What are you willing to die for?

On July 14th, 1861, Maj. Sullivan Ballou wrote a letter addressed to his wife Sarah. Maj. Ballou was killed in battle a week later. A portion of this letter reads:
“I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing — perfectly willing — to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt …”
I share this in order to better ask a question. What are you willing to die for? Reading the news, it seems people in general have developed an inaccurate and unhealthy perspective of history. In Charlottesville, people have now died over a statue. Let us ask ourselves a serious question, what is the importance of keeping monuments of the Confederacy? What is it that they are commemorating? A statue of General Lee, should be recognize as a lifeless peace of stone depicting a man who long ago surrendered his army in defeat. Monuments to the Confederacy and Union alike do not stand to inspire new generations to take up arms against one another. Monuments to the American Civil war stand to remind us of the 620,000 Americans who lost their lives in battle on American soil. To aid in perspective, consider that 644,000 American Soldiers have died in every other war fought by the United States, combined.
On November 19th, 1863, President Lincoln stood before a crowd in Gettysburg, PA, to dedicate a National Cemetery; where less than 6 month prior, 50,000 casualties occurred during a battle that lasted just 3 days. President Lincoln said, “we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.”
I do not believe that these men died in vain. I have however begun to question what they would think of our current state of affairs if they had the opportunity to witness what it is we have become. For that matter, what would my grandfather’s think about the events of the recent past? I have seen people drawing swastikas and hanging Nazi flags, proudly displaying the salute of Nazi Germany. These symbols are in no conceivable way displayed in remembrance of a time brave Americans fought and died for this County; men and women who gave their lives in the name of preservation and protection of the ideals that make the American experiment great. No, these symbols are those of cowards who spit at the very freedoms that protect their right to display those symbols of hate in the first place. We as a nation should be ashamed to call these people American.
I believe whole heartedly in the Constitution of the United States, and like so many others, have sworn an oath to protect it against all enemy’s, both foreign and domestic. Make no mistake, those that would stand in defense of hatred and division, are a direct threat to the Constitution of the United States. We must protect our heritage, remember where we came from, and protect our homes, cities, states, and country, against all those who would cause us harm.
Please understand that I am not advocating violence. I am advocating thought. Once again, I ask you to consider what it is you are willing to die for? Maybe then you might better understand what it is that you truly value. What we as a nation valued in the past, is what provided us independence; is what provided for the preservation of the Union; is what provided victory through world war. What do you value now? Whatever it is will dictate where we go from here.