Sam Francis

I'd never heard of Sam Francis until minutes ago when I read yesterday's column from Pat Buchanan. He sounds like somebody I want to emulate.

• Sam became a rising star in the conservative firmament and began to write a national column. And that's when Sam got into trouble. For the founding fathers of the conservative movement had passed on, their estate had gone to probate, and squatters and hustlers had swindled the Old Right out of its inheritance. Soon, others began to redefine conservatism, to impose limits on debate, to censor as heretics those who would not mouth the new party line.
  
  
• Sam was one with Flannery O'Connor in believing that "truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."
  
  
• Sam was always there when one of his own was caught out in the open. Like his forebears in the Army of the Confederacy, Sam rode to the sound of the guns.
  
  
• Said Milton: "Dr. Francis' defense of the truth led many to admire him, befriend him and, at times, withdraw from him. The work of a prophet is a lonely calling."

Coincidentally, a friend sent me this anonymous quotation nearly at the very moment I was reading the above:

• "What is war about, pain death and destruction. The Question one might ask is what type hardships did this rifle see and undergo...Never glorify war,understand what men are forced to do for their country and their survival. Yours is not to approve, yours is to teach living history to others.Every sword has two edges , every story two sides, you hear what your told to hear, your duty is to hear the truth weather you approve or not ofwhat you find."

Though preaching unpopular truth is often lonely, reading about men like Sam Francis reminds me that others are traveling the same road down which I have chosen to venture, that being the road to truth no matter which way it turns or where it may lead.