PERSONAL NOTE – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:  I had a great day yesterday.

At the invitation of one of our distinguished readers, a professional Army officer, I visited the United States Military Academy at West Point to see his son and the rest of the class of 2016 sworn in.  Thus begins the military career of another member of our reader's family, which has a rich military tradition going back to World War I.  (I'd love to give you the name, but we protect privacy here.  There are crackpots who monitor these sites, and I don't want a new cadet getting a weird letter.)

It is an honor just visiting West Point.  It is a place where new entrants are told their obligations to their country.  At most colleges, new students are told either 1) how oppressed they are, or 2) how they're oppressing others.  They're also told that they're really not Americans, but members of some sub-group with its own culture, which we all must respect without question.

At West Point there is still a pride in country; not a blind nationalism, but a pride.  And people behave very well.

When we get depressed about what we see around us, we should recall that there's another America, represented by West Point and the other service academies, and by millions of young Americans who reject trendiness and cynicism, and are prepared to do their part, honorably, when called.

Congratulations to the class of  2016.

July 3, 2012