The Mad Parson

It is especially true of recessional times that we measure most of our living in dollars and cents, or pounds and pence, or euros and. . .whatever a smaller denomination of a euro is. But when Milton Friedman famously quipped that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, he pointed to the various and plenty other costs and currencies associated with life–in that particular case, opportunity costs.

Anything worth having carries a financial expenditure with it, but cannot begin to be measured only in terms of that expenditure. For me, love is the greatest treasure extant, with faith close behind, and freedom coming in third at the line–and they all three carry exorbitant costs.

Perhaps now more than ever–of course, ever writer in every time says that, right?–we would do well to remember that the things precious to a society and to an individual are always won by the expenditure of human capital. The juxaposition of two dates with surely bear this out. On 9 November, we celebrated the demolition of the Berlin Wall. Notice I didn’t say the “fall” of the Berlin Wall, because it didn’t just circumstantially topple over as though Humpty Dumpty somehow and finally got his revenge. No, women and men impassioned by the fire of liberty tore it down. And in doing so, they fanned those very flames.

On 11 November, we remember the brave souls in uniform who have defended our freedoms. We are a nation, if we can go by our founding documents, that believes, at least for the most part, that our liberties and rights are granted to us by God himself. Our women and men of the armed services are often the currency spent to keep those rights and freedoms secured, and for that, they are owed our gratitude.

Of course, it is a reckless individual or society who spends treasure with profligacy. The same honored currency that demands our gratitude also demands our careful stewardship, so that the blood of our sons and daughters is never wasted in vain or for small ends. It is a high threshold to meet, and should be. A society never does wrong by itself when it forces its leaders to justify the use of force. Because, while the appropriate spending of our priceless commodity can expand the bounds of freedom, the irresponsible spendthrifting of it can do just the opposite.

Veterans, we thank you and we admire you.