RE: Can too much respect be bad?
December 12, 2019 at 12:42 pm
(This post was last modified: December 12, 2019 at 12:51 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
It's surprising only for it's subtle placement in a shared understanding that does also, elsewhere, insist that equality is a uniform good. We don't like to say it that way, hear it that way, or think of ourselves that way. It's surprising because even in trying to minimize the dissonance we inevitably express ourselves with yet another commitment to equality. Equality of opportunity, which is the good kind (I guess?), and equality of outcome...the bad kind. Equality of opportunity tacitly assumes that there at least -is- the possibility of equal acts generating equal outcomes, which literally -is- equality of outcome and can;t possibly be the case when the example is explicitly set up to reject it.
No matter how many layers of obfuscation we wrap around it, for our own benefit or the amusement of others..we just don't believe in that either, and particularly not in the case of respect and desert. Both of us can think of circumstances and people which don't warrant equality of opportunity. The guy who joined for a paycheck does not, in your opinion, deserve either the outcome or the opportunity for your respect as described, particularly compared to some guy who joined for the right reasons, whatever they are. He doesn't have the opportunity and shouldn't expect the outcome because he lacks the required personal quality in comparative desert. That's baked in from before he ever joined.
No matter how many layers of obfuscation we wrap around it, for our own benefit or the amusement of others..we just don't believe in that either, and particularly not in the case of respect and desert. Both of us can think of circumstances and people which don't warrant equality of opportunity. The guy who joined for a paycheck does not, in your opinion, deserve either the outcome or the opportunity for your respect as described, particularly compared to some guy who joined for the right reasons, whatever they are. He doesn't have the opportunity and shouldn't expect the outcome because he lacks the required personal quality in comparative desert. That's baked in from before he ever joined.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
