History concepts and overview

¶ … Vigilance and Discretion Defeat the Hun?

This question cannot be answered satisfactorily without first acknowledging a conflict. The Hun (used to represent Nazi Germany in the article, but certainly with wider application) is an enemy against whom I am pitted. Winston Churchill told the U.S. Congress, also referring to the Germans, "The Hun is always at your throat or at your feet." In the contest between the Hun and me, there are but two roles -- the victor or the vanquished and I wish to be the former.

Vigilance requires that I never grow complacent. In the contest between us, there is no standing still. Like walking up an escalator the wrong way, if I stop walking I am moving backward. Thomas Jefferson said, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." Eleanor Roosevelt called it "constant vigilance." It is as if these Americans felt that the natural order of things, the "law of the jungle" so to speak was not liberty but servitude, not equity but feudal lordship and serfdom, not agency but slavery. Vigilance, therefore, is key to my defeating the Hun because I cannot defeat him sitting back in my comfort thinking all is well. If I want to preserve myself intact rather than in ribbons as the Hun would leave me, I cannot ignore the threat of harm he poses to me. I must be active; constantly on the lookout for him. Vigilance means standing like a guard upon a watchtower that faces both within and without.