Hi everyone,

Thank you very much for all of your thoughtful and varied responses. I admire the depth of thought, and expressions that everyone has shared. I had no idea the conflict of the "contemplative" versus "active" lifestyle went so far back to ancient Greece. I find it ironic that the word "academy" came out of a site named after a warrior in anciet Greece, that in fact at one point the contemplative and active lifestyles were one.

I will admit, I sterotyped when saying academia is "liberal" and the military "conservative." That is black and white thinking on my part. Things always seem to be shades of gray. I like posting here cause what you folks say is honest, thought provoking and contemplative.

After reading everyone's posts, my thoughts on why some academics disdain the military is because the fear it. I am actually visiting an assist professor in the military science department tommorow to find out about the Army Librarianship Program. I was feeling nervous today at work, since this is a person in uniform, even though he is a professor. Then it occured to me, he is a human being like me, but by visiting him, I'm trying to overcome my own biases as an academic.

How to get acadmics to have a balance between the "active" and "contemplative" lifestyles? That is something I'm still trying to figure out. I admire a lot of values in the military such as duty, honor, sacrifice, living for something greater than yourself. It's also true that militaries are involved in killing and destruction. Thus, its easy for academics (or people in general) to project their own insecurities onto the armed forces.

But I think it also stems from a part of human nature. No matter how much we try to "civilize" ourselves, there is always that primitive part of us, that fight or flight response. Anyhow, thank you everyone for your opinions in this discussion, and feel free to continue this post

Naomi