Maybe we've become too Selfish?

By Patrick Hall

“Selfishness, vanity, or narcissism is the attitude, the sin of being concerned with one’s
own interests above the interests of others and God.” German Theologian Karl Barth
Church Dogmatics Volume 4.2

You can also include one’s country in the above quote. I think it occurred back in the early 1970s, during my first marriage with my pseudo-hippie, culturally left spouse. As I draw closer to my eighth decade on this planet, at times, I tend to forget the when, where, and how of life events. If you have been following my columns since 2010, you will know that at times my recollections can go a bit astray. But to semi-quote a lyric in a Prince song. “So, sue me if it goes astray!”

But in all seriousness. With the current conflict with the Islamic dictatorship in Iran, who for 47 years have shouted death to America, and who have killed thousands of Americans during this time period. Something has occurred within the political/spiritual zeitgeist of this nation we call America. Are we, or have we become too selfish to fight for our way of life?

For what we believe as free people. A people, a country that has not always been perfect, but has largely, throughout its history, found the road to self-correction. During the murderous horror that was the American Civil War and the fight to end slavery. Over 700,000 Americans died in the conflict. That would be equivalent to 35,000,000 in today's numbers. Yet we found a way to erase the stain of chattel slavery and later Jim Crow, and became, with great effort, that “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”

By the way, the preceding words appear at the end of the Pledge of Allegiance, which I learned in kindergarten in the 1950s and repeated throughout my K-12 education. The school days always started with a prayer, and then the pledge for most schoolchildren back then.

But returning to what in God’s green earth does my ex-spouse have to do with 47 years with Iran and the general fight to neuter Islamic Terrorism? It has to do with our inability today, as Americans, as heirs of the Greatest Generation, a generation who fought, struggled, and sacrificed many things, including their lives, to serve this nation for the better good, to sacrifice and maybe stand up for our country for a change. Most of us, and this includes this writer, seldom want to contribute anything substantial to confronting the murderous goals of Radical Islam, who control countries like Iran.

One day, I came home from work and found my wife looking through a little book or pamphlet of WW II food recipes to help support the war effort against Hitler's Third Reich and Imperial Armies of Japan. It was a booklet she had found in her parents' attic among a lot of other monographs and books. By the way, her dad had served in the Pacific Theatre.

This pamphlet, published on heavy stock paper, shows how to cook and bake with less sugar, honey, scraps of meat, as well as using gelatin to save or replace butter. It all had to do with what the average American on the home front could do to confront the Axis powers.

For example, Americans were allotted only 8 ounces of sugar per month as well as other common household food products and preparations. In the booklet, she often followed recipes for making breads and cakes using almost no sugar or other sweeteners. The booklet or pamphlet also gave hints for reusing bacon and other types of animal fats or oils to cook or marinate one's food.

During the fight with the Axis Powers, rationing was a part of everyday life for many on the home front. Along with sugar, gasoline, coffee, canned and processed foods, meats and cheese, as well as butter, fats and oils were rationed. To help produce the glycerin needed by the military, Americans also collected kitchen waste fats. There were posters authored by the Defense Department which depicted saving fats and oils to help aid in the making of bombs and explosives. The posters read, and I quote: “Save waste fats for explosives –Take them to your meat dealer.”

Of course, my ex and I did this for fun and to save a little money in the context of working and being full-time students. In retrospect, what was so remarkable about this War rationing cookbook and other war rationing efforts was that ordinary Americans back then would sacrifice and do their part no matter how little to support the war effort against deadly enemies.

Remember, most members of the Greatest Generation weren’t rich and were part of a larger working class as compared to today. But they sought in their own little way to support the nation in a time of war.

Of course, selfishness wasn’t anathema to this generation. However, it was superseded by a sense that they had something to defend (the American way of life and freedoms) that was worth preserving. Their cultural-political catechetics were inevitably set on the greater good, for the nation, our military efforts, and their neighborhood.

Once again, we weren’t perfect as a nation back then. But most Americans seem to know that they were better than the murderous psychopaths that were ruling Germany and Japan at the time.

Today’s baby boomers and their offspring don’t appear to possess the same grit or love of country that was endemic in previous generations of Americans. Even my dad’s four brothers born between 1900 and 1912, who lived with a lot of blatant discrimination, were still patriotic enough to serve in the Navy as Seabees in the Pacific theatre.¹ Yes, America wasn’t perfect by any means. But we were a lot better than the people and radical monsters or the Islamic nutjobs we now face, who could kill us and eat their lunch all in the same hour.

It is terribly disheartening when I hear my fellow Americans complain about the “F-ing” “PRICE of GAS!” What the hell. Do you prefer another 9/11 and probably much worse, all because of gas prices? Thanks to the Biden Administration's open or “NO BORDER” policies, we most likely have hundreds, if not thousands, of Mohamed Atta’s roaming the country, planning to kill us. Yet here we are complaining about Trump and whining about the high price of gas. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, have we become that selfish, self-centered, and politically myopic or shortsighted as a people not to see the danger that we all face? As I
highlighted in a previous article. It only took 19 people to kill over 3000 of us on 9/11. What do you think a couple of hundred, if not 1000s of dedicated Islamic suicidal terrorists will do? Once more, maybe we have become too selfish.

Take care and God Bless……..Patrick, a strange little Negro.
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1. My dad had six children at the outbreak of WWII, and I was told he was exempt from service. I was one of 12, born in 1951