November 23, 2004
Commentary:
Our obligation
By Jack GrantWhy am I always so concerned about the degradation of politics to mindless, hate-filled name-calling? Because I fear that our nation will stop attracting people such as this man:
Sgt. Rafael Peralta built a reputation as a man who always put his Marines' interests ahead of his own.---
Peralta, 25, as platoon scout, wasn't even assigned to the assault team that entered the insurgent safe house in northern Fallujah, Marines said. Despite an assignment that would have allowed him to avoid such dangerous duty, he regularly asked squad leaders if he could join their assault teams, they said.
One of the first Marines to enter the house, Peralta was wounded in the face by rifle fire from a room near the entry door, said Lance Cpl. Adam Morrison, 20, of Tacoma, who was in the house when Peralta was first wounded.
Moments later, an insurgent rolled a fragmentation grenade into the area where a wounded Peralta and the other Marines were seeking cover.
As Morrison and another Marine scrambled to escape the blast, pounding against a locked door, Peralta grabbed the grenade and cradled it into his body, Morrison said. While one Marine was badly wounded by shrapnel from the blast, the Marines said they believe more lives would have been lost if not for Peralta's selfless act.
"He saved half my fire team," said Cpl. Brannon Dyer, 27, of Blairsville, Ga.
The Marines said such a sacrifice would be perfectly in character for Peralta, a Mexico native who lived in San Diego and gained U.S. citizenship after joining the Marines.
Sergeant Peralta was not born in the United States, but he chose to join the Marines and defend the United States. We should be proud that we have people such as him in our armed forces, and we should make damned sure that we never ask them to make such sacrifices in vain.
Our nation attracts people like Sergeant Peralta not only for our economic prosperity and freedoms, but also because despite our persistent problems with racism we still have a society that shows the most respect for those of different backgrounds. If we allow ourselves to degenerate into thinking that anyone who doesn't agree with us should be met with hatred, we will have lost one of the most important things that makes our nation both unique and great, and one of the things that makes our nation worthy of the sacrifices made by people such as Sergeant Rafael Peralta.
We enjoy the benefits of our freedoms due to the sacrifices of others made long ago. Our obligation not only to them but also to those who sacrifice themselves now is to make sure we keep the United States a nation to be held up as an example of freedom and respect for humanity that is all too rare in this world.
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Thanks to Captain's Quarters for the link.
Posted by Jack Grant at 06:31 on 23 November 2004No doubt Sergeant Peralta's selfless deed is something than can (and will) be appreciated by most, if not all, regardless of where they fall along the political spectrum...
To say that his sacrifice was in vain is tragic.
Do you think that it was in vain? That it was for an unjust cause or defending an unjust nation?
Posted by: Key at November 24, 2004 08:50 PMI'm not saying it *was* in vain, I'm saying we need to make sure it never *becomes* in vain for his or any other sacrifice like it.
Posted by: Jack at November 24, 2004 08:52 PMI'm not certain any longer that our politics is any more hateful now than it's been in the past, honestly, and what I notice about today's military is that none of them seems much to care that people at home are carping. All the service branches have been exceeding their recruiting goals; re-enlistment rates are higher than ever and way above target, and some of the branches of the service are actually having to forcibly retire people because they're overstaffed.
While I hated how nasty the politics got this year, at some point you have to throw up your hands and say "well this is how it is." If you go back and look at the things they said about the likes of Lincoln and Wilson and others, it was sometimes just horrible to read.
Posted by: Dean Esmay at November 28, 2004 02:31 PMMy concern is that new technology and culture trends (the Internet, weblogs, email, "viral" trends and memes) are exacerbating the levels of hate and making it all the easier to dehumanize our political opposition (in other words, our fellow citizens who don't think the same way as we do...). I've read a lot of what was written in the past, for example, Lincoln being referred to as an "ape," and have read even farther back to the pamphlets published during and shortly after the American Revolution, and yes, they hold few if any punches and balance (or even accuracy) is rarely present. I have no problems with rough-and-tumble politics, but when we go from playing rough to dehumanization (for example, the shots fired into Bush/Cheney campaign offices were likely perpetrated by someone who didn't think of Republicans as "humans"), then I fear we are on the wrong path.
Posted by: Jack at November 28, 2004 02:40 PM
