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"The best I have to offer . . . ."
Source: InstaPunditFrank Schaeffer, a novelist from "the Volvo-driving, higher education-worshiping North Shore of Boston," has a moving essay in today's Washington Post on his son's decision to join the Marine Corps. My son has connected me to my country in a way that I was too selfish and insular to experience before. I feel closer to the waitress at our local diner than to some of my oldest friends. She has two sons in the Corps. They are facing the same dangers as my boy. When the guy who fixes my car asks me how John is doing, I know he means it. His younger brother is in the Navy. Schaeffer also paints a scathing portrait of his elitist neighbors' reactions: "But aren't the Marines terribly Southern?" asked one perplexed mother while standing next to me at the brunch following graduation. "What a waste, he was such a good student," said another parent. One parent (a professor at a nearby and rather famous university) spoke up at a school meeting and suggested that the school should "carefully evaluate what went wrong." Read the whole thing. When I read that part of the essay, I could just imagine how Rudyard Kipling might have reacted: We are patricians of Boston, intellectuals proud and strong; We send our kids to private school to avoid the unwashed throng. When we were young we dodged the draft and got in Johnson's face For we think our home and country is all the world's disgrace. For it's Chomsky this, The Nation that, and "George Bush is a clown!" And "the USA deserved it!" when they knocked the Towers down; They knocked the Towers down, my boys, they knocked the Towers down, Yes, the USA deserved it when they knocked the Towers down. Yes, making mock of uniforms that guard us while we sleep Lets us feel ourselves superior, and do it on the cheap; And talking of root causes when we appear on NPR Is five times more "intellectual" than fighting a just war. For it's Chomsky this, The Nation that, and "George Bush is a brute!" And burn the flag in protest when the guns begin to shoot; The guns begin to shoot, my boys, the guns begin to shoot, Yes, burn the flag in protest when the guns begin to shoot. We have no use for heroes, heroism's not our scene, We cannot understand why John joined up with the Marines; They're yahoos from the red states; they lack advanced degrees; They don't even have Volvos! They ride in green Humvees. Yes it's Chomsky this, The Nation that; but we know we'd lack the soul To stand up for our neighbors when Todd Beamer called, "Let's roll!" We're snobbish and self-centered, it's beneath our pride to serve; But we'll exercise our freedoms, tho' we know they're undeserved! Posted by: Mike M. 2002-11-26 |
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