I found this little piece of paper among my father’s effects. It’s an abridged copy of General George Washington’s order against profanity in the army. It’s a potent reminder of how far of course our country has strayed and how coarse we have become as a nation.
Radical groups with an agenda to destroy our country are digging at the roots of America and point to the brokenness of our founders. They say that their brokenness is the reason why this country should be burned to the ground and the founding father’s as historic figures and the documents they created which set the foundation for our freedom be erased from our collective memory. It’s in the Marxist playbook.
In the Book Rules for Radicals Saul Alinsky states that “ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.” So, they, the radicals, look at our forefathers through a very, very narrow magnifying glass selectively picking and choosing the worst to ridicule rather than study and understand the whole person in historic context.
The Catholic Church, of course, holds the opposite view. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church states in paragraph #38. The salvation offered in its fullness to men in Jesus Christ by God the Father’s initiative, and brought about and transmitted by the work of the Holy Spirit, is salvation for all people and of the whole person: it is universal and integral salvation. It concerns the human person in all his dimensions: personal and social, spiritual and corporeal, historical and transcendent.
So, here’s George Washington’s Order against profanity. It’s quaint considering that profanity is now part of public discourse whether it be in the office, professional sports or in the halls and offices of our public servants.
What this order tells me is that Washington knew he was an active servant of God and that formed him as a leader.
The General is sorry to be informed —, that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice heretofore little known in an American army, is growing into a fashion; — he hopes the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it, and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have little hope of the blessing of Heaven on our arms, if we insult it by impiety and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it.
