A Day Worth Fighting For

Tolly P. Salz

Imagine having graduated from both Princeton University and Harvard Business School:  you face a beautiful future that most certainly awaits, with myriad job opportunities that surely abound.  But rather than enter the world of business, rather than accept job offers that will place you on the fast track to the top, you decide instead to serve the very country that provided you with so many opportunities to thrive. 

You join the Marines.

Not something most of us would do, but yet a conscious decision that was without question the right choice for Mr. Donovan Campbell, a man who just so happened to finish at the top of his Marine’s Basic Officer Course and who later would serve his country twice in Iraq and once in Afghanistan. In time, Campbell would command his own platoon—“Joker One,” so named for its radio call sign—through bloody combat in Iraq.  Campbell, a survivor and much-decorated soldier, would then write a meaningful memoir documenting the bravery of his men.

And just the other day, I had the opportunity to hear him speak.    My life wasn’t the only one changed that day as he addressed a group of high school students and their teachers, sharing with us the lessons he has learned by serving our country. 

Lesson One:  Each day is a gift from God.

Lesson Two:  You are stronger than you realize.

Lesson Three:  Pursue virtue.  Don’t ask yourself, “What do I want to do?”  Rather, ask yourself, “Who do I want to be?  What kind of person do I want to be?  And what do I need to do to get there?”  Strive to better yourself as a person.

Lesson Four:  The best way to say thank you to our troops is to make sure that they are coming back home to a country worth fighting for.  Ask yourself, “What am I doing to make this country a better place?”  What is each one of us fighting for right here at home so that when the troops come back, they find a place that is markedly better than it was when they left?

Lesson Five:  Faith is important.  It’s the only thing you can take with you when you die, and it’s all you have to use to deal with and understand life.

Today is Memorial Day, a day set aside in this country to honor those who have gone before us, those who have so selflessly given their lives so that we could have the freedom to live ours so comfortably.  While first observed in May of 1868 and made official by Congress in 1971, Memorial Day must now, in 2011, be a day that still matters. 

As we reflect on our lives, as well as on the lives of others, let us celebrate the gift of these young women and men who have served us; let us honor their strength; let us admire their virtue.  Let us give to our country selflessly in the ways that we can to serve, helping to make this place better.  And let us never lose faith in the country that was established and created by rebels, renegades, visionaries, and scholars; by lovers and fighters; by those who never knew the meaning of the word “quit.” 

Ours is a country worth fighting for, and fight we must, no matter where we are:  sitting in a classroom while you are away at college; working in an office so that you can make ends meet for your family; or fighting on the front lines so that you can ensure a better world for all.

To all of those who fight the good fight, I say, Thank You.

Note:  Book referenced in article