An Oft Overlooked Command

There is a lot of news lately about our military, and I want to focus on something that many in the military (as well as outside of it) fail to respect enough: the necessity of knowledge. There are too many people placing emphasis on "just following orders" or "just doing my job", rather than understanding what that means and whether or not they are justified in doing it. This is an extension of the general ignorance and malaise in society, a cop-out of having too much to know or understand. This is never a reason, only an excuse. Frankly, it's easier to have someone else do the thinking, but that isn't what life is supposed to be. Life isn't about easy; it's not easy to be a student or a parent, or beautiful, or healthy, or anything else. We are endowed with intelligence for exactly this reason: to not be used or hurt and so that we are not taken advantage of. All of which happen to some extent when we are not in control of our own lives, when we abdicate or subjugate our intelligence. We have brains so that we can overcome obstacles and apply control, rather than force. Just swinging the stick isn't enough, one must understand why, and if there is a way to not have to swing the stick at all, that is even better. That is where true intelligence, and therefore true humanity, lies.