up. Today, they are pretty strict about whom they will let in. Gone are the days when you could send your problems children off for them to fix. Today, a Marine recruit has to be a high school graduate with good grades, have no record at all with the police and never have had problems with drugs or alcohol.
I have to admit, it was pretty emotional for us both. Even I was close to letting the tears flow as we said goodbye. After having him around for so long, not being able to speak to him for the next 13 weeks is going to be tough. But we are more than proud of our son. Pride doesn’t even come close to the true meaning of the honor and the privilege that it has been for me to be his dad.
I say I’m his dad and he is my son, but in reality, he is my step son. I meet him when he was 9 years old after I met his momma. We hit it off right from the start and have become very close over the last 9 ½ years. I miss him and his smiling happy face so much already that I know it is going to be hard till we see him a graduation in October. Ooh Rah, Jarod, Semper Fi!
Which leads me to my point today, the honor and privilege was bestowed upon me by his mom and her family. It was not something that I deserved or was entitled to. That is the problem with our society in general today, everyone seems to feel or think that they are entitled to everything.
It seems most prevalent in our Congress and White House. These people seem to think that they are the ruling elite and that we are their serfs and subjects. When it comes to Commander’s in Chief, it seems, at least to me, that since I was born (1961), there have only been 2 Presidents that saw the title and position of President of the United States as an Honor and a Privilege.
This is just my humble opinion but those 2 were President Ronald Wilson Reagan and President George W. Bush. People can be judged by their actions. Neither one of these men was perfect nor saints but I know that they saw their positions as leaders of the free world as an honor and a privilege. Kennedy didn’t seem to honor, neither did Nixon, Carter or Clinton. As for Ford, who knows? George H.W. Bush, although I like him a lot and respect him, he didn’t seem to honor the privilege as much as he expected it. It seemed as if it was more like it was his turn. I still really like him though.
Then we have the current resident at the columned white building in D.C. Does anyone see anything resemblance of his holding his office with honor and respect and seeing it as a privilege to serve us, you and me? I didn’t think so. He see it as his right and that he deserves to be there and while there, he is going to use his position to punish America for what it has done to minorities and third world peoples. Why would they say that they will only prosecute whites for voter fraud and intimidation? Why would he have NASA become a self help organization for the Muslim world? Why would he take G.M. and Chrysler from the people that owned it and give it to his Union bosses?
Well, those in the military, all of them not just Marines and those that serve in law enforcement and fire protection are people that deserve our honor and privilege. All of them stand upon the walls that surround our free land. They protect us from those outside that would do us harm. Let’s return the honor and privilege and make a clean sweep of Congress and the Executive Branch as soon as we can.
Watch the video at this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak4jFODlj7c
It shows just how proud we are of our honorable service men and women. As a note to my beloved bride, have a tissue handy darling. I could have used one myself.
Photo credit AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
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