I grew up in a time when all school children stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance every school day. We also prayed the Lord's Prayer, but that is another topic for another day. I watch today, as I stand at school functions, aghast at men that do not remove their caps during the national anthem; irreverence as the Pledge is spoken: disrespect as the flag is raised or lowered - I have come to understand that this generation doesn't understand the sacrifices and fidelity displayed by their grandparents generation. I am in awe of these people. Many gave all they had to defend a country that they believed in. I am not sure what today's youth believe in. This isn't like the arguments from the 50's-60s parents against the rock and roll generation, it is just an act of me being appalled by apathy and lack of respect for the country. Its all about the individual for the "Drive Thru" generation. With that said, I turn to Adrian Rogers.This man penned the following in 1931. It is amazing how different times were and how alike they remain. Our country will slide in deeper problems if today's youth don't stand up and stop it now.
" You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that government does not first take from someone else. When half the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they worked for, that my dear friends, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!"
Statements made that should be emblazoned on all our hearts. We are eerily close to the precipice of permanent peril and an irreversible path towards destruction. We need to stop and turn the train around - and quickly!
1 comment:
Well said. I was brought up in an era that fostered love of country. Today's educational system is more concerned with some view of history that magnifies our faults at the expense of this country's great, and unique, achievements. The greatest, of course, is a system of government that hallows freedom and attempts to preserve it by dividing power between the states and federal government. I admit, until I was older, I took much of what we have, paid for with the blood of our forefathers, for granted. No longer. I fear that our children, brought up in the current climate, may never learn to appreciate what we have, or may no longer have it. All great civilizations have had an arc in the flow of history. I hope we haven't passed our peak. I see nothing out there powerful enough to take our place that isn't dark and oppressive.
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