Often for me these days I have conflicted feeling about my country. We are engaged in so much folly that it is hard to read the paper without a sense of dread. It is hard, very hard, to study history (as I have to as part of my work and as I love to) without feeling a profound sense of loss and even at times shame seeing how far we are falling away from the firm principle and profound commitments of our founding. So I often arrive at Independence Day finding deep stirrings of patriotism conflicted with current sadness and despair. As a matter of ongoing inspiration, I am listening to some of the greatest recorded speeches ever (if you want to join in this habit, the speeches—note that some are worth skipping—are at Historical Speeches). Providentially, this morning I listened to Reagan’s speech commemorating D-Day’s 40th Anniversary at Pointe Du Hoc, in Normandy. It is in two parts and has no video. His language is both profound and simple. There is a clarity in it that, amidst the sophistry of our day, struck me as almost provocative. Listening to it solves none of the problems of our day, but it does help you to remember with poignant clearness why our nation is a great nation and, perhaps, it gives us some hope for the future. Happy Independence Day!
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=75V2socOEVc&feature=related
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