Wednesday, March 20, 2024

The Dreamers At West Point

You may have heard the US Military Academy at West Point has changed its mission statement from a focus on "Duty, Honor, County" to what are now called "Army Values". If not, you can read about it here:

https://www.westpoint.edu/news/press-releases/west-point-mission-statement-update-0

Two things immediately come to mind:

(1) If you've never heard General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's Sylvanus Thayer Award acceptance address which emphasized those three foundational words, you should listen to it now. It's quite inspirational:

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/douglasmacarthurthayeraward.html

(2) The new direction being taken by our military academy appears to be the one suggested in John Lennon's song "Imagine" (see lyrics below):

https://youtu.be/ugrAo8wEPiI

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us, only sky

Imagine all the people

Livin' for today

Ah

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion, too

Imagine all the people

Livin' life in peace

You

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world

You

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

[Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: John Winston Lennon

Imagine lyrics © Budde Music France, CONSALAD CO., Ltd, Downtown Music Publishing, Sentric Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, TuneCore Inc.]

The former Beatle's dream sounds tempting indeed, but does it accurately reflect the direction we're headed? The undeclared wars in Ukaine and Gaza, and the ones soon to come against China, Iran, and Russia may result in a Utopia of sorts for The Powers That Be, but for the rest of us almost certainly will result in a horrible nightmare.

I prefer MacArthur's version of the future. How about you?

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