D-Day Inspiration

I was reading this yesterday in America's God and Country by William Federer:

"Without Him I understand nothing; without Him all is darkness... Every period had its manias. I regard Atheism as a mania. It is the malady of the age. You could take my skin from me more easily than my faith in God."

Henri Jean Fabre (1823-1915)

That's the funny thing about beliefs, isn't it? They are what makes us who we are, in many respects. There's no removing that part of ourselves - you'd have an easier time taking your skin off.

And wouldn't you know it, I was in the car today, listening to Laura, and she quoted Reagan's Pointe Du Hoc Speech that he gave on June 6, 1984. The best part?

"Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith, and belief; it was loyalty and love.


The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you."

Still pretty powerful stuff, 23 years later. And Laura asked: do we believe enough any more? Would we still be willing to lay it all on the line for this great experiment in freedom? Our enemies sure seem ready to make the ultimate sacrifice; they believe in their cause. Do we?

All of which brings me to my point: I've suddenly gotten quite serious about this; it is not a hobby. I am what I am. People may like it or they may not. I'm proud of the writing here and the ideas behind the writing even more. I can't change what I am, nor would I want to. I have to be true to myself and what I believe in.

So, the time has come, I think, to retire the Monarchist. I've enjoyed the freedom a pen name has given me, not to mention the confidence to know that the ideas are good. They have merit. Will everyone agree? Of course not.

The name may change, but the rest remains the same. I remain your faithful servant,

Mike