Homecoming and Community
Homecoming and Community
Transcript
The most important thing that people need to not feel alienated is to understand that there exists a common good. That it's out there. That if they act in ways that are good for everyone then it will be recognized and supported and valued. And if they act selfishly, it will be recognized and condemned.
And I think one of the very, very tough things right now is, you know, humans are, we are wired to survive in groups of 30, 40, 50 people maybe, let's push it out, 100, 150, 200 people. Something like that. I mean, 200 people is about the limit of the number of people you can sort of know personally and have a personal investment in. Like beyond that, it's an abstract group, right? So basically, in the military it'd be a company.
Beyond the company, you when you get to the battalion level, you know you know those people, but they don't necessarily mean something to you, right? It's the platoon and the company that are really where your heart is. Well that's true back in society. But we live in a nation of almost 400 million people. That nation, we don't need to, right? We could live in smaller groups, we don't need to be doing this, but we are. It's a grand experiment. Humans have never lived in groups like this before and made it work.
But it takes work. So if we're going to live in a group of this size of the United States, this amazing experiment in democracy and respect for human rights and individual rights, rule of law, justice. If we're going to do this, we have to have an active idea in our mind of a common good for this country. And we cannot think of ourselves as individual tribes within that country. I mean, if you want to, go for it, but then that tribe better start its own country, because it's not going to work. We are one, at our maximum, we are one tribe. And we all share a common good.
Rich, poor, black, white, I don't care. We are all calling ourselves the United States. And so in order to live a meaningful life, you have to do it in your family. You have to do it in your community. You have to do it in your, maybe in your region, but you also have to do it in your country. And I understand, there's political differences, there's arguments, there's debates, you know, people don't like each other. That's all fine. It's messy human affairs, it's no problem. But what we cannot do, must not do, is think about other people in this country as the enemy. And we must not allow our politicians to do that.
Because that's the beginning of a fracturing. That's the beginning of a crack that will extend all the way down the wall, all the way down right into the foundations, right into the smallest communities. That crack will affect absolutely everything if we let it grow. So the final thing that I would say, to you as a veteran, but really to you as an American citizen, all of us, is when we don't value our country as a whole that includes everybody, we do not value ourselves. Because we're part of that. There's no way around that. There's no cheating that equation.
And I think this country is at a very critical time socially, politically, economically. It's obvious we're in crisis. But crises can be good. People get things to change. And what we need from you, the veterans, is the knowledge that you have from overseas. We need that to save this country. You know other countries, other terror groups, whatever, they can hurt us, they can kill people, but they can't destroy this country. We are the only people that can destroy our country. We're the only country powerful enough to destroy us. And we're going to do it with words, not bullets. And that's why we need you. We need you to come home and show us how to live well.
And I think one of the very, very tough things right now is, you know, humans are, we are wired to survive in groups of 30, 40, 50 people maybe, let's push it out, 100, 150, 200 people. Something like that. I mean, 200 people is about the limit of the number of people you can sort of know personally and have a personal investment in. Like beyond that, it's an abstract group, right? So basically, in the military it'd be a company.
Beyond the company, you when you get to the battalion level, you know you know those people, but they don't necessarily mean something to you, right? It's the platoon and the company that are really where your heart is. Well that's true back in society. But we live in a nation of almost 400 million people. That nation, we don't need to, right? We could live in smaller groups, we don't need to be doing this, but we are. It's a grand experiment. Humans have never lived in groups like this before and made it work.
But it takes work. So if we're going to live in a group of this size of the United States, this amazing experiment in democracy and respect for human rights and individual rights, rule of law, justice. If we're going to do this, we have to have an active idea in our mind of a common good for this country. And we cannot think of ourselves as individual tribes within that country. I mean, if you want to, go for it, but then that tribe better start its own country, because it's not going to work. We are one, at our maximum, we are one tribe. And we all share a common good.
Rich, poor, black, white, I don't care. We are all calling ourselves the United States. And so in order to live a meaningful life, you have to do it in your family. You have to do it in your community. You have to do it in your, maybe in your region, but you also have to do it in your country. And I understand, there's political differences, there's arguments, there's debates, you know, people don't like each other. That's all fine. It's messy human affairs, it's no problem. But what we cannot do, must not do, is think about other people in this country as the enemy. And we must not allow our politicians to do that.
Because that's the beginning of a fracturing. That's the beginning of a crack that will extend all the way down the wall, all the way down right into the foundations, right into the smallest communities. That crack will affect absolutely everything if we let it grow. So the final thing that I would say, to you as a veteran, but really to you as an American citizen, all of us, is when we don't value our country as a whole that includes everybody, we do not value ourselves. Because we're part of that. There's no way around that. There's no cheating that equation.
And I think this country is at a very critical time socially, politically, economically. It's obvious we're in crisis. But crises can be good. People get things to change. And what we need from you, the veterans, is the knowledge that you have from overseas. We need that to save this country. You know other countries, other terror groups, whatever, they can hurt us, they can kill people, but they can't destroy this country. We are the only people that can destroy our country. We're the only country powerful enough to destroy us. And we're going to do it with words, not bullets. And that's why we need you. We need you to come home and show us how to live well.