11-10-2012, 04:49 PM
I was sitting in a deer stand this morning and I got to thinking. And, I should probably apologize in advance for this thread but I have been hanging out here (electronically) for the last couple of months and I have learned a great deal from the other members of the forum. So, based on some of the comments I have seen pop up randomly in other threads, I wanted to offer an opinion.
We have just passed thru a polarizing election and our public discourse has become frighteningly rancorous. We've all heard Ted Nugent's comments and, agree or disagree with his politics, we all know that his words and his tone are a sign of our times.
So here's a comment from the other side. The folks on this forum seem to be honorable and fair-minded. But we don't all agree about the meaning of the last election. Some of us love the out-of-doors, relish the hunt, and passionately enjoy shooting sports -- and still voted for the President. Even some of us who own (multiple) AR's.
This isn't a post about politics; it is a plea for civility. I have noticed that this forum is more even-handed than many of the other groups on similar topics. That's one reason I enjoy it so much. So, as one of those on the other side of the fence, I am hoping that we here (and our entire nation) can continue to work together to find our way out of the dark times in which we live.
We have too much in common to let our differences tear us apart.
When my father was a boy, not yet old enough to vote, he turned his hand from the plow and picked up an M-1 when Japanese bombs rained death on an Hawaiian harbor. I was nearing 40 when our nation was attacked 10 years ago but, in my turn, I set aside the tools of my craft and took my place along the ramparts.
And when I did I swore the same oath that many of you haven sworn, the same oath the president will take for a second time in a few weeks: to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Unique among the nations of the world, I believe, we swear allegiance -- not to the government, not to the people, not even to Liberty and Freedom, but to the Law itself.
It is our love for the Law that has made us great; it is our love for each other that has made us strong. One election, one administration, cannot undo four centuries of shared experience.
Even when we disagree, let us not question each other's love of country; let us not doubt the patriotism of those on the opposite side of the aisle. Let us not forget that Sen. McGovern earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for 35 bombing missions over Europe. Mr. Nugent is incorrect: those who differ from us are not "pimps, whores, & welfare brats," they are our neighbors, our fellow citizens, and our family.
A century and a half past, another marginally popular president delivered his second inaugural to a divided nation. His words should guide us all in the coming years, not least because he spoke those words just thirty leagues and as many months from where the creek in Sharpsburg ran red with American blood.
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Those words define Leadership. Leadership crowned by victory - victory tempered by humility and ennobled by compassion. It is leadership that needed now leadership from both sides of the aisle: leadership from our elected representatives, and from our people themselves. The success of our government is the success of the nation, and the hope of a better future for our children.
My grandfather's grandfather fought in the Army of Northern Virginia and lost his right arm at Ft. Stevens. I pray that the Blue and the Red will never surrender to the madness that nearly destroyed the Blue and the Gray.
I hope I don't get expelled from the Horde for this post, but healing has got to start somewhere.
We have just passed thru a polarizing election and our public discourse has become frighteningly rancorous. We've all heard Ted Nugent's comments and, agree or disagree with his politics, we all know that his words and his tone are a sign of our times.
So here's a comment from the other side. The folks on this forum seem to be honorable and fair-minded. But we don't all agree about the meaning of the last election. Some of us love the out-of-doors, relish the hunt, and passionately enjoy shooting sports -- and still voted for the President. Even some of us who own (multiple) AR's.
This isn't a post about politics; it is a plea for civility. I have noticed that this forum is more even-handed than many of the other groups on similar topics. That's one reason I enjoy it so much. So, as one of those on the other side of the fence, I am hoping that we here (and our entire nation) can continue to work together to find our way out of the dark times in which we live.
We have too much in common to let our differences tear us apart.
When my father was a boy, not yet old enough to vote, he turned his hand from the plow and picked up an M-1 when Japanese bombs rained death on an Hawaiian harbor. I was nearing 40 when our nation was attacked 10 years ago but, in my turn, I set aside the tools of my craft and took my place along the ramparts.
And when I did I swore the same oath that many of you haven sworn, the same oath the president will take for a second time in a few weeks: to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Unique among the nations of the world, I believe, we swear allegiance -- not to the government, not to the people, not even to Liberty and Freedom, but to the Law itself.
It is our love for the Law that has made us great; it is our love for each other that has made us strong. One election, one administration, cannot undo four centuries of shared experience.
Even when we disagree, let us not question each other's love of country; let us not doubt the patriotism of those on the opposite side of the aisle. Let us not forget that Sen. McGovern earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for 35 bombing missions over Europe. Mr. Nugent is incorrect: those who differ from us are not "pimps, whores, & welfare brats," they are our neighbors, our fellow citizens, and our family.
A century and a half past, another marginally popular president delivered his second inaugural to a divided nation. His words should guide us all in the coming years, not least because he spoke those words just thirty leagues and as many months from where the creek in Sharpsburg ran red with American blood.
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Those words define Leadership. Leadership crowned by victory - victory tempered by humility and ennobled by compassion. It is leadership that needed now leadership from both sides of the aisle: leadership from our elected representatives, and from our people themselves. The success of our government is the success of the nation, and the hope of a better future for our children.
My grandfather's grandfather fought in the Army of Northern Virginia and lost his right arm at Ft. Stevens. I pray that the Blue and the Red will never surrender to the madness that nearly destroyed the Blue and the Gray.
I hope I don't get expelled from the Horde for this post, but healing has got to start somewhere.