A long time ago I heard Pop say that you’ve gotta be careful when you align yourself with an entire group and profess their universal nobility. And Pop is or has been a member of a bunch of groups which most folks would consider noble. A good example is the Marine Corps.
Pop’s philosophy of caution in that regard was, sadly, exemplified recently. In a half honest, half self-deprecating way, Marines will be the first to tell you they possess an ethos which makes them arguably the fiercest warriors on the planet. They have a tendency to fight with reckless abandon which is part of a culture implanted during their basic training. For most it’s a learned trait and for some it’s a psychotic, perhaps genetic predisposition.
And those are the kind of twisted demons who’ve received notoriety recently – a guy who killed folks at a LDS church and another who, likewise, murdered innocent strangers shooting from a boat in North Carolina. When the media reports a tragedy like this it’s not uncommon to mention that, when applicable, the shooter was a former Marine. Everyone knew that about Lee Harvey Oswald as soon as he was arrested.
And there are countless others within the brotherhood of the Corps who are likewise nefarious and unseemly.
Pop knows of a local fella who has an exceptionally odd last name, Frydrychowicz (or some similar spelling which is kinda what makes him memorable) who is a real snake in the grass. He’d stick a knife in the back of a fellow Marine and brag about it.
So, I reckon the lesson that Pop was philosophizing about is that using a broad brush to identify folks as a group composed entirely of humanity’s finest is ill advised. No group is completely beyond reproach. Even the Marines.