![]() ![]() This is duty to country in its most shining and unalloyed form. This is how they transformed duty from obligation to the sublime, from an act that shaped not only their present, but also spoke to ages hence. And midwife to this sacrifice born of love was the hope that their example would inspire future generations to bear the heavy burdens that freedom demands. Love for the freedom their sacrifice would bequeath to their families and their countrymen. ![]() Love for the men on their right and left who were willing to die for them. Why, then, did they choose to lay down their lives for their country? Every soldier knows they’re taking a risk in war, but the Greeks at Thermopylae knew this was a suicide mission. I’m sure many Greeks initially acted out of what we commonly consider duty, or perhaps a desire to avoid shame or to fulfill the requirements of the role - soldiers are expected to fight, after all.īut surely this most elemental form of duty alone can’t explain their decision to fight to the death. ![]() ![]() It’s the story of the Battle of Thermopylae and the 300 Spartans - along with roughly 7,000 other Greeks - who chose to stand and die, giving Greece precious time to organize a defense against the invading Persians. Steven Pressfield’s historical fiction novel “Gates of Fire” captivatingly illustrates how duty can transmute from obligation to honor, from a vision of the present to an investment in the future. ![]()
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