"Earn this"

The most poignant line from Saving Private Ryan comes at the end of the final battle scene, where the dying Lt. Smith whispers to Pvt. Ryan, "Earn this." The scene still chokes me up each time I watch it. "This" was the lives of the men who died trying to bring Ryan home alive after both his brothers had been killed in action. That simple imperative applied a huge moral weight to Ryan's young shoulders, and it obviously haunted him even to the very last scene where Ryan, now an old man, pauses and kneels over the Lt's grave and asks his wife if, indeed, he had earned it by being "a good man."

Honor is a word most have heard, many think they understand, but only a relatively small number actually and fully live it. We see all the time how shallowly honor is treated in the culture. People get "honored" with cheap awards for merely entertaining non-discerning people, or achieving some fleeting 15 minutes of fame for a nebulous talent opportunity, or getting elected to a political office by voters willing to believe anything. 

Honor isn't about pompous heroism and personal glory-seeking. Honor is about respecting something bigger than yourself; something truly worthy of that honor and effort. It's about sacrificing something you love (perhaps even your own life) for someone else you may not like or even know. It's about respecting your commitments and doing what is morally right even if it's inconvenient and not something you want to do; even when it costs you. It's about doing something great, and not drawing attention to yourself.  Truly, the greatest heroes are those who risk all, and either remain in the background or give the credit to someone else.

Know anyone like that?  I'll nominate Glenn Beck, perhaps the most unlikely candidate in the public view these days.  Yes, he's famous, but he's the first to belittle himself and give the credit to others. Even though he is pilloried daily by virtually all the media outlets and even by certain otherwise-rational conservatives, Glenn plods ahead with his message of impending menace, our absolute need for God, and the redemptive power of faith, hope and charity.  His clarion call is based on the premise that Son-light is the best disinfectant for the soul.  He's not just preaching to the choir, he's shouting it from the rooftops, on the No.3 radio show, on the No.2 cable show, in a series of No. 1 best-selling books, in a magazine, and on stage shows.  He's a tireless proponent for the only "hope and change" that actually works: hope in God's grace and promise of redemption, and the life-changing, world-changing force of the gospel message.

His latest effort is happening this weekend, with his Restoring Honor event on the National Mall in Washington DC. In front of the Lincoln Memorial he is hosting an event (only his closest team members have just recently been told what's to transpire) that is planned to reintroduce America's nearly-forgotten core values, and to reintroduce us to Him who has made all things possible. I'll have to admit he's clever. He's using an event designed as a fund-raiser for the Special Operations Warrior Fund as a medium to get his message of redemption out. Oh, how sneaky.

Even as he is accused of doing it all for profit, he is spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of his own money to finance the ancillary costs such as hotel rooms for his invited guests and other costs that keep popping up. Aside from the fact that the Obama malAdministration has delegated at least four high-level advisors to work actively against Beck, Glenn can't even get permission to have a military color guard present at the event. But despite lies about him, insults at him, boycotts against him, and physical threats against him, his family and his staff, he (and they) continue fighting the good fight. He's setting the example, and the bar is high.

But to return to my original point, I think we're in a unique time. After generations of struggle, then generations of increasing leisure and luxury, we've now arrived at the knife's edge of a time when everything - and I mean literally, everything - we recognize as part of life in America is now on the brink of extinction.  For perhaps the first time in our history, our own government has leagued with our traditional enemies: socialist progressives, communists, radical Muslims, foreign governments, criminals and opportunists. Generations of Americans have traditionally stood in the gap, willing to take just so much guff and upstartness, and then reigning back the power to themselves - more or less (less and less, actually). But as each generation has been deliberately taught less about our actual history - in context - and our traditions are mocked, belittled and legally frustrated, and our faith is continually attacked in the name of "fairness," how many of us still stand, willing and capable of overcoming the enemy within? How many have the stamina and thick skin to withstand the withering barrage of vitriol, the insults and outright lies thrown against us and those who still love this country?

I think Glenn Beck is being used by God to show us what is required of us if we want to remain (or return to) a free people. He's setting the example for all to see. It's just a matter of how many will actually open their eyes to see.  Many heroes, quiet and otherwise, have passed by before us. Now, it is our turn to stand in the gap. If America falls to this fallen ideology of hate, greed, avarice, pettiness, and envy, there will be no other country to come to our rescue. Worse still, we will destroy the hope of those in other lands who have always looked to America as the beacon of that hope.  The world is watching; some with glee over our impending doom, others with anguish that, with the tempering force of America gone, any possibility of rescue for them will disappear as well.

This is our time, and we were born in it for a reason. This is our land because of God's Providence. We are His stewards, and we have been failing in that mission.  We have an obligation, a duty, to recapture our future and our children's future, but we cannot accomplish anything righteous without God; and if we are on His side we can accomplish anything.  We each have our own talents and opportunities to help in some way.  If we combine those talents with God's will, we can save this country, and that will restore hope to the world. But we must decide to act, and to act properly. If I may recite another famous movie line, "What are you prepared to do?"

Live Free or Die

If you haven't yet watched Glenn Beck's outstanding original documentary, Revolutionary Holocaust: Live Free or Die, what are you waiting for?  It borders on criminal that so many people are oblivious of the dark history of socialism, or that its natural course ultimately leads to absolute tyranny.  And the real criminals are the educational establishment, the press, and the media; all of whom generally ignore, downplay or glamorize its evil roots and intent.  Beck's first foray into documentary production was a resounding success, with more than 4 million TV sets tuned in for the 5 pm showing; a larger audience than all other cable news venues combined.

Beck is also planning an event for August 28 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.  His "Restoring Honor" rally will raise funds for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides financial support for the families of wounded or fallen SpecOps troops and college financing for their children.  This is a worthwhile cause to reward the service and sacrifice of these very special troops.

Joy doesn't always equal happiness.  Joy Behar, that major embarrassment and affront to womanhood from The View, accidentally (?) gave away a major component of the homosexual agenda. According to an article on NewsBusters.org, on Tuesday's show Behar told her audience, "They [gays] don't take monogamy and infidelity the same way that the straight community does. Such things as fidelity don't have the "same weight" with gays as with straights..."  No kidding, Joy.

The article goes on to state, "As far back as 1972, the National Coalition of Gay Organizations has demanded the 'repeal of all legislative provisions that restrict the sex or number of persons entering into a marriage unit; and the extension of legal benefits to all persons who cohabit regardless of sex or numbers.'"

And if that isn't telling enough, Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, agreed in his 2003 article "Beyond Gay Marriage," which was published in The Weekly Standard. He wrote that "the likeliest effects" of gay marriage will be a "slippery slope" to the legalization of polygamy and polyamory (group marriage).  "Marriage will be transformed," he continued, "into a variety of relationship contracts, linking two, three or more individuals...in every conceivable combination of male and female."

The homosexual agenda is wrong-headed in so many aspects, and marriage is not the worst. Because it is essentially a parasitic behavior -- in the sense that homosexuals, by definition, cannot breed more homosexuals naturally between themselves -- they must either find like-minded individuals, or recruit otherwise-normal people into their deathstyle.  This is why there is so much effort among activists to promote it in the schools (see "Federal Level" point 6, and "State Level" point 7); they attempt -- through dares, temptations (money), intoxication, or seduction -- to attract the adventurous, the naive, the insecure, the confused and the troubled youths; first into a general or passive acceptance, and gradually (although sometimes rapidly (if circumstances permit) into active experimentation and participation. They "accept" the youth into their subculture, and, much like a gang affiliation, that often becomes the young person's new "identity."

Incidentally, I refer to it as a "deathstyle" not out of vindictiveness but in  an attempt at accuracy.  Besides being a major venue for a broad spectrum of sexually transmitted diseases, homosexuality - if carried to the ultimate, unrestrained degree - would result in the death of the entire culture, and possibly of the species itself.  While many homosexuals undoubtedly lead quiet, stable lives, the more active and flagrant among them often use their sexual identity to mask lives of self-hatred, insecurity, hostility, violence, and suicidal tendencies. Many homosexuals are profligate, indiscriminate, sometimes violent. This subculture of selfishness is primarily about self-interest, self-gratification, and often, self-destruction, because the one thing they cannot attain is true satisfaction. Instead, they are in perpetual pursuit of the "greater thrill." In their wake they cut a swath of physical, psychological and spiritual destruction.

Ultimately, while they often separate themselves from the broader culture by a crass and heathenish approach to life, the greater tragedy is that they risk separating themselves from God. As might be expected from people who are so desperate to establish their own sense of identity (however perverse or repulsive it may be considered by "normal" folks) that some will lash out against the cultural norms, they will often (though not always) lash out against God, too; even if they profess non-belief in Him.

While it might be nice if everyone could practice their own peculiarities without danger of consequence, this is not how life operates. Irresponsible behavior carries with it risk to ourselves and others around us, and - in my mind, at least - the greatest risk is that of causing, by our own willfulness, separation from His love. Homosexuals should not be the subject of personal hatred, but neither should their sin be embraced. We all are sinners. "There is none righteous, no, not one." There is nothing we can do to save ourselves from His wrath and our own destruction; our only hope is His forgiveness and grace.  But, isn't it preferable to at least try to rise above our baser nature?