Memorial Day Speech (2006)

This speech was delivered this Memorial Day as part of our town's celebration.

Brothers and Sisters, Comrades in Arms:

We have come to this place to celebrate the lives and deaths of those who loved their nation more than they loved themselves. We have come to remind ourselves of what is required in order to keep what God has granted us – a free nation.

Many have laid down their lives in answer to their nation’s call. Many others have responded to that call and survived. We call them all heroes. We call them heroes for their willingness to enter into the struggle – not for their victorious campaigns. For is not the soldier who dies delaying an enemy’s onslaught a hero regardless of having been overrun? I say yes!

It is the love we celebrate. It is the sacrifice over which we wonderingly rejoice. It is the willingness to serve regardless of the consequences that make a person truly a hero.

We have faced numerous enemies yet remain standing; have bowed yet are unbroken; have been bloodied yet are unconquered. We are proud of our country and its heritage of freedom.

But there is still a lesson to be learned from history. The people of China were also a great and powerful nation. They too had their wars. They were an old and wise civilization when our ancestors still huddled in stone huts. They built the Great Wall, a structure so formidable that it can be seen from space with the naked eye. Its sole purpose was to defend them from their enemies. The wall was expensive. It cost an unfathomable amount in money, time and lives. But in the first one hundred years of the Great Wall’s existence, it was penetrated successfully three times. It was never undermined. Not once was it breached. Not once was it climbed. The Great Wall fell when its gatekeepers accepted a bribe. In all their efforts to construct their defense, the Chinese forgot the most essential thing. They forgot that the gate is only as strong as its keeper’s integrity. They forgot that the rifle is only as good as the person firing it.

Our nation’s greatest threat today is not that of terrorists. It is not the many nations who hate us. The enemy is already within the camp. Our nation is beset by those who would undermine our people’s character. It is being attacked by those who would urge us to accept a materialistic, atheistic and animalistic lifestyle dedicated to the pursuit of our basest pleasures. We are assaulted by those who would have us believe that our credit is more important than our character; that our desires should come before our duty; that our personal advancement is more important than our service.

I call you to arms, brothers and sisters. But just as the veterans of each successive war used better and better weapons, I place in your hands today more potent and subtle weapons. Use your minds to examine what you are being told. Use your voices to speak out influentially. Use your opportunities to vote wisely. Use your consciences to measure and maintain the integrity of our people. Listen to your hearts to determine the need of your fellow man and use your time to meet those needs. Our nation’s hope lies in these things I have mentioned: critical thought, free speech, a voting population, integrity and service - these are the bulwarks of any nation.

Let us not forget that our Creator looks on. He is weighing our nation in the balance and his standard is not our wealth; it is not our power; it is not in the number of nations that we have bent to our will. He has told us what will tip the balance. “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

We stand today a free people precisely because our forefathers steeled their hearts to pursue justice, to love kindness and mercy and to humble themselves under the mighty hand of their God. Let us do justice to their memories by pledging “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honors” to the service of God and man. Only then will be able to bestow the same blessing that our fallen comrades have bestowed upon us – freedom.

For You Alone

This was written for my wife two weeks after I met her.

More than hands met on that day,
Our hearts met in some pleasant way.
As hand touched hand and eye met eye,
There was no voice that broke the sky
Yet, I knew we were meant to be
Friends. And 'twas not only me
For in your eyes I saw my soul
And no force on earth can control
A bond like this of mind to mind
And heart to heart. Words kind
Or cruelly meant can ne'er efface
Our love; nor can they interlace
Me with their bonds of jealousy;
My love is such that I would see
You truly live in joy and peace.
And if some other can release
That joy within your heart than I,
So wills God, I dare not defy
His will. And yet within my heart
I hope that I may have a part
Within your life. God does not make
Two persons so alike for sake
Of irony. Can you see the bond
Between us or are my fond
Imaginings betraying me?
At any rate I hope you can see
That I would be your friend.
Through thick and thin, down to the end
Two truer friends than we could not be found.
Just you and I beneath the sky, bound
For who knows what mysterious place!
With arm in arm we would trace
The paths of ancient kings. Or we
could sail a boat, or climb a tree,
Or...in dark days we would embrace
And in our arms we'd find a place
To hide. We would speak of God,
Of heavenly planes we've never trod,
And of our love for Him; intent
On the other's fare; ardent
For the other's cause. Tender love
Can only come from Him above.
And those that love show that they
Are of His house. If in some way
I have alarmed you with the heat
Of my words, forgive; but repeat
Within your heart that I'm alone,
And longing for a friend. Let it atone
For the fervour of my speech
And understand the thing I reach
For is your heart. And in return
I give you mine. If you would spurn
My gift, it still is always yours.
Yours to have, to keep; out it pours
For you alone.

copyright @2006 Kevin Pauley. All rights reserved.

Memorial Day Speech (2002)

This speech was delivered on Memorial Day, 2002.

It is difficult to do justice to the subject of heroes. Those who have long been acquainted with their exploits may rightly pronounce our praises as insufficient. Those who are unacquainted with our heroes may pronounce everything to be exaggerated, for people often envy those they cannot equal.

But, through their valor, our forefathers handed our country down free to every succeeding generation. Our fathers enlarged this country until it stretched between the two great oceans, then bequeathed their work of love to us – their sons and daughters. They now look to those of us who still enjoy the strength and vigor of our days to improve even these successes. We are called to stand ready to answer every need of war and of peace.

I will not recite each heroic exploit by which this country was created or the resolute defenses we have made in the past in the cause of liberty because your own knowledge is most likely greater than mine. But by what policy, by what conduct, by what means have we risen to this height of glory and power? The answers are of vital importance if we hope to continue in our forefathers’ success.

The form of government that we possess is the envy of our neighbors and a model to many others. Its present form is unique to our country. It’s governing is committed, not to a few, but to the whole body of the people and is thus a democracy. No matter how different we may be in our social standing, we all enjoy the same general equality our laws provide. We may each be honored to the degree that we excel.

We leave our borders open, allowing any to enter, driving no stranger away whom either self-improvement or curiosity brought among us. We do not fear any enemy hurting us by seeing what is never concealed. We do not place so great a confidence in the preparations and artifices of war as in the native warmth of our souls impelling us to action.

Every person among us is concerned, not only with his or her own affairs, but also with those of the public. Because we do not believe that words are prejudicial to actions we pass the soundest judgment, and are quick at catching the right understanding of things. Rather, we fear not being duly prepared by previous debate before we are obliged to proceed to execution. In this consists our distinguishing excellence, that in the hour of action we show the greatest courage, and yet debate beforehand the necessity of our measures. The courage of others is the result of ignorance; deliberation makes them cowards. Our veterans, those who undoubtedly must be accepted as having the greatest souls, who are most acutely aware of the miseries of war and the sweets of peace, are not the least deterred from facing danger for the right cause.

We also come before other nations in acts of benevolence. What other nation has spent itself in the rebuilding of its former enemies? Who exceeds our desire and ability to feed the poor and miserable of the world?

In affairs of war we excel our enemies. Ours is now the only nation in the world whose bite is worse than its bark. Our fleets have opened every sea, every land has been penetrated by our armies. But the strength of a nation does not lie only in its weaponry or technology. Of what use are strong fleets if we are plagued with internal divisions? Is there any physical defense that cannot and has not been breached at some time by a valiant enemy? It is by courage and prudence that the invasions of foreign armies are repelled; and by unanimity, sobriety, and justice, that domestic sedition is prevented. States fortified by the strongest bulwarks have been often seen to yield to force from without, or to tumults from within. Only an exact military discipline, and a steady observance of civil policy are sure barriers against these evils.

We have come today to honor our dead, these victims of their own valor. Scorning the sting of death, they fought and bravely died in the just defense of our country. I am persuaded that every one of those who survive is still ready to sacrifice their lives in the same cause. The reason I have enlarged so much on our national points of merit is to give clear proof that in the present war we have more at stake than our tormentors whose public advantages are not so valuable. I also wish to illustrate by actual evidence how great a commendation is due to them who we now venerate. For the accolades with which we celebrate our state have been earned by the bravery of these, and of men like these.

The means by which these brave souls came to death is the surest evidence of their merit. The evidence began in their lives, and was completed by their deaths. It is a debt of justice to pay superior honor to men who have devoted their lives in fighting for their country, even if they are inferior to others in every virtue except that of valor. Their last service erases many of their former demerits for the Scriptures tell us that there is no higher expression of love than when a man lays down his life for another.

What their hearts and minds told them must be done, they trusted their own valor to accomplish. They considered it more glorious to defend their loved ones, and die in the attempt, than to yield and live. They fled the reproach of cowardice and presented their bodies to the shock of battle. Fearing, they marched on. Triumphant in hope, they died in suicidal charges and thus discharged the duty which brave men owe to their country. Those men knew their duty, and in the moments of action thought it dishonorable that their country should stand in need of any thing their valor could provide. Bestowing their lives on the public, they have received a praise that will never decay. They have a sepulchre that is most illustrious. Not this place where their bones now lie, but in their fame which we must preserve. The whole earth is the sepulchre of such illustrious men. On every occasion where honor dictates we must use either word or act to eternally remember their sacrifice.

Those of us who now survive them are left with the business of praying for our country. But it is also our duty to preserve the same spirit and warmth of courage against our enemies. From this very moment let us emulate these noble patterns. Only greatness of soul never grows old. How do we achieve greatness of soul? Jesus was once asked what is the greatest command? Since those asking the question were lawyers, it was expected that He would give a long, perambulating answer full of technicalities and loopholes that would eventually say nothing. But Jesus looked them in the eye and gave a simple yet powerful answer. “You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength.” He said. He continued, “There is another command just like it – you will love your neighbor as yourself.” The greatest achievement of man is to follow these two commands: to love our God and our neighbor. These that we now honor did exactly that. If we wish to honor them, we will do the same.

@copyright 2006 - Kevin Pauley. All rights reserved