Score One for Justice

Cindy Sheehan was arrested ysterday. She wore a huge idiot smirk on her face as police officers physically removed her from the scene. “Hee, hee, hee ... civil disobedience is so much fun ... [Toss of the hair] ... Gee, am I having a blast!” ...As if it was a senior prank.

Hats off to the U.S. Park Police, though. As officers in the spotlight, they know their actions will be scrutinized by their superiors, the general public, and the media brigade. They performed their duties flawlessly.

When the media first introduced me to Sheehan, my heart went out to her. I empathized over what it must be like to lose a loved one to war. I recognized her right to mourn in whatever manner soothed her. As soon as she realized she had the nations’ attention, though, she certainly shed the grieving mother persona and stepped into the role of political activist without batting an eye.

I am ashamed of her on behalf of her son. I would hope, that if I felt called to sacrifice my life for something I believed in, that my survivors wouldn’t turn around and mar my memory by taking a very public stand against it. She dishonors her son as well as his comrades who fought and fell by his side. Nobody hates war more than a soldier. But they are motivated to face that which they hate because they feel called to the duty of defense of their country, a duty which is wholly encompassing… theirs not to reason why. To debate the valiancy of that commitment, to stain the bigger picture their spirits carry, is the worst kind of demoralization, the most belittling insult.


"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." -- Theodore Roosevelt