"War is a terrible business in any case; and to some intellectual temperaments this is the most terrible part of it. That war takes the young; that war sunders the lovers; that all over Europe brides and bridegrooms are parting at the church door: all that is only a commonplace to commonplace people. To give up one's love for one's country is very great. But to give up one's hate for one's country, this may also have in it something of pride and something of purification." — G.K. Chesterton, The Appetite of Tyranny
To leave your beloved for the sake of your country was noble, but how many today struggle to leave their hatred for the sake of their country? We had seen men rise to the pitch of sacrifice for the sake of others. Will we see men descend to the place of forgiveness for the sake of others?
Many brave men before us were asked to give up something in order to gain something else for their country. In order to protect what they loved, they had to leave it temporarily leave it behind and risk being separated from it forever in order to make it possible for any of their countrymen to be reunited safely with their respective beloveds.
Today, men must give up something they hate for their country. Men used to have to sacrifice their love, but now men must sacrifice their hate and be separated from their bitterness in order to secure the possibility of any having something better.
It required a heroic spirit to risk your life for the sake of what you loved behind you. It will require a humble spirit to risk your reputation for the sake of what you hate in front of you.
What men loved back home was part of their country and so they fought for that part in order to fight for the whole things that was left behind them. Today, men hate their country and fight against it at home.
Man will either sacrifice his hatred or he will lose his country. Brave men once laid down their lives so that their beloveds might live. Today, men need to lay down their hatred so that someone might be loved.
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