In April, I will turn 63 years old, and I have listened, whenever I could, to Paul Harvey all my life.
Someone told me one time, “That is old hat.” My response my was to slap his hand from my car radio dial with, “Try it, pal, and I will break your arm.”
He knows who he is. He will read this.
He told me I was “touchy,” and the irony was not lost on me after threatening to break his arm because he was about to get “touched.”
I suppose more than just being a commentator, Paul Harvey, who died over the weekend at 90 years old, symbolised an America that my generation actually did grow up in.
So did our fathers and mothers.
In those times, things were divided into simple issues of right or wrong, acceptable and unacceptable.
It was acceptable to be patriotic. It was unacceptable not to be.
It was wrong to use the Lord's name in vain or tell dirty stories in mixed company. It was right to enforce it to protect your friend's children and your own.
The Harvey Style
With humor, with an edge to it, Paul Harvey pointed these things out on a daily basis on the radio. We were all better for it.
People actually prosper in sameness when it comes to moral issues and family.
Innovation is fine, and it should be welcomed unless it tears at the very moral and ethical fabrics of society.
Pushing the envelope on morals and ethics never was Paul Harvey's style because straightforward things such as these were solidly placed in everyone's mind.
Paul Harvey didn't really die over the weekend because he is captured on film and tapes forever .
But a much better America died when his voice was forever silenced.
His moral compass never drifted.
Sadly, our entire nation cannot say as much.
For 70 years on radio, he told us the simple truth. We needed it.
His editorial message was clear. It simply said, America is a wonderful land with values to be protected and even die for.
There was a reason Armed Forces Radio carried him to the troops everyday.
You see, he was the America they were fighting and dying for.
So, dear friend, may God give you eternal rest and happiness.
God bless America.
“Good day.”
Maj. Mark A. Smith, U.S. Army (ret.),served in Vietnam and Cambodia. He was a Prisoner of War. He may be contacted at majorzippo@yahoo.com
