No longer the ‘…Home of the Brave’?

“Brave“. What does that word even mean anymore?

Yet again, behavior which was once the hallmark of our nation is being eradicated. We’ve touched on this in the past (in “Land of the Fearful; Home of the Meek“), but the examples keep coming, with no end in sight. In a different time, the people listed below would be considered “brave” or “courageous” by almost any measure.

But today?

Well, do you recall the story of 20-year-old volunteer EMT Stephen Sawyer? He was the only one around when a call came in about a 4-year-old who was having a seizure:

(via Fox News) – “…After making several unsuccessful calls for ambulances, Sawyer said he made the decision to drive the ambulance to save the child – violating the rule that only people age 21 or older can drive the emergency vehicle…” 

And what was Sawyer’s reward for saving the child?

We Honor our Fallen this Memorial Day Weekend

Powerful words about the price of Freedom, …spoken by a President who loved our country, believed in it deeply, and lived those words daily.

Taken from Reagan’s first Inaugural address back in January 20th, 1981, the following is also wonderfully appropriate this Memorial Day weekend.

‘…Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George Washington, Father of our country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.

And then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Killing Heroism: student gets suspended AFTER preventing school bus shooting

Last year, we covered several stories of heroism (“Land of the Fearful; Home of the Meek“). In each case, normal, everyday folks took extraordinary action while at work which, in a saner time in our history, would have garnered them nationwide recognition. In these cases, however, their bravery and willingness to act resulted in their being fired.

Yes, fired.

I said at the time why I felt this was the case:

“All three of these incidents have people acting in a heroic manner, either out of bravery, concern for others or just self-preservation. When did this become objectionable?

The answer, of course, is that now we are supposed to be timid, mild-mannered sheep, who turn a blind eye to people in need or even to our own safety. We aren’t supposed to question authority, even when that authority is nowhere to be found.”

So when I read the news report below, I was horrified that I may have been even more correct at the time than I thought. From the New York Daily News:

The Greatness of our Military, and how the Media fails us by failing to tell their stories

How often do you hear tales of heroic achievement by our military from the Media?

Oh, sure, occasionally one such story slips through, like Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry back in 2011, or more recently, former Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha. But how often, and how loudly, are these stories repeated? Here’s an easy test: mention the two names above to 20 people at random, and see how many folks know who they are.

I’m betting none, unless you stack the deck.

Most of us never have and never will see combat (thank God), but don’t we want to know about the men and women who have? Wouldn’t we be interested in hearing about how they conducted themselves flawlessly, under the harshest of circumstances? These people are allowing us to go about our lives, after all.

But no, instead we get a blip of a report here or there and then right back to normal, with most of the stories showing our fighting men in as bad a light as possible. As for the movies, overwhelmingly who we’ve seen on the cinema screen for the past 30-odd years are almost cartoons, parodies of the real thing.