Problem: General Pace's Immoral Acts Comments

Ah, political correctness. Absolutely the BANE of American society. POOR GENERAL PACE. If you think that sounds sarcastic, IT'S NOT.

Let me tell you about this man and this situation.

General Peter Pace was, until recently, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the Army. Exactly 6 months ago today, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, General Pace made known his personal opinion regarding military personnel and their actions. He stated, and I quote, ""My upbringing is such that I believe there are certain things, certain types of conduct, that are immoral. I believe that military members who sleep with other military members' wives are immoral in their conduct and that we should not tolerate that. I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts." The Tribune conducted this interview, by the way, to discuss the reasons that the military prosecutes extramarital affairs, and to challenge the military's dismissal of approximately 10,000 servicemen and women in relation to the "don't ask/don't tell" policy currently in place. General Pace's response is as stated above.

He was, of course, immediately lambasted by the press, the gay community, and any and all left-wing activists watching the interview or catching wind via the press. He was also summarily fired, or, to put it kindly, retired immediately.

Perhaps he should not have offered his personal opinion about the don't ask/don't tell policy and shown more his support for the policy itself rather than express his own views...fine. But the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a nonprofit group representing military personnel affected by the policy, absolutely demanded an apology for his opinions the very next day: "Gen. Pace's comments are outrageous, insensitive and disrespectful to the 65,000 lesbian and gay troops now serving in our armed forces," said the group's executive director. "Our men and women in uniform make tremendous sacrifices for our country, and deserve Gen. Pace's praise, not his condemnation."

General Pace, however, was not condemning those servicemen and women. He did not say "all those who are gay and are currently serving in the military will burn in hell for all eternity." What he DID say was that he believed homosexual acts to be immoral. That's it. HE believed. There was no condemnation in his commentary. Only opinion.

Perhaps the world did not want his opinion. He offered it anyway. It was an honest explanation of why he personally supports the don't ask/don't tell policy, and I admire him for it. But what I admire most is that he did not back down, even under penalty of losing his position among the Joint Chiefs: he explained that he could not apologize for his own personal opinion, and only admitted to a poor choice in timing.

God bless the man for sticking to his guns. He, unlike so many of the rest of us, was not concerned with who he might irritate or who might disagree with him; instead, he was concerned with expressing an honest and sincere opinion, and whether or not you agree with him, you've got to admire him for stating a clear, non-judgmental and non-negotiable attitude in regards to an issue where he has had, for himself, to make a righteous judgment. He did not judge those who were homosexual and serving in the military...only their acts did he judge as inappropriate and immoral, and each man must judge the acts of others for himself in order to make something of himself. Without a man deciding black from white, there is no growth. He took a very unpopular stand, and paid a steep price, but never once did he condemn the homosexual troops now sacrificing for our country.

Let us support him in the best way we can. The solution to his comments as far as the government was concerned was to call for the General's early retirement. The solution for us, 6 months later, is to do as he did (though, preferably when an opinion is requested or required): make righteous judgment of the behaviors of others (and ourselves, where necessary), and do not hesitate to express our own personal views -- being our individual views and those of none other -- as to the morality or appropriateness of those actions. To do anything less would be to shame the man who was and is our example.

Problem Solved,
Mommy