by RNH Nello

Created on: May 16, 2009   Last Updated: May 20, 2009

While the question is interesting and deserving of worthy responses, surprisingly, a number of the responses seem to focus more on political agendas than the question.

Courage can be viewed from many perspectives, one of which is personal, such as one dictionary suggests, "the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, without fear; bravery." Certainly that is an element, but here I believe that the 'asker' is more focused on a cultural representation of a national courage, if you will, an aggregate willingness to enforce the principles that represent that ideal which is America.

Certainly members of the American military reflect such a willingness, and they do so as the best trained and capable military that has ever protected the interests of America. As a veteran and one who works almost daily with both other veterans and currently active members of the military, I can make that statement with full and complete conviction.

Nor do most young people have any doubt as to the support of the military and those basic principles. Here too, I speak with the conviction of first hand knowledge from working with youth in such programs as 4-H, the FFA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and other similar organizations. No, there is no flagging of support of principle or lessening of courage, personal or national.

And yet, there are clearly those within America who oppose the Constitutional use of our military strength to protect our country from those who are working to destroy it. From outside of America, both old friends as well as old enemies, see evidence of this often loud and vocal disagreement and mistakenly assume a break within America. They believe there is evidence of an apparent lessening of our commitment to founding principles and a lack of courage to do what must be done. To make such an assumption is a mistake and a misjudgment of the will and determination of the American people.

Since the self-flagellations of the Vietnam era and the end of the cold war, America has been going through a form of national self analysis, not in terms of possibly revising foundation principles, not in terms of whether to act on those principles, rather, more in the terms of how we view our-self (as a nation).

Add to that our natural (as a culture) desire not to go to war, and it may look to some, outside of the United States, that we may have lost our courage. In that context, consider, the United States is militarily, the strongest nation

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