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Duty, Honor, Country, or Life, Love and Happiness
bushinoki
Veteran
Or both. What is truly important. I know the Buddhist mindset is to free yourselves from all attachments, but for those of us who aren't completely ready to yet, what is really important in life. I have several nieces that I would gladly lay down my life to protect, so to me, the Duty, Honor, Country thing is really important. But is it selfish to look for Life, Love and Happiness in the process. Ultimately, I want my nieces to grow up in a peaceful world, so I am willing to do what it takes now, but that often doesn't leave time to look for love or happiness. And life is a gift to me, to do our best with, to make the world a better place. I know that many would think there are better ways than being a Soldier, but to me it's a start. It becomes a matter of doing my best now to improve things for the future. The gifts I have can be utilized in other ways later down the line. But I also wonder if I am destined to be alone throughout life, never finding that true love I seek. I desire happiness as much as anyone, but is it to be found by making the world a better place?
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Comments
Some things come at a cost.
The only way is to find it, by making yourself a 'better place'.
We can't change the world. Nobody can. We can attempt to make it a nice place to live in, but ultimately, everyone can only be responsible for themselves.
There has been a huge furore on another website, regarding the incident where a young Soldier in the Middle East hurled a puppy of a high embankment, or cliff, just for fun....
War does terrible things to people, regardless of who they are or what side they're on.
Ultimately, everyone has to live with their decisions, but you have to live the best way you can according to the line you've taken, and the decisions you've made.
And ultimately, "You can't have it all".
You have to decide really, fundamentally, what it is that you want your life to be a testimony to.
And follow the Eightfold Path in making your decision.
Everyone in life wants to be understood, appreciated and loved.
How you achieve these things, is not by what you do, to change the world.
it's done by what you do to change you.
Duty - I get happiness by doing my duty by others. I would be very unhappy if I thought I could have helped someone in difficulty and just stood by.
Honour - living by the truth and keeping my integrity in tact is also a source of happiness. If I can live with my actions as honorable, I am happy.
Love - if I do my duty and am an honorable person then I will attract more love than if I am a mean, selfish, dishonest person.
Country - comes second to principles - if my country adopted a government with which, in all conscience, I couldn't live, I would move away.
So I get love and happiness from the first two. When my country behaves correctly, I support it but not at the price of my own principles.
Thank you for raising the question. It has troubled me for decades. I still have no clear answers.
I read this again the other day and thought of you so I'll take this opportunity to share it with everyone too:
Kipling wrote it about Mesopotamia in 1917, after his son Jack had died in the mud of France and lay in an unmarked grave. My father was in "Mespot" in WW1 and would quote this poem to us whenever the press were crowing over various British or American military adventures.
It's always a sticky dilemma. It goes back, I think, to the point that you can't fix samsara. Therefore, until you attain enlightenment, you have to stick with what samsara offers to make it the best you can. Armies and wars are part of samsara. If you at least fight for the right reasons, that is something. Of course, as Gen. Sheridan said, war is hell. Once the dogs of war are released everyone gets caught up in that hell. You can't avoid it. You can't stay above the fray. You get caught up in it, and you lose your humanity. You can't change that.
As William Golding showed, we're all natural born killers. Once you let the genie out of the bottle, our natures take over, and we can find it really easy, even pleasurable, to kill. So what to do?
Palzang
Knitwitch, perhaps you are right, that as long as I am following my hearts desire, keeping integrity intact, doing what I can to make tomorrow better for those I'll leave behind, then I can still find happiness and love in life. To do the right thing, so many people before have paid a high price to do the right thing. I've heard many stories about those who lost almost everything in WWII to shelter some Jews from Nazi persecution, or who gave up what many of the time would consider their honor to protect a Jewish family. Many of them found happiness later in life, knowing they had done the right thing. It is stories like those that give me faith in humankind.
Simon, it is very true that the price we've paid cannot be returned to us. This war slowly becomes more and more unpopular as more and more people are affected by it. In the US, there is hardly anyone who doesn't know a servicemember who came back without legs or arms, vision or hearing, or who returned in a box. That's why I hate it when politicians try to fight wars. When it's time to go to war, you let your military commanders take the reigns and fight a war. If you can't go to war wholeheartedly, it's not time to go to war yet. But then, people need to realize you actually have to stand up against evil once in a while, or the consequences can be ten times worse. What if Neville Chamberlain had stood up to Adolph Hitler when he was violating the Treaty of Versailles in the first place. How many lives might have been spared had the Allied nations stopped him when he was building his military. OTH, look at Pres. Bush. We had a decade of Intel saying Hussein had WMD, and ultimately, there was none to be found in Iraq. I still think there was something, as some of the evidence pointed to the storage of nerve gasses and biological agents, but there wasn't enough that we had to invade right away.
Duty, Honor, Country. Three words that can mean everything or nothing. I was on the Honor Detail for the funeral of a retired Master Sergeant, and only a handful of people were there. The man had spent the better part of his life serving his country, and only a handful of people were there to mourn him. But I think of my own grandfather, who served his country, his community, and his family, who had over 200 people at his funeral, or his mother, who was dedicated to her church and community, and had over 1000 at her funeral. They had Life, Love, and Happiness. I only hope I can be half the great people they were.
Politicians, chosen by us, send soldiers out to do a job. If they are damaged doing that job it is the duty of all of us to show we care - that their sacrifice is appreciated, no matter how much we may despise the people who took the decision.
In France "anciens combatants" are treated with honour and reverence. In the USA towns organise a parade to welcome home returning soldiers.
In the UK recently, serving personnel were requested not to go into town in uniform because they risked being spat on and insulted.
Sick. Very very sick
Over here, we have dreadful stories of soldiers and sailors being abandoned when the nation has used them. You just have to look at the accounts of old sailors who protected us from the Spanish Armadas starving on the streets - nothing much has changed.
Not to be facetious...but if you find love...what would you do with it?
Palzang
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiGPBahHTQA&feature=related
May interest some.... certainly interested me.....