Was Sacrifice the Real Lesson of D-Day?

Fighting for liberty is not a sacrifice.

Please, take a deep breath before reading on.

I’m not denigrating those who died for freedom, on this 75th anniversary of D-Day. Quite the contrary. I’m honoring and celebrating them.

Life without freedom is the psychological equivalent of breathing without oxygen. Depriving yourself of oxygen will kill you instantly. Life without freedom will kill your spirit, and — if you anger the wrong person — it will kill your body, as well.

If you agree that freedom is essential for life, then it’s not an act of self-sacrifice to fight for freedom. Especially when it’s truly endangered, as it was during Hitler’s and Japan’s quest for dominance.

That’s precisely why I honor those who gave up their lives in defending freedom all those years ago. Not because they sacrificed. But because they knew — even for themselves — life without the kind of freedom historically guaranteed by the United States is meaningless and worthless.

Much of the world still does not live in freedom. Most human beings never have. The thing about freedom is that once you have it — even some of it — you can no longer go without it. Your mind and your psyche won’t let you. I don’t mean to minimize the suffering and pain of those who never have enjoyed freedom. But in one sense, they don’t know what they’re missing. Once you have known freedom — like those of us fortunate enough to have been born in America — you can never go without it.

The tragedy of today’s snowflakes (of all ages) is that they have no clue. No, they would never do what those brave and heroic soldiers did on D-Day. Yes, they are weak and fragile creatures ruled by their random, unexamined emotions. But they also have no concept of what freedom is, and why it’s meaningful. To them, all freedom means is the burden of responsibility. It means having to think for yourself and take lifelong action in order to achieve and maintain life. They find this too much. They have never considered the alternative, and that’s why you see them embracing the kind of collectivism and national socialism these great soldiers in World War II gave their lives to banish.

Either they will not take responsibility for themselves, or they do so resentfully. Their heroes are not the fallen soldiers, who died for something these snowflakes neither comprehend nor know how to value. Their heroes are … Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders. Or rap musicians uttering violent, random strands of discordant sounds. Or Silicon Valley or Hollywood celebrities, not for their actual achievements but for their stupid, ignorant political and social attitudes.

The 75th anniversary of D-Day is not a time to honor sacrifice. Sacrifice is the thing these great soldiers were fighting. Sacrifice was the code and creed of Hitler, as well as the Communists. Marx declared, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”. That’s not the Declaration of Independence of D-Day heroes … that’s the sacrifice “ideal” of both Hitler and the Communists. It’s the same attitude espoused by leftists today, from Biden to Ocasio-Cortez, and many conservatives as well, quite frankly.

Sacrifice is the creed and code of every mental or physical abuser — every dictator — in history. Dictators count on your willingness to make sacrifices in order for them to get what they want.

When I think of these brave men storming the beaches of Normandy, I think of them fighting not for sacrifice but for freedom, self-determination and self-respect. There are no greater things. And there’s no greater reason to fight.

Honor them. But please: Do so for the right reasons.

 

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