Pedecaris alive, or the Raisuli dead

Like many I was glued to the television in the days following the tragic terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. As it happened, I tended to tune to FOX. In those first days when FOX finally started to insert commercial breaks, they introduced those breaks with a series of inspirational quotes. One blurb they used time and time again was: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. – Alfred Lord Tennyson” Most will recognize this as the last line of Tennyson’s masterful work “Ulysses.” The full thought is “. . . . and tho' we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are- One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” I am certain that whomever decided that this quote should lead the segway to a commercial break simply used it for its superficial informational value – it sounded good. But in truth I doubt if any quote could have been more meaningful in those days of crisis. The Greeks that wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey held those works with a reverence that few today may understand. In a certain sense they were as important to the ancient Greek culture as the Old Testament was to the Hebrew in that these works defined the early Greeks as a people while at the same time presenting them with the meaning for individual existence. Ulysses defined the perfect man because of his steadfastness in the face of constant trial. Two concepts above all were important to the Greeks and find a prominent place in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. The first is the concept of arête. Loosely translated, arête means excellence or the striving for excellence. The archetypal Greek ideal was to seek excellence in all ways. However, the achievement of excellence could only come through struggle, because it was in struggle that the best of a man could be refined and strengthened even as his worst qualities are burned away. The Greeks believed that one that believed that arête was possible without this constant struggle was guilty of hubris, the pride that the Greeks saw as one of man’s greatest character flaws. The second important concept is that of the polis. The polis was the community, the nation and the political unit all wrapped into one. The polis had more importance to the Greeks than family in that the ultimate loyalty was to the polis. What is interesting in these two concepts is how, although disparate at first glint, they actually form a unifying whole. Personal excellence and the subservience of the person to the greater good of the community are twin concepts that have come down to us from ancient times and form a cornerstone of western civilization. But what is more to the point is the notion that it is only within struggle that excellence is found, and that the excellence of the person and that of the community are inextricably linked. We see evidence of this throughout history. The generation of Americans that persevered during the depression, fought the Second World War and then turned around to win the cold war are now commonly referred to as “the greatest generation.” Is there any doubt that this expression would never be used to describe this generation if that generation had not been forced to find their identity in the conflagrations of the 20th century? But it should not be thought that this “greatest generation” earned that maxim simply because the depression was survived or the war was won. Indeed as Tennyson would argue, there is often as much victory in defeat as long as the defeat is one with honor and comes at the end of struggle. After the fall of France in 1940, for example, Winston Churchill admonished his countrymen to: “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’” The war that ended Great Britain’s reign as a world power and looked in 1940 as if it would totally destroy the country itself, was perceived by Churchill as an opportunity of the people of England to re-establish their claim to greatness, regardless of the outcome of the coming conflagration. Nor is military victory always a sign of success. The German people who elected Adolph Hitler to high political office and set out to reorder the world in their image cannot be said to have found greatness. Even if they had won World War II there would have been a moral deficiency attached to the German Volk for as long as that evil Reich existed It becomes useful, therefore, to take a look at our country and see if our community is living up to the challenge fate has deemed to face us with. I have to admit I am not happy with what I see. We have become a patriotic community, perhaps – or at least superficially so. But what many have done is simply traded their “aids ribbons” for a piece of decorative red, white and blue that they now pin to the lapel with the same zest and as little real meaning that they did those ribbons. Indeed, just as Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich popularized conservatism and made it into a fad, the terrorist attack has popularized patriotism. People now chant “E pluribus unum,” as often as they used to yell “dittoes – and with as little comprehension of what they are saying. And as soon as the novelty and collective giddiness wears off, the flags and ribbons will come down to be replaced with whatever new fad will have its day. Nor am I happy with other qualities of the American people I have seen. The amount of anti-depressant medications consumed per capita in the United States has risen dramatically since September 11th. We are frightened to the state of hysteria to open our mail. We are concerned more with the problem of splitting up the donations that came as a result of the terrorist attacks than we are about dealing with the attackers. Indeed, we seem much more interested in not being inconvenienced than we do in overcoming the challenge we are faced with. Fear seems the overriding reaction to the struggle, and with the subsidence of fear, apathy has grown. More disturbing is our newfound love of government. Soon after the terrorist attacks, our government came to us to soothe our fears. Bush told us we would either have “Pedecaris alive, or the Raisuli dead,” and we never bothered to ask the cost or the reason. We are now faced with national ID cards, a possible limitation of civil rights, an enormous growth of the Federal government and entangling commitments throughout the world. Where have conservative principles gone? Were these principles of limited government so tenuous, that they were good only in time of peace? Are the voices that preached that FDR was a poor president because he used the crisis of his time to increase the size of government, now muted simply because a Republican is in office? Has the fear and apathy of the American people made us so unequal to the task before us that they do not see that any advances made in governmental power now will oppress our children long after we are dead and the crisis over? We are at war and I’ll be damned if I know against whom or when it was declared – or even what is our goal. And the truth of the matter is that the American people do not want to know such things, or be bothered with knowing such things. To us, war is little more than entertainment. The struggle is being lost even as we think it is being won. We see arête, but behind the glint is only the hubris of a people that perhaps has forgotten how to be great. Sebastian

I don't know if Homer used paragraphs, having not seen his original manuscript. I don't know if your paragraph breaks would resemble mine. But here you go.

Like many I was glued to the television in the days following the tragic terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

As it happened, I tended to tune to FOX. In those first days when FOX finally started to insert commercial breaks, they introduced those breaks with a series of inspirational quotes.

One blurb they used time and time again was: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. – Alfred Lord Tennyson” Most will recognize this as the last line of Tennyson’s masterful work “Ulysses.” The full thought is “. . . . and tho' we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are- One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

I am certain that whomever decided that this quote should lead the segway to a commercial break simply used it for its superficial informational value – it sounded good. But in truth I doubt if any quote could have been more meaningful in those days of crisis.

The Greeks that wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey held those works with a reverence that few today may understand. In a certain sense they were as important to the ancient Greek culture as the Old Testament was to the Hebrew in that these works defined the early Greeks as a people while at the same time presenting them with the meaning for individual existence.

Ulysses defined the perfect man because of his steadfastness in the face of constant trial. Two concepts above all were important to the Greeks and find a prominent place in both the Iliad and the Odyssey.

The first is the concept of arête. Loosely translated, arête means excellence or the striving for excellence. The archetypal Greek ideal was to seek excellence in all ways. However, the achievement of excellence could only come through struggle, because it was in struggle that the best of a man could be refined and strengthened even as his worst qualities are burned away. The Greeks believed that one that believed that arête was possible without this constant struggle was guilty of hubris, the pride that the Greeks saw as one of man’s greatest character flaws.

The second important concept is that of the polis. The polis was the community, the nation and the political unit all wrapped into one. The polis had more importance to the Greeks than family in that the ultimate loyalty was to the polis.

What is interesting in these two concepts is how, although disparate at first glint, they actually form a unifying whole. Personal excellence and the subservience of the person to the greater good of the community are twin concepts that have come down to us from ancient times and form a cornerstone of western civilization. But what is more to the point is the notion that it is only within struggle that excellence is found, and that the excellence of the person and that of the community are inextricably linked. We see evidence of this throughout history. The generation of Americans that persevered during the depression, fought the Second World War and then turned around to win the cold war are now commonly referred to as “the greatest generation.”

Is there any doubt that this expression would never be used to describe this generation if that generation had not been forced to find their identity in the conflagrations of the 20th century? But it should not be thought that this “greatest generation” earned that maxim simply because the depression was survived or the war was won. Indeed as Tennyson would argue, there is often as much victory in defeat as long as the defeat is one with honor and comes at the end of struggle.

After the fall of France in 1940, for example, Winston Churchill admonished his countrymen to: “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”

The war that ended Great Britain’s reign as a world power and looked in 1940 as if it would totally destroy the country itself, was perceived by Churchill as an opportunity of the people of England to re-establish their claim to greatness, regardless of the outcome of the coming conflagration.

Nor is military victory always a sign of success. The German people who elected Adolph Hitler to high political office and set out to reorder the world in their image cannot be said to have found greatness. Even if they had won World War II there would have been a moral deficiency attached to the German Volk for as long as that evil Reich existed

It becomes useful, therefore, to take a look at our country and see if our community is living up to the challenge fate has deemed to face us with. I have to admit I am not happy with what I see.

We have become a patriotic community, perhaps – or at least superficially so. But what many have done is simply traded their “aids ribbons” for a piece of decorative red, white and blue that they now pin to the lapel with the same zest and as little real meaning that they did those ribbons.

Indeed, just as Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich popularized conservatism and made it into a fad, the terrorist attack has popularized patriotism. People now chant “E pluribus unum,” as often as they used to yell “dittoes – and with as little comprehension of what they are saying. And as soon as the novelty and collective giddiness wears off, the flags and ribbons will come down to be replaced with whatever new fad will have its day.

Nor am I happy with other qualities of the American people I have seen. The amount of anti-depressant medications consumed per capita in the United States has risen dramatically since September 11th. We are frightened to the state of hysteria to open our mail.

We are concerned more with the problem of splitting up the donations that came as a result of the terrorist attacks than we are about dealing with the attackers. Indeed, we seem much more interested in not being inconvenienced than we do in overcoming the challenge we are faced with.

Fear seems the overriding reaction to the struggle, and with the subsidence of fear, apathy has grown.

More disturbing is our newfound love of government. Soon after the terrorist attacks, our government came to us to soothe our fears. Bush told us we would either have “Pedecaris alive, or the Raisuli dead,” and we never bothered to ask the cost or the reason.

We are now faced with national ID cards, a possible limitation of civil rights, an enormous growth of the Federal government and entangling commitments throughout the world. Where have conservative principles gone? Were these principles of limited government so tenuous, that they were good only in time of peace?

Are the voices that preached that FDR was a poor president because he used the crisis of his time to increase the size of government, now muted simply because a Republican is in office? Has the fear and apathy of the American people made us so unequal to the task before us that they do not see that any advances made in governmental power now will oppress our children long after we are dead and the crisis over?

We are at war and I’ll be damned if I know against whom or when it was declared – or even what is our goal. And the truth of the matter is that the American people do not want to know such things, or be bothered with knowing such things. To us, war is little more than entertainment. The struggle is being lost even as we think it is being won.

We see arête, but behind the glint is only the hubris of a people that perhaps has forgotten how to be great. Sebastian

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.