Although I’ve had the privilege of serving in five of the ten active US Army Divisions, I was never in the one with the best motto. The 101st
Airborne Division has an awesome motto – “Rendezvous
with Destiny.” The Division was activated
in preparation for our expanding involvement in World War II. The first commander, Major General William C.
Lee, in his initial address to the newly constituted unit, read General Order
Number 5 dated 19 August 1942 that begins:
“The 101st Airborne Division, activated at Camp Claiborne,
Louisiana, has no history, but it has a rendezvous with destiny. Like the early
American pioneers whose invincible courage was the foundation stone of this
nation, we have broken with the past and its traditions in order to establish
our claim to the future…”
The same could be said of our
fledgling nation in the early 1770’s -- no history but lots of destiny. What faith our Founding Fathers had to have in
order to risk their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor for an unknown and uncertain
future. Even before they had penned their
proverbial John Hancock’s to the parchment that proclaimed our liberty, they
had a presupposition of what it would take to be a lasting success. On June 21, 1776, John Adams wrote:
A national survey of 1,000 adults was conducted late last year by
Rasmussen Reports. The question they
sought to answer, “If America’s founders
came back today, would they be impressed or disappointed?” A plurality of 46% believes the Founders -
a group that typically includes George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and
John Adams - would view the nation as a failure. Second to that number is the 36% of American adults
who think the Founders would consider the United States a success. The other 18% aren’t sure. Think about
that, nearly half of us think the Founders would find us a failure.
For John Adams, it was “virtue” that would be the foundation for a lasting liberty. Perhaps the half that thought they’d deem us
a failure has recognized our country is virtually devoid of virtue. Most students in our schools today would
probably be hard pressed to define virtue, let alone demonstrate it to the
satisfaction of the founders. For Adams,
it was pure virtue that held the key;
for Thomas Jefferson, it was a right understanding of God that was the firm
basis for our future success.
In 1789, while the Governor of
Virginia, Jefferson put it this way, “God
who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought
secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of
the people that these liberties are the Gift of God? That they are not to be
violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect
that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever…”
The destiny with
which MG Lee predicted they’d soon rendezvous ultimately included the harrowing
parachute drops on D-Day into Normandy, the battle at Bastogne and the Battle of
the Bulge. For their valor during WWII,
this Band of Brothers, the 101st Airborne Division, was awarded four
campaign streamers and two Presidential Unit Citations. They suffered 1,766 Killed in Action; 6,388
Wounded in Action; and 324 Died of Wounds during WWII. Those figures alone make clear the high cost
of successfully obtaining the liberation of Europe. 
This piece is not
intended to solely lament the vapid state of virtue in our United States
today. More importantly, it is not
implying an increased volume of virtue in our Republic can be mandated or
legislated. No, it will only occur if,
and when, as Jefferson well said, the people’s minds can connect our liberty
with the Giver of life; when they connect the Creator of life with the creation
of our Constitution. Now that would be a
great class for a government school to give.
Like Jefferson, I too tremble that we’ll not wake up before God’s
justice does.
This article also appears in the 28 JAN 2015 edition of the Upson Beacon.
Good word Bob, the quote from Jefferson is poignant. This one is similar and should cause us to "tremble" DAILY on our knees in petition!
ReplyDelete“America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville
Yes, Colonel, it surely seems that the voices from our past knew something more about trembling before the God and Author of our national blessing. This was certainly recognized by Alexis de Tocqueville who saw the key to America's prosperity, not in her brilliant economical or political strategies, but in "her pulpits aflame with righteousness." Consider also the clear-sighted wisdom of President Lincoln's proclamation appointing a national fast day in our land on March 30, 1863:
ReplyDelete"It is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord... We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!"
Your call for America to wake out her deadly slumber is exactly the right tone, Colonel. Viewing the approaching alternative of God's justice applied to an increasingly prideful and forgetful nation, so indifferent to the intervention of His protection and blessing, should surely make us tremble as we pray and work for America's revival.