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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2015)
OPINION 6A Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager AP Photo/Susan Walsh Third U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Pfc. Kaitlyn Bolde of Scotia, N.Y., places a flag in front of a headstone at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Thursday. “Flags In” is an annual tradition that is reserved for The Old Guard since its designation as the Army’s official ceremonial unit in 1948. They conduct the mission annually at Arlington National Cemetery and the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery prior to Me- morial Day to honor the nation’s fallen military heroes. THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MAY 25, 2015 Of the people, by the people, for the people President Abraham Lincoln delivered this address at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa., on Nov. 19, 1863. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new na- tion, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing wheth- er that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met RQ D JUHDW EDWWOH¿HOG RI WKDW war. We have come to dedi- FDWHDSRUWLRQRIWKDW¿HOGDV D¿QDOUHVWLQJSODFHIRUWKRVH who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is DOWRJHWKHU ¿WWLQJ DQG SURSHU that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot Abraham Lincoln dedicate – we cannot conse- crate –we cannot hallow – this ground. The brave men, liv- ing and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the un- ¿QLVKHGZRUNZKLFKWKH\ZKR fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task UHPDLQLQJ EHIRUH XV ² WKDW from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have GLHG LQ YDLQ ² WKDW WKLV QD- tion, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Today is about the cost of war T Every war creates a new generation of veterans he Iraq War won’t go away. It surfaced last week in de- bate among Republican presidential candidates. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he would not have made the decision that his broth- er George made to invade Iraq. Asked about her support for the Iraq War resolution while a senator, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton said she based that vote on the intelligence she was shown at that time. When lawmakers such as for- mer Sen. Clinton vote to send young men and women into combat, no one points out that Congress and the president are creating a new generation of veterans. No one talks about that cost of war. Today we honor those who PDGH WKH XOWLPDWH VDFUL¿FH ² giving their life because their country sent them to war. There was a time when Congress contained many vet- erans. Because there is no draft, there are now few veterans in the House or Senate. There is always plenty of war rhetoric, but very little perspective based on experience. For a majority of Americans, Memorial Day is most mean- ingfully about the veterans who are still actively endeavoring to live following the endless years of war begun after the craven at- tacks of Sept. 11, 2001. How easy it still is for old men to start wars that burn up the lives of the young. The Iraq War especially deserves to be remembered as a “war of choice” launched by political leaders who never personally risked a drop of their own blood defending the nation. 3UHVLGHQW8O\VVHV*UDQW²DV good a general as the U.S. ever KDG²VDLG³7KHUHQHYHUZDVD time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to pre- vent the drawing of the sword.” Our sad drumbeat of wars in the 20th and 21st centuries informs us that we are still too far away from learning this lesson. But war is not the true sub- ject for Memorial Day. We hon- RU WKH SHUVRQDO VDFUL¿FHV WKDW men and women have made in the name of our nation and its Constitution. We who live in the relative comfort of 2014 cannot ignore WKHVH VDFUL¿FHV :H FDQQRW commend one soldier’s valor and minimize another’s, de- pending on whether we deem one a “good war” and the other not. What we honor this day is VHOÀHVV VHUYLFH WR WKH FRXQWU\ But if this day is to be anything but an excuse for a day off from work, we must put meat on the bones of otherwise empty promises. Looking back in time, nations including ours pay lip service to veterans, while con- signing all too many of them to lives of pain and neglect. Genuinely honoring veterans means remembering them and tending to their needs on 365 days of the year, not just this one. AP Photo/Susan Walsh Third U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Pfc. Kaitlyn Bolde of Sco- tia, N.Y., places a flag in front of a headstone at Arlington National Cem- etery in Arlington, Va., Thursday. Building spiritual capital in youth human development. An to this normal crisis. implication of her work is Taken together,“ Miller writes, ”research supports that if you care about so- the idea of a common isa Miller is a professor of cial mobility, graduation physiology underlying de- psychology and education rates, resilience, achieve- pression and spirituality.” ment and family forma- at Columbia University. In other words, teen- tion, you can’t ignore the One day she entered a subway car spiritual resources of the agers commonly suffer D ORVV RI PHDQLQJ FRQ¿- and saw that half of it was crowded people you are trying to dence and identity. Some help. but the other half was empty, except RIWKHPWU\WR¿OOWKHYRLG 0LOOHU GH¿QHV VSLULWX- David for a homeless man who had some with drugs, alcohol, gang ality as “an inner sense Brooks fast food on his lap and who was of relationship to a higher activity and even preg- screaming at anybody who came power that is loving and guiding.” nancy. But others are surrounded close. Different people can conceive of this by people who have cultivated their At one stop, a grandmother and higher power as God, nature, spirit, spiritual instincts. According to granddaughter, about 8, entered the the universe or just a general oneness Miller’s research, adolescents with a car. They were elegantly dressed, of being. She distinguishes spiritu- strong sense of connection to a tran- wearing pastel dresses and gloves ality, which has a provable genetic scendent realm are 70 percent to 80 with lace trim. The homeless man FRPSRQHQW IURP UHOLJLRXV DI¿OLD- percent less likely to engage in heavy spotted them and screamed, “Hey! WLRQZKLFKLVHQWLUHO\LQÀXHQFHGE\ substance abuse. Among teenage girls, having a strong spiritual sense Do you want to sit with me?” They environment. looked at each other, nodded and re- ,¶G VD\ 0LOOHU GRHVQ¶W SD\ VXI¿- was extremely protective against se- plied in unison, “Thank you,” and, cient attention to the many secular, rious depression. Adults who consid- unlike everybody else, sat directly WKLVZRUOG ZD\V SHRSOH ¿QG WR RU- er themselves highly spiritual at age next to him. ganize their lives. Still, it does seem 26 are, according to her research, 75 The man offered them some true that most children are born with percent protected against recurrence chicken from his bag. They looked a natural sense of the spiritual. If of depression. Innate spiritual capacities can at each other and nodded and said, WKH\¿QGDGHDGVTXLUUHORQWKHSOD\- “No, thank you.” The ground, they under- wither unless cultivated - the way that homeless man offered stand there is some- innate math faculties can go unde- Public several more times, thing sacred there, veloped without instruction. Loving and each time they and they will most families nurture these capacities, es- schools nodded to each oth- likely give it a re- pecially when parents speak explic- er and gave the same burial. They itly about spiritual quests. The larg- often give spectful polite answer. Final- have a natural sense er question, especially in this age of ly, the homeless man of the oneness of cre- family disruption, is whether public short was calmed, and they ation, and a sense of schools and other institutions should shrift to all sat contentedly in a transcendent, non- do more to nurture spiritual faculties. Public schools often give short their seats. material realm. Mill- Miller was struck spirituality. er cites twin studies shrift to spirituality for fear that they by the power of that that suggest that the would be accused of proselytizing nod. strength of a child’s spiritual aware- religion. But it should be possible “The nod was spirituality shared ness is about 29 percent because of to teach the range of spiritual dis- between child and beloved elder: broad genetic heritability, 24 percent ciplines, in order to familiarize stu- spiritual direction, values, taught and because of family environment and dents with the options, without en- received in the loving relationship,” 47 percent because of a person’s dorsing any one. In an era in which so many people she writes in her book “The Spiritual unique individual environment. Child.” Spiritual awareness, she contin- slip off the rails during adolescence, The grandmother was teach- ues, surges in adolescence, at about we don’t have the luxury of ignoring ing the granddaughter the wisdom the same time as depression and oth- a resource that, if cultivated, could that we were once all strangers in a er threats to well-being. Some lev- see them through. Ignoring spiritual strange land and that we’re judged el of teenage depression, she says, development in the public square is by how we treat those who have the should be seen as a normal part of like ignoring intellectual, physical or least. the growth process, as young people social development. It is to amputate Miller’s core argument is that ask fundamental questions of them- people in a fundamental way, lead- spiritual awareness is innate and selves. The spiritual surge in adoles- ing to more depression, drug abuse, that it is an important component in cence is nature’s way of responding alienation and misery. By DAVID BROOKS New York Times News Service L