Community Cooperation. As Hillary Clinton pointed out, it does indeed take a village, a united sense of purpose, and conviction to give meaning to life, and to our way of life. We should learn to ask why, before we arrive at the twilight of our lives. A newly revived Civilian Conservation Corps would help accomplish that, mingling various classes as mandatory military service once did, but with the goal, now, of building, rather than destroying.
Much of my life has revolved around the ideals of service, duty, and honor embodied in the General´s West Point address, which I first read and found so inspiring as a cadet in both the Civil Air Patrol and Jr. ROTC. The text is available here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/1068922/posts
That speech and the ideals it represents may be what got me kicked out of Annapolis, in fact. When I arrived at the Naval Academy, I expected the ideas I had been taught as a cadet to continue to the Brigade of Midshipmen and to the officer corps: Nobless Oblige, defend and support the weak, work together to serve the ideals that make our democracy great. But I found a very different reality there, and in questioning, earned the ire of both my upper classmen and several of my classmates to boot.
Contemplating the meaning of friendship, and the twilight of one´s life, I find that I have been told that I was out of touch, or had my head in the clouds, or lived life as the world should be rather than as it really is, been called a Crusader, over and over. The courage of my convictions remains with me, yet I tire of the struggle. What do I want from my life? Only to make that contribution which only I can make, to be a bridge, to help re-create the cooperation which existed, not only between communities, but to inspire people to recall and rebuild what was old Al Andalus, and the cooperation of La Convivencia. To gather and encourage people of good will and decency to promote cooperation and community for the sake of us all.
Peace,
Shira
MEOW Date : Friday, April 20, 12014 H.E. (Holocene Era, aka Human Era)
“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, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet 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.”
These words inspired me, as a CAP and Jr. ROTC cadet, to a life of service towards Duty, Honor, and Loyalty to equality for all… Shira
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