By Scott Cooper

“That’s not how a Marine behaves!”

My sergeant major was admonishing a young lance corporal. I don’t even remember what the lance corporal did, it was so long ago. But it stuck with me because the sergeant major was drawing on something much bigger—the universal values of respect for each other and living up to a moral code.

Watching white supremacists, neo-Nazis, KKK members, and segregationists march with torches, body armor, shields and swastikas made my stomach turn. They are not patriots. They are repugnant and violate every principle I fought for in the Marine Corps and since I took off the uniform.

The events of the past week have steeled me. Charlottesville is a clarion call to action to continue the tireless work of citizenship. I searched for words that would comfort and inspire, and I was drawn to the speech Secretary of Defense James Mattis delivered at West Point back in May. He addressed the graduates with a simple theme: Hold the Line.

You Hold the Line: true to honor, living by a moral code regardless of who is watching, knowing that honor is what we give ourselves for a life of meaning…

So fight—So fight for our ideals and our sacred things; incite in others respect and love for our country and our fellow Americans; and leave this country greater and more beautiful than you inherited it, for that is the duty of every generation.

Let us today remind ourselves and our fellow Americans who we are. That we cherish the Constitution of the United States and the rights it guarantees. That we insist that our leaders govern within the limits of the law. That we judge women and men by what they do, not who they are, the color of their skin, their faith, the place they were born, or who they love. That we demand that our leaders demonstrate integrity and honor and work for the common good. That we believe America must stay on the side of human rights.

We are citizens. The country we have is the country we make. Citizenship requires the hard work of creating a more perfect union, day by day. There is much work to be done.

Scott Cooper is the National Security Outreach Director at Human Rights First and the founder of Veterans for American Ideals. He spent 20 years  in the Marine Corps, flying the EA-6B Prowler and served five tours in Iraq, two in Afghanistan, one in Europe, and one in the Western Pacific.