PEARL

DUTY AND LOYALTY

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
It's in the act of having to do things that you don't want to that you learn something about moving past the self. Past the ego.
bell hooks

Last night, as I watched an episode of the television mini-drama ‘Designated Survivor’, I was struck by the sincere conviction attributed to the Navy Seal characters who gladly missed important family engagements and risked their lives to undertake a most dangerous mission. When thanked for their service, all responded that they saw it as their duty, performed in loyalty to their country.

No doubt, one could easily dismiss these movie lines as having been written for dramatic effect.

But I sometimes wonder whether the plethora of vocal views,

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