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Three Letters 3/11/2005 4:38:10 AM
These are three letters written to the Editor of the Times Dispatch in 2004. They are all great, especially the first one which must be savored and thought about. As they say, 'Enjoy'.
Here are the Correspondents of the day with their respective dates:
1st - David Baugh 2 July 04:
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
Copyright (c) 2004, Richmond Newspapers, Inc.
JULY FOURTH CALLS FOR NATIONAL REFLECTION
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
The Fourth of July should be a celebration of the creation of this great experiment we call the United States and the principles that guide this nation and us as citizens. While most citizens equate the Fourth with flags, the military, veterans, hot dogs, and fireworks, the true meaning of the holiday should include contemplation of our freedom and the protections afforded to us by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Our freedom of expression, the right to present any idea, no matter how unpopular, carries with it the responsibility to hear ideas and expressions with which we do not agree and might actually despise. Every freedom - whether from the Constitution or our parents - carries an equivalent and corresponding responsibility. Freedom carries with it much uncertainty and is based upon a belief in our courage and forthrightness. It calls upon the strength that many of us do not even think we possess, but we do. We are citizens of the United States.
Our Constitution and Bill of Rights are part of one of the most uplifting expressions of faith in the human spirit in the history of man. The Constitution is our moral rudder directing us through a world filled with fear and a lack of faith. It contains a promise that adherence to its principles is the key to an atmosphere of freedom where every human has the opportunity to reach his or her full potential.
Our nation is that promise. America is not the soil between Maine and California; it is not a government or even a flag. It is a philosophy so sacred to lovers of freedom that we have our military and our appointed and elected leaders swear to defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic. There is no oath to defend the flag, the government, or a leader. America is
our Constitution.
2nd - Dick Lennard 4 Oct 04:
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
Copyright (c) 2004, Richmond Newspapers, Inc.
U.S. ALWAYS RELIES ON NATIONAL GUARD
Editor, Times-Dispatch: -
I have heard the present call-up of Army National Guard units described as "the biggest since WWII." I've seen no data supporting this premise, so I did a little research myself. I should mention that I started my 24-year military career with the Minnesota National Guard and have also served in the regular Army and the Navy Reserve for a total of 24 years.
For the Korean War a total of eight infantry divisions, a separate infantry regiment from Puerto Rico, and dozens of battalion-size artillery and engineer units were called to federal service for a total of 140,000 personnel. All these activations were for a period of two years. The U.S. population in 1950 was only 151 million, which made this large-scale call-up even more significant. I should also mention that most of the officers and
NCOs who were part of these units were recently returned WWII veterans, where they served a minimum of three or four years.
Anyone familiar with our nation's history should know that the National Guard has always shouldered a large portion of the burden of fighting our wars. My particular regiment in the Minnesota Guard served in the Civil War, the 1916 Mexican border "incursion," World Wars I and II, Korea, and is now
contributing units to the Iraq and Afghanistan efforts. A sad note, especially for Minnesotans, is that a tank company from Brainerd called to federal service in 1940 ended up in the Bataan Death March. Those few who survived served a total of six years.
It seems to me that some of the troops being called up these days could just lower the volume on their complaining a few notches. I have actually heard some recently called up Guardsmen complain that they didn't join to fight - it was for the extra pay or the educational benefits. What did they think they were issued a weapon for? Welcome to the real world.
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
Copyright (c) 2004, Richmond Newspapers, Inc.
RATHER RANKS AS AGE'S PARSON WEEMS
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
I used to laugh when I read warnings about trendy professors filling the heads of young people with postmodern ideas about the non-existence of objective truth. What a silly exaggeration, I thought.
I used to laugh when alarmist columnists shrilled about the dangers of the concept of "relative truth." What a silly exaggeration, I thought.
I laughed when I heard that the Tawana Brawley incident was acknowledged as a lie, but it was okay because it was in the service of a higher truth. No one's going to buy that, I thought.
Well, I heard the news about Dan Rather and I'm not laughing anymore. The esteemed broadcaster recently criticized "people who for their own partisan, political agendas can't deny the core truth of this story." Let's savor this for a moment: The frontman for what used to be called the Tiffany Network presents a lie to his audience as fact and complains when people refuse to
see the "core truth." When a respected journalist joins the Al Sharpton school of epistemology (mere facts are secondary, what matters is the narrative), then the profession of journalism is dead.
But it might be that I'm too hard on Rather. Maybe he's reaching for something higher than newsreader - bard perhaps - and he's gathering us around the tribal campfire to hear him pass along our communal myth. Just as schoolchildren were once told a lie to convince them of what a towering figure George Washington was, so CBS viewers were fed a lie to remind them of the higher truth that George W. Bush was a child of privilege. Where we once had a cherry tree, now we have forged documents.
I guess I should be congratulating Dan Rather on his remarkable achievement: He's become the Parson Weems of the electronic age.
