Service Over Self

      Speaking to the Brigade of Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy on August 1, 1963, President John F. Kennedy stated:

This country owes the greatest debt to our servicemen. In time of war, of course, there is a tremendous enthusiasm and outburst of popular feeling about those who fight and lead our wars, but it is sometimes different in peace. But I can assure the people of this country, from my own personal experience in the last 2 1/2 years, that more than anything, more than anything, the fact that this country is secure and at peace, the fact that dozens of countries allied with us are free and at peace, has been due to the military strength of the United States. And that strength has been directly due to the men who serve in our Armed Forces.

 

He goes on to say:

 

I can imagine a no more rewarding career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: "I served in the United States Navy."

 

      He would have said the same of the other services.  To Kennedy, military service to the United States was its own reward; something that brought meaning and fulfillment to one’s life.  Most servicemen and servicewomen would agree with him.  Most take pride in putting on the uniform each day.  Most make the sacrifices required of military service without a second thought, even to the extent of putting that service before obligations to family.  Most are willing to give their own lives to live up to their chosen obligation to serve and fight for the United States. 

      This commitment to service is an indicator that most service members are proud of the United States and even love it.  This is not to say that, being intelligent and informed people, they don’t recognize the country’s problems.  They know that the United States often fails to live up to its ideals but they also know that it always tries to and they, the service members, want to play a part in that effort.  This is what “service over self” means. 

      It should be clear, upon reflection, that Donald Trump has never had empathy for people who embrace “service over self.”  His comments about the Medal of Honor are just the most recent in a long line of disparaging remarks about the service and those who serve.  Such remarks are indicative of more than just contempt for military service.  Trump just doesn’t get why anyone would act in other than a self-serving way.  What is unclear is how anyone could believe that Trump could be an effective commander-in-chief.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What George W. Bush Can Teach Us in the Aftermath of Trump's Assassination Attempt

      The Iraq War had been going badly for a couple of years when President George W. Bush fired Donald Rumsfeld and appointed Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense and General David Petraeus as Commander, Multi-National Force – Iraq.  Both men were known not only for professional expertise but also for a willingness to speak truth to power.  Bush deliberately selected who he believed were the best men to solve the problem in Iraq.  He did not choose people who were slavishly devoted to him.  He then approved their new strategy, called “The Surge,” and placed his entire support behind it.       Shortly after this, President Bush gave a speech at the U.S. Naval War College at which he laid out the new strategy.  I was in the audience at that speech.  Prior to it, I had been strongly in opposition to Bush’s Iraq War as much because of the arrogance of the President and his assistants as because of the flaws in his strategy.  As I watched and listened to President Bush that morning, howev
Read more

Men for Others

        In 1973 in Valencia Spain, Pedro Arrupe, S.J., the Superior General of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) stated the following to a group of Jesuit high school alumni:   Education for justice has become in recent years one of the chief concerns of the Church. Why? Because there is a new awareness in the Church that participation in the promotion of justice and the liberation of the oppressed is a constitutive element of the mission which Our Lord has entrusted to her. Impelled by this awareness, the Church is now engaged in a massive effort to education – or rather to re-educate – herself, her children, and all men and women so that we may all “lead our life in its entirety… in accord with the evangelical principles of personal and social morality to be expressed in a living Christian witness.   Today our prime educational objective must be to form men-for-others; men who will live not for themselves but for God and his Christ – for the God-man who lived and died for all the
Read more

What the Military Commander of the Vietnam POW's Can Teach Us About Military Leadership and Trump

         Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale was a true naval hero.   A naval aviator who was shot down over North Vietnam, he spent 7 and 1/2 years in prison during which he was tortured 15 times, spent four years in solitary confinement and spent two years in leg irons.   Despite these challenges, Stockdale became one of the military commanders of the prisoners of war (POW's), successfully establishing a chain of command, a means of communication and clearly defined goals that were instrumental to maintaining the sanity and moral courage of those under his command.        During his captivity, Stockdale developed and refined his philosophy of living which was founded on the ancient philosophy of stoicism.   In Stockdale's words, the goal of stoicism is not a good society but a good man.   Stockdale spent the remainder of his life after his release teaching military officers "how to be good men".   This was not done out of altruism but out of military necessity.   Spea
Read more