Is This the Cost of ‘Glory’?

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

In the digital echo chamber of modern politics, we’re being sold an image of “strength” measured by the ability to rain down overwhelming violence. But as billions are diverted toward an unnecessary war in Iran, we must confront the cost of glory, a price paid not just in blood abroad, but in the abandonment of our moral compass at home. While Trump celebrates a brand of “glory” that requires the deaths of thousands, the quiet, essential duties of a decent society, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and healing the sick, are being treated as afterthoughts. We have to ask: What kind of “greatness” prioritizes the power to destroy over the obligation to provide?

Domestic Neglect: The Cost of Glory

The contrast is jarring and it’s heartbreaking. We’re told that we have reached a 48-hour ultimatum where “all hell will reign down” on a foreign nation, yet we’re seemingly unable to find the same sense of urgency for the crises on our own streets. There’s no “48-hour deadline” to end veteran homelessness; there’s no “overwhelming violence of action” directed at the food insecurity that leaves millions of American children wondering where their next meal will come from. Instead, we see a nativist agenda that treats the vulnerable as the dregs of society rather than humans to be helped. This is the hidden cost of glory: a nation that wins on the battlefield but loses its soul on its own streets.

A War of Impulse: Assessing the Cost of Glory

Trump’s “gung-ho” attitude toward the Iranian conflict ignores the most basic tenet of leadership: the preservation of life. This war fails the “just war” theory
because it isn’t a last resort. As Archbishop Timothy Broglio
recently noted, it appears the U.S. is reacting to a “threat before the threat is actually realized.” This rush to conflict is made possible by expanding executive power to a point where the traditional guardrails of diplomacy and congressional oversight are being swept aside. It’s a war of choice, funded by billions that could have been used to mend the holes in our domestic safety net. Every missile launched is a school not built; every ultimatum issued is a healthcare clinic closed.

The Illusion of Strength

We’re currently being led by an aesthetic of power, AI-generated images of “strongmen” and social media posts that invoke God to justify “no mercy.” This tactic of leveraging nationalism and fear is designed to bypass reason and strike at our deepest tribal instincts. But as Pope Leo XIV reminded the world this Easter, true strength does not lie in the desire to dominate, but in the power of dialogue and the courage to serve. When we choose dominance over service, we fundamentally miscalculate the cost of glory.

Reclaiming Our Moral Center

A leader with blood-drenched hands can’t simultaneously claim to hold the moral high ground. We must reject the idea that being “the man” means having the power to unleash death. Instead, we must demand a new moral compass, one that recognizes the cost of glory is far too high when it is paid for with the lives of the vulnerable. Only when we prioritize the welfare of the living over the machinery of death can we truly claim to be a nation of “good” people.