Duty, Honour, Country

If you would not mind indulging me for a moment please, I would very much like to share with you some of Douglas MacArthur’s words (this is not to be confused with McCarthyism – different person).  He was addressing the graduating class at West Point.  He saw this as the last time he would stand before them.  In his words “Today marks my final roll call with you.” “The shadows are lengthening for me.  The twilight is here.  My days of old have vanished….they have gone glimmering through the things that were.  Their memory is one of wonderous beauty, watered by tears and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday.  I listen, then, but with thirsty ear, for the…melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll.”
He spoke to them of “Duty, honour, country.”  His country is not my country, but I do believe his words apply to any country.  What is more he seemed to be addressing individuals.  I find what he said applicable to me.  It is a dream, an aspiration, a desire.  But one to me worth having.
“They build your basic character.  They mould you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation’s defence.  They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid.
They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm, but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh but never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, but never neglect the past; to be serious, but never take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.
They give you a temperate will, a quality of imagination, a vigour of the imagination, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, an appetite for adventure over the love of ease.
They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life.”
I must admit, I love the way he put that.  There was a part in Lord of the Rings that I am reminded of, that really moved me.  It was when Arwens dad Elrond was discouraging her from becoming human.  There was a forest scene and the casks of great kings.  I love the imagery and words.  Same as this really.
It is easy to pull down but harder to build up.  When I read that above it seems there was a lot of building up going on.  To me true greatness is born of true humility.  It is what I see here and it is no wonder he was loved.