The Laughing Wolf

No Greater Love

At different times in our lives, we all provide service to others. We look after the members of our immediate family when they are sick or otherwise need assistance. We help with the chores around the house as children, and more involved or onerous bits of repair and expansion when older. The day-to-day cleaning and operation is a part of what we do for others on a continuing basis.

This also gets done to some extent for extended family, friends, and good neighbors. When something bad happens, we take over food, take over some chores, drive them to the doctor, or otherwise pitch in and help them a bit.

This service is something we do not merely because we have to do so, but because we feel it is the right thing to do. Duty alone does not bind us to it: love for our fellow man, stronger love for the special people in our lives, and respect for ourselves drive us to do it.

This also applies to the larger service we provide as individuals within society. We obey reasonable rules, written and unwritten, so that society as a whole is better. We form stand in lines when no one forces us to, because we know that things will flow faster and smoother as we do so. We practice courtesy, for we know that it is the oil that lubricates societal interaction. We grumble, but we serve our turn on jury duty and similar tasks because we know it is the right thing to do. We help others, as we ourselves would like to be helped in similar circumstances.

Each and every one of us serve society at large. The degree of that service varies, but the least we can do is live up to the basic responsibilities of being a Citizen by being informed, voting and otherwise taking part in the body politic, and fulfilling out end of the covenant between us and our fellow Citizens.

Some people, however, are driven to take it further. They see the need to protect our society from harm, from evil, and know that they must stand between us and such danger. There is the fireman, who rushes in when others flee the heat, smoke and flame. There is the explosives ordinance disposal technician who even as they try to defuse a bomb, position their body to shield others from as much of the blast as possible should things go wrong. There is the soldier, who gives up some of their freedom and liberty so that others can have theirs in full measure. The list can go on, but what matters is that these people give, and have given, of themselves so that each of us can be free.

The circumstances that led them do so are as numerous as the number of individuals involved. The reasons they do so and did so, however, boil down to two: love and respect.

Each of these people were motivated by love of family, friends, and others. It was love that caused them to put themselves in harms way. For they so loved their family, friends, country, and even world, that they made the decision to place themselves between the dark and those people and things they loved.

It was respect that kept them there, and made them stand no matter what. They held not merely the people, but the framework of society with such respect that they were willing to give their lives as necessary to protect it. They had the self-respect necessary to take up that duty willingly, to stand fast in the way of fear and terror, and to do what was right no matter the cost.

No one who has neither love nor self-respect will ever understand it. Pity them.

Today, take the time to think about this. Remember that service to others need not be blood and guts or heroism amid the flames; but, rather it is being faithful to the societal contract we have entered into. To moan that history has given you no great challenge, and wish for a disaster so that you can show yourself fit for the occasion is self-centered, selfish, and boorish. To go forth and uphold your written and unwritten responsibilities to the best of your ability, to do well in the small things as well as the large, and to serve others to the best of your ability, that is true greatness. It is by that which history will judge you. It is by that, that you will judge yourself.

Memorial Day is a good time for those of us who do love, who do have respect, and who have self-respect to remember those who fought to keep us free. It is a time for us to remember and honor all those who died so that we might live. We honor them not merely by a show of respect on one particular day, but by taking up the gauntlet they have thrown down at our feet. We can honor them by doing the best in all we do. By being responsible citizens who are informed and take part in a constructive way in the society we have chosen. For anyone of legal age chooses to live here, and is not forced to do so. We are free to leave at any time and move to any country that will have us. We are even free to search for some deserted island somewhere. We choose to stay, and having made that choice we must make the most of it.

Remember all those who have served, and most especially those who died so that we might be free. Live up to the challenge, and do no less than your best.

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