The Senescent Man

And here is just one reason why.  Read this excellent piece by Ben from The American Spectator.

A preview:

A few days ago, a package arrived in the mail from the widow of my late father-in-law, Colonel Dale Denman, Jr., of Heber Springs, Arkansas. I opened it and there was a leather holster and inside it, a German Luger pistol….

…I know there are a lot of these Lugers around. You can buy them at antique gun shops and gun shows. But this one is special to me. Here is what it says:

My brave father-in-law, representative of tens of millions of American men and women who have gone off to fight for freedom, fought against cruel, tenacious enemies. They often lost their lives in so doing. They prevailed and I get to live in spectacular freedom, glorious, bright freedom, every day because men like Col. Denman were as brave as they were.

I had a father-in-law who was likewise one of these brave men from the greatest generation.  I agree with Ben.  We can thank them for the freedom we enjoy today, and we can thank our young men and women in Iraq for the terrorism-free future we and our children will enjoy going forward.  I remember a remark by Zell Miller at the Republican National Convention earlier this year.  He said in his keynote address something to the effect that he had looked into the eyes of his children and realized that, though he was a Democrat, for their sakes and the sakes of his grandchildren, he needed to support a president who was going to secure their future.  It is nice to know we’re not alone in this view.

The whole thing by Ben Stein is here.