My kind of loyalty was to one's country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death: Mark Twain
On this Memorial Day 2008 let us remember and acknowledge not just our fallen soldiers ~ but also our beloved Constitution that has been shredded by the Cheney/Bush administration and let that Constitution lead us back to the America we all used to know.
On Memorial Day, much of the media will roll over backwards to glorify war and all the soldiers slaughtered in wars. Tributes to the dead are easy; the dead don't talk back and if they did they would most certainly say say ~ why ?
To save your world you asked this man to die; Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?: W. H. Auden: "Epitaph for an Unknown Soldier"
The old lie: Dulce et decorum est - Pro patria mori *
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8970.htm
* To die for one’s country is sweet and becoming.
From the poem “Dulce et decorum est” by the English poet Wilfred Owen, 1893 -1918, killed at the front a few days before the Armistice.
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2008/05/26.html
Freelance Online columnist and recognized therapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
