Notre Dame Magazine Spring 2012 : Page 5
competing for too little work, and the prob-lem grows worse as the world’s labor force grows by another 100,000 workers every day. There are no solutions to ever-worsen-ing global unemployment that don’t begin with stabilizing the population. PETE MURPHY ’ 71 CLARKSTON, MICHIGAN Lori Barrett closes her article by telling us that “greed does no one any good.” Except that it does. If there is no benefit to be-ing greedy, the behavior would not exist, and some Americans have grown wealthy beyond the dreams of Croesus because of greed. But beyond this obvious oversight, there is a much deeper aspect to greed. Simply put, a technologically advanced so-ciety cannot exist without some of its mem-bers being greedy. The greedy accumulate a surplus which can be deployed to allow some members of society to specialize in an activity other than gathering food. So, if properly managed, greed can be harnessed for the good of society. Entrepre-neurial greed (good greed, if you will) cre-ates economic activity where none existed before and fosters job creation as a side effect. Financial greed (bad greed) enriches some while passing the costs on to oth-ers. It is essentially a form of redistribution where wealth is transferred from the many to the few. The key to a balanced and functional so-ciety is to formulate tax policy so that good greed is encouraged and bad greed is penal-ized. This is quite the opposite to what the United States has now. G UY W ROBLE ’77 D ENVER , C OLORADO other artifacts from the War Between the States, as some Southerners refer to it. A day earlier I’d visited a plantation where generations of slaves were forced to pick cotton and manufacture bricks. I enjoy his-tory, so this was all very interesting to me. But an important fact crept back into my consciousness. For whatever other reason Southerners supported secession, they knew a Confederate victory would protect the institution of slavery. In an era of height-ened reverence for the military, let’s re-member there is nothing heroic or noble or intelligent in killing unquestioningly for an unjust cause — no matter how nostalgically later generations may remember it. E D C OHEN S OUTH B END , I NDIANA MA TT CA SHORE ’94 Reagan: ‘Notre Dame — a beautiful, maddening place.’ Worth fighting for Barbara Turpin’s “How Could They?” es-say was a masterpiece for someone like me. Born a Northerner but a Southerner by choice, I’ve lived in the South for 49 of my 74 years. In a short time I learned what Ms. Turpin learned in her pilgrimage to Gettys-burg. Although the figures about slave own-ership vary, it was clear that the soldiers in the field weren’t fighting so somebody could own slaves. Camaraderie, states’ rights and an oppressive federal govern-ment drove the men in gray, not slavery. D ANIEL R APP ’59 T A YLORSVILLE , N OR TH C AROLINA While in Charleston, South Carolina, recent-ly, I visited the city’s Confederate Museum, which proudly displays countless uniforms, swords, photographs, bullets, medals and I applaud Barbara Turpin’s understanding of the Civil War, but for some reason she feels compelled to compare the bravery and sacrifice of those soldiers with her stereotypical assumptions about Vietnam-era service — that Americans who fought and died in Vietnam did so out of coercion, mindless discipline and unquestioningly obeying orders on behalf of people who did not want us there against an enemy whom we admired for their tenacity in their com-mitment to a cause. Had she spent as much time studying the Vietnam War as she has the Civil War, rather than merely accepting her 1960s perspective, she would know the answer to the question, “How could they?” As a Marine platoon leader in Vietnam, I saw too many friends and young Marines pay the price for others to not understand the cause we fought and died for. Any rea-sonable study of American post-World War II history would put that war appropri-ately within the context of this country’s decades-long commitment to challenge and contain the spread of communism. That era was known collectively as the Cold War, and we won it with the final collapse of commu-nism in 1989. So yes, there was a cause — the defense of freedom and our way of life. Like our fore-fathers, we fought for a cause, for patrio-tism and a commitment to our fellow coun-trymen, whether they appreciate it or not. The sacrifices made in that long ago Cold War protected the rights of a whole genera-tion of self-righteous dissenters to develop and express their cynical opinions — opin-ions they are entitled to as long as they are not misconstrued as fact. P ATRICK J. M C D ONNELL ’65 L AKE F OREST , I LLINOIS plenty of other beautiful events that define Notre Dame. Many of these are connected to another or lead to another, and we are never quite sure when the next meaningful moment will occur. But somehow it always does. Notre Dame’s beauty is also grounded in its ability to renew. I doubt I will ever again work where I experience such a sense of renewal more rapidly than here. I will miss Notre Dame’s uncanny ability to pick us back up after a bad day . . . a conversa-tion with a student, a performance, Mass or event, or the campus itself — the grotto, the basilica — or a good talk at Leahy’s or Legends with colleagues and friends. It took great soul searching to decide to leave here now. But the timing seemed just about right. The University offered a rare opportunity to retire early for those of us who have been here awhile. In the end, it motivated me to step away, to try some-thing completely different. I am grateful for that. It has prompted me to think back, to remember how it starts, this “relationship” with an institution, with a place. Each of us associated with Notre Dame has had someone in their life who intro-duced us to the University – a parent, a friend, a teacher, a sibling. For me, it was my dad Jim, class of 1948. Dad passed away a number of years ago but his voice is still strong in my heart and my head. When he and mom dropped me off on campus for my freshman year in 1972, he took me aside and said, “You’ll never be alone now.” I didn’t get what he was saying then. I do now. Dad was right. I never have been since, and I don’t believe I ever will be alone again. Notre Dame has taken care of that. Wher-ever I go, whatever situation I find myself in, I will remain permanently connected to this maddening, beautiful place. So perhaps I am not leaving at all. S PRING 2012 5
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