God Save Britain and Her Queen
My passport is blue not red. It says United States of America not Great Britain.
But, I am an Englishman.
Both our flags are red, white and blue...because ours was derived from theirs. And theirs, in turn, was derived from the medieval flags of England and Scotland.
My forebears came from England and Scotland, Ireland and Wales. From the mists of antiquity I am the living continuation of Britannia.
I venerate Great Britain's people as I do America's...because we are the same.
We share the same legacy of liberty because we share the same history. From 1215 and the Magna Carta to 1689 and the Bill Of Rights to 1789 and the Constitution of the United States to the United Nations Charter of 1945, the contributions of the Anglo-Saxon/Celtic peoples to the cause of freedom and individual dignity are incalculable.
We don't like war. But we have had war thrust upon us. Historically, democratic nations are the last to fight, but when we finally decide to, we fight to win.
We in the West have recently witnessed the emergence of a new type of war against us. One in which the enemy seeks not military victories, but emotional ones.
This day saw another battle in that war…and we won’t know for several weeks or months who won. What we do know is that Londoners have been added to the casualty list.
The Islamic-Fascists we face know they cannot defeat us on the battlefield, but that they may in our hearts. They desperately want to weaken our resolve to fight them - so that, unhindered, they can spread their medieval ideology and grow until they are strong enough to challenge us militarily. There can be NO negotiating with these people, because they seek our destruction, not our land…our deaths, not our wealth…our abject submission, not coexistence.
We in the United States have only recently begun to understand the grim reality of the world in which we live. Insulated, or so we thought, by two oceans and the pleasant diversions of wealth - what we suffered on 9/11/01 was all the more terrifying to us because it was the first time a foreign enemy had hit us at home.
Londoners, though, have suffered before. Whether from a 10th century Viking raid, the Nazi blitz of 1940, or the IRA terror campaign in the 70’s, they have borne their fear and grief and gone about their business as they have always. We in the U.S. can only look on in admiration and wonder at their fortitude.
I fervently hope and pray that today’s residents of London will do as their predecessors: Weep and bury their dead, then grit their teeth and stubbornly go back to their business – refusing to be cowed. To do otherwise, to submit to the extortion of terror, to quit the field and simply hope that the Islamists will leave them alone - would be a grave miscalculation and a tragic betrayal of those principles that have allowed us to become the hope of the world. Even if our only security is in the knowledge that our cause is just we must hold tight to it. In every contest between liberal democratic principles and totalitarian hatred, our ideals have triumphed. Victory is assured so long as we maintain the will to see it through.
"Nemo me impune lacessit"
But, I am an Englishman.
Both our flags are red, white and blue...because ours was derived from theirs. And theirs, in turn, was derived from the medieval flags of England and Scotland.
My forebears came from England and Scotland, Ireland and Wales. From the mists of antiquity I am the living continuation of Britannia.
I venerate Great Britain's people as I do America's...because we are the same.
We share the same legacy of liberty because we share the same history. From 1215 and the Magna Carta to 1689 and the Bill Of Rights to 1789 and the Constitution of the United States to the United Nations Charter of 1945, the contributions of the Anglo-Saxon/Celtic peoples to the cause of freedom and individual dignity are incalculable.
We don't like war. But we have had war thrust upon us. Historically, democratic nations are the last to fight, but when we finally decide to, we fight to win.
We in the West have recently witnessed the emergence of a new type of war against us. One in which the enemy seeks not military victories, but emotional ones.
This day saw another battle in that war…and we won’t know for several weeks or months who won. What we do know is that Londoners have been added to the casualty list.
The Islamic-Fascists we face know they cannot defeat us on the battlefield, but that they may in our hearts. They desperately want to weaken our resolve to fight them - so that, unhindered, they can spread their medieval ideology and grow until they are strong enough to challenge us militarily. There can be NO negotiating with these people, because they seek our destruction, not our land…our deaths, not our wealth…our abject submission, not coexistence.
We in the United States have only recently begun to understand the grim reality of the world in which we live. Insulated, or so we thought, by two oceans and the pleasant diversions of wealth - what we suffered on 9/11/01 was all the more terrifying to us because it was the first time a foreign enemy had hit us at home.
Londoners, though, have suffered before. Whether from a 10th century Viking raid, the Nazi blitz of 1940, or the IRA terror campaign in the 70’s, they have borne their fear and grief and gone about their business as they have always. We in the U.S. can only look on in admiration and wonder at their fortitude.
I fervently hope and pray that today’s residents of London will do as their predecessors: Weep and bury their dead, then grit their teeth and stubbornly go back to their business – refusing to be cowed. To do otherwise, to submit to the extortion of terror, to quit the field and simply hope that the Islamists will leave them alone - would be a grave miscalculation and a tragic betrayal of those principles that have allowed us to become the hope of the world. Even if our only security is in the knowledge that our cause is just we must hold tight to it. In every contest between liberal democratic principles and totalitarian hatred, our ideals have triumphed. Victory is assured so long as we maintain the will to see it through.
"Nemo me impune lacessit"
posted by Voolfie at 11:04 AM
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