Hatfield, MA

I was surfing the web the other day and came across the web site of the town of Hatfield in Western Massachusetts. One of the first items on the site was The Athenian Oath. This stated:

The Athenian Oath

"We will never bring disgrace to this our town, by any act of dishonesty or cowardice, nor ever desert our suffering comrades in the ranks; we will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the town, both alone and with many; we will revere and obey the town's laws and do our best to incite a like respect in those above us who are prone to annul or set them at naught; we will strive unceasingly to quicken the public's sense of civic duty, thus in all these ways we will transmit this town not only less, but greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us."

This resonated so strongly with me after our callous treatment of war veterans, our President who is all too ready to "annul or set them [the laws] at naught," and who seems unwilling to call on us to make the sacrifices needed to "transmit ..[this land] ... greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us."

Thank you Hatfield for a timely reminder of what we owe to each other and to our country.

Sent to the Boston Globe