Defend Civilization Itself (Mark Helprin, inspiring)

Hillsdale College website ^ | From a speech delivered May 24, 2002. | Mark Helprin

[exnavy]

Mark Helprin is always a good read, this piece is no exception.

[serinde]

Excellent piece. Thanks.

[Sam Cree]

Thanks for posting this. Helprin is just about my favorite author, I especially love his Winter's Tale.

[ThePythonicCow]

good post - thanks

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

I loved that book! A Soldier of the Great War, though, I shared with my dad. Mark's description of a WWI soldier during a brutal winter in the Italian Alps changed my view of war. Fiction or no, this man's words inspire.

[denydenydeny]

Beautiful.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

He gave this speech to high school graduates. He didn't speak to entertain or placate the "kids." He didn't say,"the world's tough - go home." He told them the truth. That they have a duty to protect our precious civilization.

And he said, "God bless"....in school. (^:

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Bump

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

You're very welcome. The comparison of the Polish immigrant opera singer and the American trooper in Afghanistan, both defending Western Civilization...sniff...was so beautiful. He has rare gift, hmmm?!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

FYI. Little Friday night case for "saving the world." (^:

[mrustow]

Thanks, RC. Usually, I split my concentration between two screens. And a masterpiece was playing out on the other screen -- the Great Pedro vs. MIke Mo-o-o-ssina. And still, I turned off the sound, and proceeded to read Helprin aloud, as I believe great speeches are meant to be read. (Of course, I move my lips when I read baseball box scores, so you have to consider the source.)

Reading aloud, I made it until halfway through the following passage:

"It did not matter that they were unrecognized, that they sang on the street, or that they were desperately poor, because that day in Venice they rose above everyone else, except perhaps the saints."

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Ah, but you missed the grand finale: (^:

We have heard of late how we are at a disadvantage in the war that has just begun, because in the West we cling to life and comfort at the expense of honor. Our enemies tell us that, and in the telling they barely conceal their enjoyment. Do they really believe this? Because if they do, I have a message for them: The sense of honor in the West may be slow to awaken, but it exists in measures and quantities, when it does awaken, enough to fill the world, as it shall, as it must. How do they think we have come to where we are? How do they think we survived the battles that led to the great revisions in this civilization, its unprecedented turnings, redirections, and rededications -- of which, being entirely unself-critical and subjective, they have not yet had the courage to make even one? They say we have no history. Did we spring from a leaf? How do they think we have come through our five thousand years? Honor. From long familiarity, we know what honor is.

It is what enables the individual to do right in the face of complacency and cowardice. It is what enables the soldier to die alone, the political prisoner to resist, the singer to sing her song, hardly appreciated, on a side street. It is God's valuation and resplendent touch, His gift of strength to those who need it most, when they need it most.

I ask you to defend and protect what is great and good, to choose your battles, but to stand your ground. For little things cascade into big things, and even should the larger battle not go well, hold your position. Even if, in the end, you do not prevail -- though you must -- you will have done right, and the ghosts of those who came before you over many thousands of years, of those who fell unknown and unremembered while doing right, of those who upheld against all pressures and in the face of wounding opposition, will be justly honored, as you will be justly honored, by those who come after you.

Congratulations, and God bless.

 

[mrustow]

I didn't miss nuthin.' I just couldn't read aloud anymore. This guy's the right-of-center answer to Aaron Sorkin.

I still remember the big line from the acceptance speech he wrote for Bob Dole for the '96 convention:

"I stand here, nothing but a man."

[MeekOneGOP]

Excellent! Thank you for posting this!

[Vote 4 Nixon]

This is trully inspiring. I think it should be required reading at every institute of education in our county.
Masterful.

[livius]

What a great address! Thanks for posting this.

[tictoc]

Bookmarked for later reading.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

Excellent. Thank you!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Hi, Meek! If we had writer like Mark Helprin working for AP, NY Times and the major news networks, the whole world would be different...despots and socialist dictator wannabes would be laughed off the stage by the people of their own nations...(^: