My Pledge
The Pledge
When the torch is borne to the East,
Or doused in the seas between,
And America becomes america,
I will not forget what I’ve seen.
When they say it never was real,
The air that we breathed never free,
America never America,
Where man could be all he could be,
When hate swears that it wasn't was true
That we mastered all that we dreamed,
America was America,
Her bounty was not what it seemed,
When the envy is sighing, relieved,
Assuring us greatness was small,
And America only america
And its happiness laced with gall,
I’ll climb to the keep of my mind,
And there battle the slaver’s lie—
America was not America—
And the truth shall be last to die.
When the torch is borne to the East,
Or doused in the seas between,
And America becomes america,
I will not forget what I’ve seen.
When they say it never was real,
The air that we breathed never free,
America never America,
Where man could be all he could be,
When hate swears that it wasn't was true
That we mastered all that we dreamed,
America was America,
Her bounty was not what it seemed,
When the envy is sighing, relieved,
Assuring us greatness was small,
And America only america
And its happiness laced with gall,
I’ll climb to the keep of my mind,
And there battle the slaver’s lie—
America was not America—
And the truth shall be last to die.
TSgt Nikki Marie Casey.....Drill Sargeant
I stood at attention in her office.
I "reported" to a question: Maam, with due respect, you may do anything to me within the constraints of the UCMJ, but you cannot have my mind.
She leaned back and then slowly rose from behind her desk, walked to and closed the office door. Leisurely walked and stopped close in front of me, facing.
I thought she was going to ???? my brains out.
Damn! Her discipline!
She made me a squad leader......
Mahatma Gandhi
To codify language that no cunning meddler may touch us.
"In the halls of Mordor, where the shadow lies."
"Envy will hasten to his dark corner whence he will summon his even more hideous cousin, malicious glee."
Kipling: The Gods Of The Copybook Headings
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!