- (YellowTimes.org) - The time was a balmy spring Sunday
afternoon in Vienna, Austria in 1936. The incident took place in front
of the Bristol Hotel across the street from the Vienna Opera House. The
tableau consisted of two groups of people. In the first were several American
tourists. The other group consisted of several Austrian boys and girls,
including myself. We were on a chaperoned Sunday afternoon stroll along
the Ringstrasse.
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- We knew that the members of the first group were Americans.
Their dress, their language, their general appearance made us realize who
they were. They represented messengers from a world about which we could
only dream.
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- America was the land of opportunity. In spite of the
worldwide depression, we believed that hard work and strength of moral
character provided Americans with the possibility of a brighter future.
In our very rigid and regimented class system, opportunities were limited
or non-existing. We knew that in that far off Eden there was freedom of
speech, of the press, and of religion. In Austria, you could be put in
jail for criticizing the Chancellor. Roman Catholicism was the official
state religion. Other religions only existed if the government sanctioned
them.
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- We belonged to a regimented society. Freedom was a dream
belonging to another, far-away world. We, who had come into close proximity
to these messengers from Utopia, thought we stood in the presence of divine
messengers.
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- Worldwide, America was respected and envied. Of course,
we knew there were problems in America. However, we believed that its ideals
far outweighed its difficulties.
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- I came to America in 1938 filled with excitement that
I know was part of the dream. My goal was to embrace the values, the beliefs,
the opportunities that presented themselves. Many people helped me to fulfill
the vision in my personal life.
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- It was with great pride that I joined the U.S. Army.
In the fall of 1945, the 103rd Infantry Division drove up the Rhone Valley
to relieve the 3rd Division which had been on the line for 105 consecutive
days. In every village through which our convoy passed, we were warmly
greeted by elated Frenchmen. The 3rd Division had brought them freedom
from tyranny. We were on our way to finish a war that would lead to an
ennobling future for humankind.
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- In our heart of hearts, we believed that our fight was
for the high and noble purpose of freedom and justice. Some of my comrades
now lie buried in foreign soil. Some of us made it back without disabilities.
Some of us, over fifty years later, are suffering from combat related injuries
and problems. Yet all of us served gladly. We accepted our burdens as a
price that had to be paid to protect freedom.
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- But some years ago, storm clouds began to gather in America.
The dream came under attack.
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- The first sign that the foundations of freedom were cracking
occurred in the early 1950s. Senator Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American
Activities Committee were the first signs that something very serious was
amiss in our nation. A crazed fear that communism was about to take over
America swept the nation. We came to believe that a Communist was hiding
behind every bush and underneath every rock. In the frenzy to destroy our
perceived enemies, constitutional rights were abrogated. Lives were destroyed
and careers were ruined. A corrosive agenda started to dissolve the fibers
of America's tapestry.
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- We began to fear ideas! We were alarmed that another
ideology might destroy the dream of the Fathers. But instead of combating
ideas with ideas, we fought the perceived enemy by bringing to ruin anyone
suspected of harboring beliefs alien to our tradition. We were so frenzied
that we forgot that an idea can only be overcome with a better idea.
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- We forsook the ideals of freedom of speech and freedom
of conscience. More than that, another insidious "bug" infected
America. That vicious infection was materialism for the sake of materialism.
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- Those of us who fought World War II were children of
the Depression. That era left an indelible mark on us. We would make certain
that our children would not go through the hard times that marked our own
childhood. After the war, we rolled up our shirtsleeves and built a nation
flowing with milk and honey.
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- But over time, our possessions, our stock options, our
assets became more important than the dream for which our forebears gave
their lives, their honor, and their possessions. To them, ridding a newly
born nation from the tyranny of government was more important than the
Dow Jones average, GNP, or any other economic indicator.
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- We forged the good life from the ruins of WWII. We were
not about to let any damned Commies take it away from us. We forgot that
the fuel for the torch of freedom requires sacrifice and vigilance. But
our hearts began to freeze at the altar of materialism. Our minds, grown
cold, rejected anything that hinted that we might have to give up that
second bathroom or the two-car garage. Our glacial spirits were only concerned
with making money and more money.
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- Slowly, but ever so surely, we gave up our heritage and
traded it in for a mess of lentils. We ripped the torch from the hand of
the Statue of Liberty.
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- We put a P&L statement, audited and certified by
the Anderson accounting firm, into her outstretched hand.
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- Corporate aggrandizement became more important than the
Constitution. Financial reports overshadowed our concern for freedom. Selfishness
drowned out the call to sacrifice.
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- What was the result of our newly found religion presided
over by the god Mammon?
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- America is hated in most of the world. What is worse,
we do not even understand the reason for the hatred. For decades, the leaders
of our nation developed a foreign policy supporting dictators and destroying
people's movements to bring justice and equity to their nations. We support
an Israeli government that has learned nothing from the Holocaust.
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- Both Israel and America claim to be a people of the Book.
But the prophetic message of righteousness and justice has been ripped
from the pages of the Bible. A narrow-minded, provincial dogmatism has
replaced the calls of the prophets "to let justice roll down like
the waters and righteousness like an overflowing stream."
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- Our president had to fly to Buckingham Palace under the
cover of darkness in the middle of the night while tens of thousands in
the street proclaim the injustice of a war fought over nothing more than
dominance over Iraqi oil reserves. Our president did not even address Parliament
for fear that he might be shouted down. Just think of it! America's president
having to scurry through the cover of darkness like a furtive prey being
chased by its predator!
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- We think we can fight ideas we do not like with tanks
and bombs. The more we rely upon Mars, the more intense will be the opposition
to our rampant materialism. The more we worship the gods of war, the stronger
will be the opposition to our forces.
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- We have yet to learn that ideas cannot be destroyed with
weaponry.
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- I fear that the scene that took place in Vienna in 1936
cannot be repeated today. It might well be that visiting Americans might
be the subjects of jeers and sneers.
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- John Brand is a Purple Heart, Combat Infantry veteran
of World War II. He received his Juris Doctor degree at Northwestern University
and a Master of Theology and a Doctor of Ministry at Southern Methodist
University. He served as a Methodist minister for 19 years, was Vice President,
Birkman & Associates, Industrial Psychologists, and concluded his career
as Director, Organizational and Human Resources, Warren-King Enterprises,
an independent oil and gas company.
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- John Brand encourages your comments: jbrand@YellowTimes.org
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