Our next day was a respite day, which
involved no museum or historic visits at all. We did, however, spend
the day in a place deeply steeped in tradition, as we toured Camp
Lejeune with a friend who is a Marine officer and ate at the
Officer's Club on base.
The Marines have always had a keen
sense of their heritage and their traditions, and that was evident
throughout the base, from the obvious military traditions (we were
traveling in an officer's car, and were thus saluted all over the
place!) to more subtle things such s the clear and evident pride in
generations of Marines displayed nearly everywhere. The Officer's
Club in particular was clearly a place where the history of the Corps
was celebrated.
I was struck by the obvious
appreciation for history while incorporating its lessons into daily
life, and by the clear sense of cohesive community. Some of that is
clearly a result of intensive military discipline and organization,
but I would argue that that shared appreciation for heritage and
history is an essential part of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment