A betting man would not have put money on a group of criminals winning a struggle against the largest and most powerful military on earth. In truth, it was more that the British lost the war than we won it. We were simply more determined and more willing to meet any hardship than the British. As much as any other ethic we embrace, the willingness to meet hardship has been a constant hallmark of our American Spirit. This is true from Montezuma to Tripoli no less than from immigrants enduring the hardship of starting with nothing or pioneers braving the wilderness of our manifest destiny.
A young woman not more than a few years out of college is standing the midwatch tonight on the quiet, darkened bridge of a warship in the Persian Gulf. She has slept only a few hours and has responsibility for the lives of over 200 shipmates tonight. Another man, only a few days beyond boyhood really, just stumbled off a bus onto the hard asphalt near Cape May, New Jersey to endure the shockingly loud indoctrination rites of Coast Guard basic training. Both know that there are ways to earn a living that allow more sleep and less "indoctrination." But they are willing to meet these hardships.
I am proud that both of my brothers and my cousin and uncles served in the military. If asked, they would have endured the hardships of Valley Forge, Gettysburg, The Ardennes, or (as my cousin did) Fallujah. So today I celebrate both our Independence and the willingness of Americans to, as John Kennedy put it, meet any hardship to assure the survival and success of liberty.
