“THESE are the times that try men’s souls,” begins an essay by Thomas Paine, written back in 1776, as he sought to express in plain words a compelling vision for a new nation which believes that each of us are endowed by our Creator with “certain unalienable Rights”. He wrote this essay during a most challenging time for the Continental Army, which had suffered countless and mounting captures, and casualties, in the depths of winter, and under the merciless attack of the British war machine.
We also seem to be living in merciless times today that “try men’s souls,” don’t we? Last month, for example, our state mourned the loss of three law enforcement officers who were all killed in the line of duty. Our nation has learned that the dismemberment of millions of unborn babies, and the sale of those pieces and parts is not only legal, but is publicly financed, as well. In Lafayette, we witnessed a man open fire in a movie theater, and kill 2 innocent people. In Tennessee, 4 marines were ambushed and murdered at a recruiting office simply because they were soldiers. In Virginia last month, we saw a disgruntled employee murder two of his co-workers, on live television, in wanton disregard for the value of human life.
We’ve lost control over who is coming into our country, as the drug cartels and human traffickers flourish, and the number of illegal immigrants have grown to over 12 million, costing our country $113 billion per year. We’ve even established “sanctuary cities” for illegal immigrants, where federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel are prevented from enforcing federal immigration laws – often releasing violent criminals back into our communities.
Our national debt has doubled since 2008 and there are more Americans receiving food stamps now, and more Americans unemployed, than at any time in our nation’s history.
Terrorists are taking control of cities in Iraq and leaders in Iran chant “Death to America”, even as we capitulate in our opposition to Iran achieving nuclear capability.
North Korea is building a nuclear arsenal, Russia has flexed its military muscle by invading the Republic of Georgia and Ukraine. China is modernizing its weapons with fighter jets, developing hypersonic missiles and building ballistic missile submarines.
Yes, these are indeed “times that try men’s souls”. We have nearly 20 men and women campaigning right now to become President of the United States, promising to resolve many of these issues for us. Meanwhile, voters are wringing their hands, and wondering if it’s too late to turn our country around.
But we’ve tried this before, haven’t we? In 2008, Americans believed in “hope and change”, and ended up with neither. At the time, Americans were yearning for someone to lead them, and many projected onto (then) Senator Obama all of their private hopes of what a President should be. When he was elected, he said we’d be able to “provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless”. He said it would be the moment when we “secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth”, and “when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.”
None of this happened, of course. But rather than blame any person, or party, or the economy, or even bad luck, I say that there is no one to blame but ourselves, because until we change as a people, we can’t expect our country to change because we elect a handful of elected officials every 4 years with nothing more than good intentions on their resume.
The famous Zig Ziglar once said, “Building a better you is the first step to building a better America.” And he was right.
For example, when was the last time that you read a book? It’s often said that the difference between where you are today and where you’ll be five years from now will be found in the quality of books you’ve read. Where will we be in 5 years if 50% of U.S. adults today cannot read an 8th grade level book, and 1 out 3 Americans never even pick-up a book after they graduate highschool – or college.
Instead of reading, we spend nearly 2 hours everyday on social media, and almost 6 hours per day in some form of leisure activity, such as watching television. It should be no surprise that nearly 75% of Americans can’t say why we fought the Cold War, or why 50% of us cannot name all 3 branches of government.
And although we were founded as a Christian nation, a recent Gallup poll revealed that a majority of Americans consider “being faithful to my religion” as one of the two least important things that matter in their lives.
To restore our nation to greatness, there is no time to waste, and further distance from God has only made things worse. There is no one from the government riding in on a “white horse” to save us. That’s been tried, many times. This time, you and I are it.
In the words of Les Brown, “You cannot expect to achieve new goals or move beyond your present circumstances unless you change.” And unless we change as a people first (our habits, routines, etc.), then neither will our country. The question is, are you willing to change, grab life by the collar, gut this out, grow yourself, and turn our country around – or are you merely willing to complain about it?