Background: San Francisco refused to let the Marine Corps film a recruiting video there...no, wait, they COULD, so long as no Marines were in the commercial.
http://www.theacru.org/blog/2007/09/marines_denied_right_to_film_in_san_francisco/
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1901695/posts
Email response:
(The S/F means "Semper Fi.")
Subject: A letter to the leader of a bastion of tepid souls
Gentlemen, I put fingers to keyboard and let the following flow. I wrote it with the intention of sending it to the mayor of SF, and thought you might enjoy the read.
S/F
Russ
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sir, I applaud your decision not to allow my brothers-in-arms access to your city. I support fully your freedom to be who and what you are. Furthermore, I am pleased to see that you recognize that your city is unworthy to presence such men. As such, do not expect to see me, my family, or any of my friends support your unpatriotic, non-supportive city, either. Until you and your ilk no longer represent the will of San Franciscans, and are duly voted out of office, your city will remain that: your city, not mine.
It seems time and distance work wonders; 911 is most likely just the emergency number in your city. For a lot of us, 911 was a wakeup call that your constituency seems to have forgotten. Rest assured, our enemy has not forgotten about your constituency. How do you expect Marines to come to your rescue, but not to your city?
The only thing that gives me hope for our future as a nation is the rising generation of great Americans that are currently getting their training in civic responsibility within the hallowed halls of the Armed Forces of this grand nation. They will replace the cold, callow, self-serving politicians and cronies that currently darken the doors of our public institutions.
As I have your ear, let me share a thought, eloquently expressed by one of my favorite presidents, Theodore Roosevelt. In his speech, we find this now-famous excerpt: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride of slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who "but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier.""
-- From "The Man in the Arena" given at the Sorbonne, Paris, France, April23, 1910
It is for this reason that I still hold great hope for America, because"There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder." Today, men and women who wear the uniform of this magnificent nation know these "great and generous emotions."
At some point in the future, San Francisco may become infected with such enthusiasm. Until then, it must remain a bastion of tepid souls, unworthy of the presence of great and generous Americans like the Marines you did not allow to have access to your city. Keep up the good work.
By the way. That's my Dad. :D
http://www.theacru.org/blog/2007/09/marines_denied_right_to_film_in_san_francisco/
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1901695/posts
Email response:
(The S/F means "Semper Fi.")
Subject: A letter to the leader of a bastion of tepid souls
Gentlemen, I put fingers to keyboard and let the following flow. I wrote it with the intention of sending it to the mayor of SF, and thought you might enjoy the read.
S/F
Russ
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sir, I applaud your decision not to allow my brothers-in-arms access to your city. I support fully your freedom to be who and what you are. Furthermore, I am pleased to see that you recognize that your city is unworthy to presence such men. As such, do not expect to see me, my family, or any of my friends support your unpatriotic, non-supportive city, either. Until you and your ilk no longer represent the will of San Franciscans, and are duly voted out of office, your city will remain that: your city, not mine.
It seems time and distance work wonders; 911 is most likely just the emergency number in your city. For a lot of us, 911 was a wakeup call that your constituency seems to have forgotten. Rest assured, our enemy has not forgotten about your constituency. How do you expect Marines to come to your rescue, but not to your city?
The only thing that gives me hope for our future as a nation is the rising generation of great Americans that are currently getting their training in civic responsibility within the hallowed halls of the Armed Forces of this grand nation. They will replace the cold, callow, self-serving politicians and cronies that currently darken the doors of our public institutions.
As I have your ear, let me share a thought, eloquently expressed by one of my favorite presidents, Theodore Roosevelt. In his speech, we find this now-famous excerpt: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride of slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who "but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier.""
-- From "The Man in the Arena" given at the Sorbonne, Paris, France, April23, 1910
It is for this reason that I still hold great hope for America, because"There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder." Today, men and women who wear the uniform of this magnificent nation know these "great and generous emotions."
At some point in the future, San Francisco may become infected with such enthusiasm. Until then, it must remain a bastion of tepid souls, unworthy of the presence of great and generous Americans like the Marines you did not allow to have access to your city. Keep up the good work.
By the way. That's my Dad. :D
1 comment:
I wish we could dig up Theo R. and use an old gypsy chant to bring him back from the dead. Then he could challenge G. W. and Hillary to a boxing match. And then he would beat the crap out of the both of them and get this country turned around.
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