Robert J. Wright.Bob Wright, my good friend of almost 15 years, told me of the speech below in a phone conversation recently. I found it so compelling that I asked him to write it down do I could post it. Here it is. I think you'll be impressed too.
Mike
III
While speaking at a patriot gathering in North New Mexico recently I remarked to the crowd that each had quoted a founder or one of the founding documents.
I asked them what they thought Pledging “Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor” really meant?
Lives
I asked, "how many here today were willing to say that either we win this fight or we die?" For that is what the pledge really means.
Did they realize that not only are we talking about existence on this temporal plane, but when you pledge your life that means you pledge all of the mechanics and resources that make your life what it is. Dedication to other causes, save the worship of your God, falls to the rear of the hierarchy. All other causes find themselves not only subordinate to this solemn pledge, but often co-opted to serve the cause to which this pledge was made.
Most of those who hear these words “we pledge our lives” see in their minds eye the glorious martyrdom against staggering odds, for the cause of freedom, liberty, apple pie and the American way. While some may/will make that sacrifice, most will sacrifice their lives in the service of this cause in a more tedious but no less difficult and honorable fashion.
Once you make this pledge, your life now belongs to the cause of liberty. Your decisions can no longer be based on what you want or what will take you somewhere but must now be based on one criterion alone. How will my action further the cause to which I have pledged my life? Are you ready for that?? Do you have that dedication?? And just so your decision's not too easy or casually made, understand a very ugly death may be all you will get for your dedication.
All of the Patriots present, with varying degrees of enthusiasm assured me, themselves and all there they were so prepared. In order to insure we all understood the full ramifications of that pledge I was compelled to point out that the REALITY was that when we took the pledge we took it not only in our individual name but in the name of our spouse and others. For the history of tyranny assures us the tyrant will see it in such a light.
Fortune
What does it really mean to pledge one's fortune? I think most consider the $3000 to $10000 dollars they spent buying a racy black gun and a store of MREs to have fulfilled that commitment. I suggest that such timidity in the face of the known price paid by those who made the original pledge is disgraceful.
Once the pledge is made, your fortune, like your life is now in the service of the cause to which you made this pledge. Don’t panic, no one wants the combo to your safe or the password to the ATM but…if you mean the pledge as the Founders meant it, then the purpose of your fortune is to support this cause.
Most in the Patriot circle have read the material put out by Rush Limbaugh's father regarding what happened to the original pledgers. Do not make this pledge if you do not think that kind of price is worth it. I am not just talking about money or property. The treasure that is your youth will likely be spent in this great cause. Many will find themselves losing the greatest of treasures, our spouses and children as the reality of the fierceness of the coming storm tears husband from wife and parent from child as the more timid seek distance from those who have volunteered themselves into harm's way.
Are you prepared to make this kind of commitment? Are you ready to delay the addition on the back of the house in order to fund an ammunition or food fund?? Are you prepared to sacrifice the trip to Vail, or Cabo or wherever so you can sponsor one of your High speed low drag members to one of the firearms training institutes so they can bring the most modern of technique back to you and your compatriots?
How about donating a case of ammo you have stored to the local Militia Unit? Are you able to make this kind of commitment? Are you the real Three Percenter in your group? It will take this kind of unlimited commitment to win this struggle. Our Founders knew that when they gave us this particular legacy and standard. If your commitment is not such that you too are willing to make the sacrifice of treasure of all kinds, then make not this pledge. Do not dishonor the pledge and the memory of those made by taking it with any less dedication than those who have gone before.
Sacred Honor
Honor is a word long in disuse in our modern society. But I believe that it is one of the most important words of the language. “Our Sacred Honor”. What does that mean to us, today?
I look at it like this, if I pledge MY sacred honor it means that from that time on my whole self worth and all I will ever be judged by is the success of the endeavor I have pledged that honor to. Nothing else I do will satisfy that pledge. Fail to fulfill either of the two areas discussed above and you have sacrificed this most valuable of all human virtues....honor. Sacred honor means that all others will look at you through the prism of your commitment to this pledge.
Your family and loved ones will always judge you by this pledge and your honorable fulfillment of it. Even the judgment of heaven will be percolated through the defining acts you take to fulfill this noble pledge.
You must remember that the commitments discussed here are of the most solemn and serious of nature. Not only is this pledge made to your fellow patriots, but to the majesty of Heaven as well. You have placed your entire worth on the table. Are you ready for that?
Clearly there can be no casual Patriots. One who understands the blessings of liberty and treasure them can never be casual in the vigorous defense and protection of this beloved commodity.
These are the ideas I tried to impart to them.
Bob Wright
Eunice, NM
3 November 2009
11 comments:
Serious words to ponder long into the night and absorb deep into the soul.
Thank you, both of you.
Mr. Wright, for speaking them.
Mr. V, for putting them out where the rest of us can read them.
B Woodman
III-per
Heck, no.
Heck no, no, no, no, no.
Justice means you receive the consequences you've earned. That means they the grasshopper is supposed to expire in the healthcare shortage and industrialization collapse they're creating, and me the ant is supposed to survive intact. An honest justice is the goal I will work for.
The first rule of rescue work is to not become a casualty yourself. I would be tickled to see the useful idiot Statist voters wake up and start living libertarian. I will assist and encourage this as I can, but I won't sacrifice myself to the collective. I am not a Communist.
There are no words anyone can say, no pretended claims of duty to country/God/neighbors, that will cause me to have Communist sympathies. Any person that demands at gunpoint that I "give" is a politician and the Communist enemy. As long as Bob's call for sacrifice is purely voluntary that's fine, but historically, what wartime "government" has resisted conscription, confiscatory taxation, nationalization of industry, and all the other things the 3rd amendment was written to deny? Has Bob sworn to respect the bill of rights, no matter how dire the situation?
WOW. Thanks to Mr. V for the post and Mr. Wright for the words.
May we not forget them.
G. Austin
Some of us are old, a little bit damaged, have poor foot speed over ground, but we have plenty to give yet.
Fighting men need supplies. They need boots/socks, stocked first aid kits, clean and repaired uniforms, radios, batteries/chargers, maps, shelter parts, intelligence, hot water, hiding spots, portable preserved food, clean water, message networks, re-manufactured cartridges, etc.
We should be stockpiling not just finished goods, but the tools and skills to repair and make more.
The penalty for assisting people who will be called "rebels" "terrorists" "criminals" "revolutionaries" and worse (especially if successful!) is the same as holding a rifle. The penalty for not choosing a side is to be considered an enemy or an asset to be plundered/denied to the enemy by both sides.
We must not assume that the US Military will ignore their Oath as our corrupt civil government has. My NCO's and Officers all seemed to be thoughtful and serious people, worthy of my loyalty. I'll consider them at least potential allies until they show otherwise.
Very sobering words. I must admit I'd never thought about them in those terms, but now I feel I must.
Jim UMSC
III
All of his comments are great but his comments on fortune are excellent. It would be a wonderful thing if all patriots took them to heart.
theaton
BRAVO. Something for SERIOUS consideration there. And from a Wright, no less. Thanks, Mike.
D.C. Wright
III
Yep, great words and true. But asking a man in a crowd of his peers if he will go the distance, bear the burden and commit his life is unfair and will get you not the truth but something else.
If the truth is to come, you must sit with the family and the man and have your discussion along with the real survivor in the family--the woman.
Most are not going to commit their man nor their children nor themselves. They will want to bunker up, run or evade or disguise themselves as pro-government. More now than back when Americans were hard and tough and did not think they could get something for nothing.
Mark my words, I have seen it in real life long ago in a far away land when we tried to recruit tribesmen to our cause. Some came, but they didn't have wives nor children. Those that did, somehow talked their wives into coming and bringing not only their kids but their extended family.
This is good is you have the logistics to support and feed them. We did, but we WERE the American Government. We had deep pockets.
But here is the truth of the tactical matter. a few guys with guns will have no chance, it will be suicide. The only hope (like he said) is full commitment and dedication to the task and the preparation, training, hard work expentitures of large amounts of money. It means to have a chance it has to be thousands of volenteers. How do you hide that? You have to have security, plans, full emersion but for security sake advise everyone that they must follow their regular life as much as possible and hide their preparation and training until it is judged that the time is as right as it is ever going to be.
It is a very very complicated affair, read some of the books about the French Resistance during WWII, Read some of the books about the resistance in China during the same war with the Japanese. Read the books and papers of our Founders. It was a disaster and full of mistakes that the British took full advantage of. We almost lost that revolution, God and luck and good men's lives and spirit prevented it by a cats whisker.
Not to say we can't do it again, and by God's grace we will not have to but if it is so, we will not have the millions that we will need but like Washington...just a few thousand brave men.
Papa Ray
Central Texas
The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed - where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.
2009 Judge Alex Kozinski
Anon@8:59AM said: "The penalty for not choosing a side is to be considered an enemy or an asset to be plundered/denied to the enemy by both sides."
Breathtaking! If I don't choose a side, aka submit to a group of aggressive warmakers and materially support them, I am an enemy? There are no neutrals in your war, and no innocent victims; everyone is either with Bush or with the terrorists? If I don't choose a side, I am an asset to be plundered by your side; I can either pay the tribute you demand, or be killed? How is your promised regime more desirable than the current regime?
It's good to read the words, but I have the feeling that many of those who nodded their heads in assent as they read do not actually understand what was/is/will be required. And I suspect I'm one of them, having no field experience at all.
Only when the flag goes up will any of us know if we are up to the task. Let's hope there are enough.
Having already poured out some of my blood, parts, and youth for my country, a little more ain't gonna be a problem. I have only one piece of advice for the communists in this administration. Run.
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