Who Are The Real Heroes

While most of us recognize the concept of heroism, an operational definition has remained elusive. This elusiveness is a result in part that published literature has focused little on the personal attributes that predispose an individual to heroic acts.

As a request from someone I value as a friend and admire because of the values, character traits, and patriotism she possesses I will present my thoughts on the term "hero." Let me begin by telling you who a hero is not. A hero is not an athlete who sets a record on the playing field. Nor is it a political activist out to save the planet from global warming or even the adventurer out to be the first person to this or that. Granted those people may be brave but in my view they do not meet the definition of a hero, for whatever they achieve benefits only self. Real heroes are selfless. Unfortunately our modern definition of hero has been corrupted to include all manner of people who simply put, do not warrant the title.

A hero is one who has willingly put himself or herself in grave physical jeopardy for the benefit of another. Heroes are people who overcome evil by doing good at great personal risk. This they do through self-sacrifice, resilience and action. Whether they succeed or fail, heroes provide a moral and ethical charter and inspiration for all of us.

Soldiers are considered heroes because they do what most are unwilling or afraid to do, they protect their nation. They display physical courage and usually excel in the face of danger and adversity. Soldiers display the will for self-sacrifice for the greater good of the nation they serve. If self-sacrifice in the face of life threatening danger is our guide, there are multitudes of heroes in our military services, In fact, just being a service member would make one a hero in the eyes of many. And maybe that's the way it should be.

Speaking of God

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Speaking of God, for those who still care about Him and what He and His word think, what does the Bible say we should believe and look for when our nation is eviscerated and ravaged by leaders and policies that try to dispense with that which is consecrated, moral and appropriate or right? Does it lead one to despair? Should we look for Jesus to rapture us out of our nation's current chaos? Should America's current state of affairs result in concern and necessitate action on the part of those Christians who profess faith and belief in the Word? I believe it does. What are your thoughts?

Why Change Now

You have got to be kidding me. Has the Federal Government really invalidated several patented Washington Redskin trademarks? It appears they have. And why is the government getting involved in such trivial matters as trademarks for a professional ball team? A better question is, why not? Because they feel they must, fore the spirit of the past cries out in anguish. Most people with half a brain, if they were honest with themselves would concede that they do not find the word redskins offensive and a candid person would concede that at its creation the trademarks for the Washington Redskins was not considered offensive. But these are different times. The United States now has a president of color. The nation, as older generations pass and newer generations take power, is moving beyond race as an issue. Professional victims must now work even harder to find racist things to get worked up about. The professional and may I add, progressive left victims teach and orate a shallow diversity that is color skewed and intellectually harmonized. This is most easily seen on college campuses that have appropriate and acceptable ratios of gay, black, Hispanic, Asian, female and transgendered tenured professors who all view the world through the same lens with the same politics. If the facts do not suit their demands, they conjure convenient new facts that may fly in the face of reality, but anyone who points that out is labeled an extremist, dogmatist or conservative. Well, I suppose that makes me a conservative dogmatist with extreme views as they relate to progressive thought and action.

Fathers are Indispensable

Its Father’s Day today and I can’t think of a more important job than raising your offspring the correct way. Don’t believe me? Well then, I have two words for you: Bowe and Bergdhal. If you have not seen the news lately Google the words up.

As much as some misogynistic lesbian or feminist leftist liberal might try to marginalize the role of fathers the statistics clearly state that when dad is in the home, and he deservedly dispenses out TLC, the kids will more likely than not contribute positively to their community/nation instead of residing in it as self- serving egotistical jackasses. And is that not what our country needs: parents raising kids who love God and our country and at little cost to our nation, but rather add tremendous value to this grand experimentation in self-governance.

Think about this for a moment; If Obama had been properly fathered then maybe America would not be so embarrassed, in debt and internationally laughed at right now. 

On a more personal note; Though my earthly father is gone his legacy of patriotism, faith in God and work ethic lives on. I only hope, I as a father was able to impart some of these same traits to my children and other youth I met along life's many roads. As Mark Twain once stated, "when I was a boy of 14 my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21 I was astonished by how much he'd learned in 7 years." 

Disloyalty a Concept Misunderstood

The president, Chuck Hagel and Susan Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like cutting a corner to avoid an intersection. They have no idea of how great a transgression desertion or treason is in the face of the enemy. Especially so for those in our military who are currently serving and those veterans who have served. Have you noticed how the Administration's talking heads and their followers have become instant experts on military justice. Of earnest appearance and unthinking supposition, one talking head after another announced that “we always try to rescue our troops, even deserters.” History paints a different picture. The consequences of desertion or treason is hard time and in extreme cases execution. As it was in the past, so should it be in the present.

The concept of disloyalty is obviously not understood in Washington. As I see it, treason is a larger perception than attempting to change the government by force. Treason also applies to actions taken to undermine the institutions and ideals that built and sustain a nation in the world. Does not the current administration realize that civilized nations only exist when they draw life and cultivate that life from the institutional pillars upon which it rests? These institutions are the framework of life that unites together the people of a nation.  America for all intents and purpose appears to have abandoned the institutions that gave it birth and from which it drew life.

The Address of Non-Strategic Importance

You have got to be kidding me. President Obama’s West Point speech was prophetic in ways he never imagined. The commander-in-chief tried to use the commencement address to quell worries over a foreign policy that has produced nothing but controversy and little results. While addressing West Point Cadets the “enemy” chosen by Obama actually served as an introduction to America's grand strategy for climate change. The nation’s existential goal, therefore, is “to energize the global effort to combat climate change, a creeping national security crisis that will help shape your time in uniform,” the commander-in-chief told his new Army Officers at West Point. Apparently, the new second lieutenants will spend their careers fighting the weather.

Weather may seem an odd foe for the military. But for a progressive president, it’s the perfect choice.

Obama can’t be accused as a saber rattler because he does not want the military to fight anyone—he wants the military to help people. Lest anyone forget, weather is not a person or a country. Hence he risks offending almost no one. Making climate change a national security matter also helps Obama to press for other statist agenda items-from green energy to clean water to clean air to adopting the right-to-protect doctrine. Unfortunately, as an organizing principle for national security, climate makes a terrible “enemy.” It is enormously complex and unpredictable. The unpredictability of how climate change will play out on the global stage ought to dissuade any strategist from regarding it as an organizing principle around which one need not worry. Basing strategy on climate would be the ultimate Obama foreign policy faux-pas.


Noting the cadet response he received following his speech Obama may well know that the reference to climate may be just like the rest of the address: knowingly empty rhetoric. But it does lead to a conclusion devoid of complexity and capriciousness-this speech and the uninspiring ideas in it will soon be forgotten.

The End Result of Progressivism

Progressives are not interested in the consequences of their actions, they don’t reflect on results, all that matters is intentions. The “War on Poverty” has made poverty worse, and nearly inevitable, but they meant well. The VA provides “free health care” to veterans, just as long as they don’t have serious health issues, then they die waiting. They are spending more than ever before on education because they care, but fewer children are learning the basic life skills necessary for success.

Everyone is special, above average, a perfect little prodigy just as capable of anything as everyone else is. Only we’re not. People are individuals with different skills and abilities and, most importantly, incentive or motivation. You could be the sharpest person in the world, but if your plan for life involves waiting tables until someone comes along, recognizes that fact and offers to pay you a lot of money to simply be gifted, you’re going to be an old waiter or waitress.

Life is as much what you do as it is what happens to you. To think otherwise, to be taught otherwise, is a disfavor to humankind. Then again, progressives are disinterested in consequences when their intentions are what really matters.