In tribute to a Marine who just celebrated his 100th birthday, I encourage you to pause and listen to the words of decorated World War II veteran Carl Dekel. He has earned a few minutes of your time to hear his perspective on where we are as a nation: “Nowadays I am so upset because the things we did, and the things we fought for, and the boys that died for it, it’s all gone down the drain. Our country is going to hell in a handbasket. We haven’t got the country we had when I was raised, not at all. … That’s not what our boys, that’s not what they died for. It’s just not the same. That isn’t what we fought for.”