Unless confronted by an immediate, visible, or uncomfortable crisis, our nation's tendency is to take the security of the Western Hemisphere for granted.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that people often overlook security concerns unless a crisis demands immediate attention.
John F. Kelly's quote highlights a common psychological tendency where individuals and nations become complacent about security matters unless they encounter a direct threat or crisis. This reflects a broader human behavior of taking safety for granted during peaceful times, emphasizing the need for vigilance and preparedness in maintaining security, particularly in the context of national defense and policy.
In practice
During a public speech on national security, this quote could be used to emphasize the importance of readiness.
Those with less of a sense of service to the nation never understand it when men and women of character step forward to look danger and adversity straight in the eye, refusing to blink, or give ground, even to their own deaths. The protected can't begin to understand the price paid so they and their families can sleep safe and free at night.
The one thing I was always told is you absolutely have to tell truth to power. Whether you're a second lieutenant working with a captain and a lieutenant colonel, or a four-star general working with the Office Secretary of Defense and the White House, the decision makers have got to have ground truth.
We have a saying in the Marine Corps and that is 'no better friend, no worse enemy, than a U.S. Marine.' We always hope for the first, friendship, but are certainly more than ready for the second.
Whether you're a second lieutenant working with a captain and a lieutenant colonel, or a four-star general working with the Office Secretary of Defense and the White House, the decision makers have got to have ground truth. Otherwise, the decisions they make could be flawed - and that can be dangerous.
Since 1945, no one in the U.S. military has liked the end result of the military conflicts we've been in: Vietnam, Korea, certainly Iraq, and probably Afghanistan. But in a democracy, you salute.
One day, you'll get out of the Marine Corps; you'll put your uniform up, but you'll never not be a Marine.
Most of us are conditioned for many years to have a political viewpoint - Republican or Democratic, liberal, conservative, or moderate. The fact of the matter is that most of the problems that we now face are technical problems, are administrative problems. They are very sophisticated judgments, which do not lend themselves to the great sort of passionate movements which have stirred this country so often in the past. - They deal with questions which are now beyond the comprehension of most men.
I recognize the Republican Party as the sheet anchor of the colored man's political hopes and the ark of his safety.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
We can have democracy and a prosperous, just, and sustainable human future. Or we can have corporate rule. We cannot have both.
Any government that supports, protects or harbours terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent and equally guilty of terrorist crimes.
You can suddenly have a series of countries waking up and saying, 'I want the same status as the Brits,' which will be, de facto, the dismantling of the rest of Europe.
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