Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Worship
Freedom of Fear
Freedom of Want
FDR said these were the four things quintessential and unique about America a month after Pearl Harbor. We weren't ready for WWII, Germany controlled most of Europe with a precision and ruthlessness unmatched. Less than a generation before America had seen it's sons come home with the wounds of trench warfare, their dead sons laid to rest on foreign shores with the finality that is war. Still Roosevelt knew that these ideals were worth sharing, worth dying for alone a long way from home. As they are still.
Saw these quotes on war bond posters that Norman Rockwell painted after hearing FDR's speech, his images as always honest, folksy, and real. The Tom Brady's and Eli Manning's of the world don't go to war, rarely is it the Pat Tillman's, instead it is the Shaw's, the Ramey's, the Beard's, the Torres', the Madison's, the boys from Indiana, and Colorado, and Alabama, and Alaska, the immigrant's son's, and the like that still answer the call on a daily basis. Imperfect men, all. All races, all creeds, believers, those who lost their faith, and lifelong cynics. The bond is indescribable. My regrets are many and none, depending on the day you ask me. But after seeing the posters tonight I worry about where we're at now.
Freedom of speech, to demean those who don't agree with us?
Freedom to worship, and to belittle those who still have their faith?
Freedom of Fear, when the boogie man is at every TSA checkpoint?
Freedom of Want, when our neighbors rely on handouts from taxpayers instead of work from their neighbor?
As a Coach I always ended criticism with hope, as I will here. Those same young men who went to fight, and bleed, and die, from Omaha to Iwo Jima would find their equal among the young men and women who serve today. Sadly, to paraphrase Rick Pitino, "FDR, Truman, and JFK ain't walking through that door anytime soon."
Freedom of Worship
Freedom of Fear
Freedom of Want
FDR said these were the four things quintessential and unique about America a month after Pearl Harbor. We weren't ready for WWII, Germany controlled most of Europe with a precision and ruthlessness unmatched. Less than a generation before America had seen it's sons come home with the wounds of trench warfare, their dead sons laid to rest on foreign shores with the finality that is war. Still Roosevelt knew that these ideals were worth sharing, worth dying for alone a long way from home. As they are still.
Saw these quotes on war bond posters that Norman Rockwell painted after hearing FDR's speech, his images as always honest, folksy, and real. The Tom Brady's and Eli Manning's of the world don't go to war, rarely is it the Pat Tillman's, instead it is the Shaw's, the Ramey's, the Beard's, the Torres', the Madison's, the boys from Indiana, and Colorado, and Alabama, and Alaska, the immigrant's son's, and the like that still answer the call on a daily basis. Imperfect men, all. All races, all creeds, believers, those who lost their faith, and lifelong cynics. The bond is indescribable. My regrets are many and none, depending on the day you ask me. But after seeing the posters tonight I worry about where we're at now.
Freedom of speech, to demean those who don't agree with us?
Freedom to worship, and to belittle those who still have their faith?
Freedom of Fear, when the boogie man is at every TSA checkpoint?
Freedom of Want, when our neighbors rely on handouts from taxpayers instead of work from their neighbor?
As a Coach I always ended criticism with hope, as I will here. Those same young men who went to fight, and bleed, and die, from Omaha to Iwo Jima would find their equal among the young men and women who serve today. Sadly, to paraphrase Rick Pitino, "FDR, Truman, and JFK ain't walking through that door anytime soon."
