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In one of his many books, Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton wrote:
Those countries in Europe which are still influenced by priests, are exactly the countries where there is still singing and dancing and coloured dresses and art in the open-air. Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground. Christianity is the only frame which has preserved the pleasure of Paganism. We might fancy some children playing on the flat grassy top of some tall island in the sea. So long as there was a wall round the cliff's edge they could fling themselves into every frantic game and make the place the noisiest of nurseries. But the walls were knocked down, leaving the naked peril of the precipice. They did not fall over; but when their friends returned to them they were all huddled in terror in the centre of the island; and their song had ceased.This was in praise of walls. America has such walls, walls which have protected her from war and poverty, and provided a space where wealth and pleasures such as the world has never known are now commonplace. Indeed, they are the stuff of everyday.
But there is peril in such walls, too. They must be defended, both by men who walk atop them, and by men who go forth beyond them. And, today, we fight in defense of these walls, while the clamor of war -- but no accurate sight of the war -- reaches those who remain protected within.
It is natural for such a person to look around and see only safety and pleasure, and to call out to his brother: "Come back inside! You should not be out where there is violence and misery, when you could be in here with me!" It is natural for such a person to be horrified by the sound of the violence, and to think of their fellows suffering while they wait protected inside.
That is why those who stand atop the walls are needed. They must convey a true sense of the danger to the protected within, but also a sense of the hope for victory. It is their job to explain the need for war, to encourage the frightened, and to embolden the valiant.
Once the journalist was the man upon the wall. Ask Ernie Pyle or Bill Maudlin.
Where are such patriots today? Where is the man who will use his place on the wall to encourage his brothers, rather than to urge them to despair?
Who will man the ramparts? Who will carry the word and hope of victory to those sheltered within?
