There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

That is a very famous quote that illustrates one of the constant rules of life. Even if you think it is free, someone somewhere is paying for it; and that includes our freedom. This brings me to another famous quote, which I had trouble verifying if it came from George Orwell or Rudyard Kipling:

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

I have always loved this quote because it points out the absurdity of these nitwits who demonstrate with their little signs that declare WAR IS NEVER THE ANSWER, and VISUALIZE WORLD PEACE. The only reason that these people can live in their little fantasy world is because we have a military and other "rough men" who are willing to lay their lives on the line to protect the right of these street-theater morons to go out there and bash our country.

I bring all of this up because I came across a poem via Michelle Malkin's blog and the Mudville Gazette that was inspired by the "rough men" quote by Orwell/Kipling. The poem was written by one Russ Vaughn, who served with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. Hear now the word of truth:

Rough men

There's a character trait that's decided by fate
Comes (sadly) to many, far too faint, far too late.
They won't face the aggressor, stand up to his ire
They have not the will to fight his fire with fire.
So they bend over backwards to see all sides as fair,
Till they're faced with dragon breath fire in their hair.
Like our brethren in France, who'd know better than we,
Yet seem never to learn, seem doomed never to see.

Yes, it seems there are some who're determined by fate,
To possess not the courage to step up to the plate,
Who shrink from all threat because nothing's worth war.
But how can they know lest they've been there before?
Thank God some have courage, the will, yes, the grace,
To stand for the shirkers, stand strong in their place.
Thank God we have stalwarts who'll stand for us all,
Who will rise to the challenge at their nation's call.

The faint-hearted, who fear, whose reaction is flight,
Have no comprehension of those who will fight.
To hide their own trepidation they attempt to demean
The rough men, who defend them, as barbaric, obscene.
Yet these rough men stand ready, hard weapons to hand,
To put placaters behind them, draw a line in the sand,
To preserve for the peaceniks what they won't defend,
So their own unearned freedom won't perish, won't end.

To appeasers, rough men are coarse government tools.
To rough men, appeasers are dumb delusional fools.

I think of this poem as I read about the recent successful intimidation tactics employed by college students at places like UC Santa Cruz and a community college in Seattle in order to kick military recruiters off campus, or the people who get in a tizzy about the "horrible" treatment about detainees at Guantanamo, yet have nothing to say about the gulag that is Castro's Cuba which takes up the rest of the island.

I spent 12 years in the U.S. Army and National Guard. During my time of service, one of the things for which I was most proud was knowing that I was one of these "rough men" who was voluntarily protecting our country.

Good Day to You, Sir