Zeal, ardor, dedication, commitment, fervor…are words that convey personal intensity and willingness to sacrifice one’s individual situation for a higher purpose, or for a shared cause or the common good. As with many character attributes, there are degrees of intensity of purpose, and of the perception held by others of the value or benefit that results from a person’s level of intensity.
This past weekend, my wife and I watched a number of war movies and saw on the news current stories of bravery and personal intensity shown by real life contemporary heroes in various present-day theaters of combat. Yes, there are present day theaters of combat, and they are not theatrical productions. They are real places our fellow Americans volunteer to go, to serve, to fight, and unfortunately for those called upon to give their final measure of devotion to duty, to die.
Even war movies were largely based on historical events, portraying battles which, due to the personal intensity of the combatants, shaped the world in which we presently live.
The freedoms we enjoy today were neither easily nor cheaply attained. During the American Revolution, the signors of the Declaration swore: “…for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor”. While each of our forefathers put his own individual fortune as well as his very life on the line for us, collectively they shared in a communion of singular honor, a fervent dedication to their cause, which is our own cause to this very day.
When contemplating the terrible wars we have fought, with their tragic casualties, when we consider the epic causes we, as a nation have struggled with, including many hard-won versions of equal rights for diverse segments of ‘we the people’, it is impossible to imagine any of those victories having been won without intensity of purpose and fervent dedication to a common or shared cause.
The first word I chose for this piece is “zeal”. People who possess zeal are zealots. Occasionally the word, zealot, can carry a negative implication. However, zeal is not something that really can exist in any mediocre degree of purpose. There is no such word as “zeal-little” to imply something less than the real zeal, the ardor of a zealot.
Personal dedication which falls short of zeal is not dedication after all. Battles, campaigns, wars, small or great causes…are not won by avid affiliation and wearing tee-shirts, or by the close affinity of a mob occupying a city park, and certainly not by clicking an icon to “Like” the concept of victory. If you want to win the day, then you need real zeal, a high intensity of purpose and wholehearted dedication to whatever cause you have espoused. You need to put yourself out there, on the line, for what you believe in and for which you are willing to give yourself up to perservere.
zeal·ot noun 1. a person who shows zeal. 2. an excessively zealous person, fanatic. It's synonyms include extremist, crank, bigot. While most of your story seems reasonable, I find it transparent. Anyone can act with zeal, as our military personnel and forefathers have done. But these people in no way can be described as zealots. By definition the word zealot means a fanatic, and excessively zealos person, an extremist, and those words have never carried a positive connotation. I find it very interesting that you have decided to wrtie this article in the wake of my continued use of this word to describe Kevin Milano in his campaign against Billy Dean and Rori Gordon. Your timing is woefully suspect. I would guarantee you that if any person in the military at this time or any of our forefathers were called zealots, they would be extremely offended. Your veiled attempt to use this site as a means to defend a person like Kevin Milano stinks. This is why the readership of the Patch is waning, because some try to use it for ulterior motives, and that is wrong.
Zealot (ˈzɛlət) — n any of the members of an extreme Jewish sect or political party that resisted all aspects of Roman rule in Palestine in the 1st century A.D. a member of a radical, warlike, ardently patriotic group of Jews in Judea, particularly prominent from a.d. 69 to 81, advocating the violent overthrow of Roman rule and vigorously resisting the efforts of the Romans and their supporters to heathenize the Jews.
In addition to the Zealots, there was another, smaller Jewish sect, the followers of Jesus Christ, who were active and teaching in temples and synagogues across a wide area around Jerusalem. Their story can be found in The Acts of the Apostles, which introduces several who would become Christian zealots (small 'z'), including Stephen, Paul, Timothy, and Barnabas, and relates the ultimate accomplishments of Peter, the predecessor of the Catholic papacy. The zeal of Stephen, Barnabas, Paul, and Peter resulted in their own martyrdom in separate locations at different times during this period. At the Council of Jerusalem in AD 50, the leaders of this Jewish sect decided that non-Jews could be admitted, and would be exempt from key Jewish (Mosaic) laws, including circumcision. From that point forward, assertive recruitment of non-Jews (Gentiles) was undertaken, spreading across the Roman Empire and beyond. The Christians were no longer a small, Jewish sect, but a distinct new religion, albeit grounded in the Jewish faith and traditions that had come down from Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), Joseph, Moses, David, the prophets, and Jesus, himself. These were all men of zeal.
The zealots have been described as one of the first examples of the use of terrorism. In the Talmud, the Zealots are the non-religious (not following the religious leaders), and are also called the Biryonim meaning "boorish", "wild", or "ruffians", and are condemned for their aggression, their unwillingness to compromise to save the survivors of besieged Jerusalem, and their blind militarism against the Rabbis' opinion to seek treaties for peace. While my degree is not in Theology, I did attend the Univ. of Scranton, a fine Jesuit university, and never once were any of the people you mentioned described as zealots. In my research, again I found no description of these men as zealots. I will say that these descriptions above certainly do portray someone we both know, and who you are trying to defend using this blog. If anyone would like to see what I mean, just google "christian zealot" and see what pops up.
The etymology of the word zeal is rooted in the Roman-Latin and Greek languages- zealot c.1300, "member of a militant 1st century Jewish sect which fiercely resisted the Romans in Palestine," from L.L. Zelotes, from Gk. zelotes "one who is a zealous follower," from zeloun "to be zealous," from zelos "zeal" (see zeal). Those who served and continue to serve during a time of war, conflict or unrest certainly have to have commitment, zeal and zest for a common cause. And, so often serve "against great odds" in their commitment to mission and those goals. Sacrificing personal safety, and, public perception and opinion to support the mission.
Patrick, you forgot to mention this one, too.