Wiliam McGurn has a thoughtful Opinion Journal article about the ongoing role of ROTC at Notre Dame University, including insightful comments by Father Theodore Hesburgh, President Emeritus, and the example set by Lt. Dustin Ferrell, a Marine officer seriously wounded in Iraq.
As long as we live in a world stained by original sin, [Father Hesburgh] says, nations will need armies. And as long as we require military forces, he believes it ought to be part of the university's mission to ensure they are populated with men like Lt. Ferrell.
"It's proper to all the things we do here and the patriotism we owe our country," says Father Hesburgh. "It's standing up for freedom, even when it's tough." This is not some Donald Rumsfeld clone; this is a man who helped start up the Peace Corps and put the first signature on a local peace petition questioning the Bush administration's entry into the Iraq war. And Father Hesburgh has company in Rachael Ferrell, the young lieutenant's wife, who gently lets it be known that honoring her husband's service does not necessarily make one a hawk.
"I don't have a problem with people who choose pacifism," [Lt. Ferrell] says. "But we're idealists too. And the officers I know believe that in choosing to serve we're living up to our ideals, not putting them aside."
Posted by Alan at April 26, 2003 11:53 AM