American society has changed. We
have started looking for answers from our government. As one president
challenged us, “ask not what your country can do for you----ask what you can do
for your country,” we have used the “easy button.” The whole of John F. Kennedy’s inaugural
address is applicable today. We have turned our backs on Kennedy’s challenge. Bail-outs
are now the new normal. The “can do”
spirit of our forefathers has been lost somewhere along the way. Each signer of the Declaration of
Independence was at the time of the signing, committing an act of treason
against the British crown. The signers
were all British citizens and by declaring their independence and standing up
for what they really believed in could have at the very worst cost them their
lives much less their livelihoods. Each
man knew what the end result could be, but they felt so strongly about the
issues that they were not only willing to speak publicly about it, but also
to add their signature to a document that was not only published, but sent
directly to the king.
The “greater good” that I am referring to is the responsibility of each
American citizen to continue working and striving for the best, not only for
themselves but for others. If we believe
what our Founding Fathers promoted in the Declaration of Independence, that “all men [people] are created equal” and
that “we are endowed . . . with certain unalienable rights that among these are
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” and that those rights are the
reason that governments are established, then we need to start acting like
it. When we begin to ask our government
to take care of us, we have just given away the rights the Founding Fathers
were anxious to secure for all of us.
The government was created “of the people, by the people, for the
people,” as Lincoln reminds us in the Gettysburg Address, basically telling all
of us that it is our responsibility to ensure that our society, our government,
our country does not fail. We, as citizens,
have the duty to act in accordance, as responsible adults.
The greater good extends beyond the borders of our nation. The greater good encompasses all of
humanity. Our nation was established on
principles, and as citizens we are demanded by our beliefs in those principles
to extend those same principles to all peoples.
That is exactly why we are the greatest nation on Earth. It is why people still want to be naturalized
citizens. It is also why some peoples of
the world do not understand Americans. I
believe that some people see our passion for freedom for all people as
arrogance. I believe that some people of
the world cannot comprehend how our diverse population can continue to
thrive. Our diverse population is our
strength. We are bound together with
ties that are stronger than just national origin ergo ethnicity. We are bound together by ideas; ideas that
many people believe to be impossibilities.
We are a free people. The common
denominator to all of our ethnic groups is AMERICAN. When we subdivide ourselves into our little
partitions, we are weakening ourselves as a people. Do not misinterpret what I am saying. Our diversity is our strength, but the bottom
line is we are all Americans. Should you
celebrate your ethnicity? YES! Should you let it separate you from your
fellow county-men? NO!
The freedom to think and act is the birth of innovation. Americans, in particular, have always been
innovative; there are numerous examples of American innovation (Thomas Edison,
the Wright brothers, Henry Ford, the modern day, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and
so many I cannot list them here). We, as
a people, need to encourage and facilitate that innovation where we find it
thriving. A culture that does not encourage
free thought and creativeness is in itself flawed. The citizenry who rely on their government to
support them become slaves to that government.
When free thought, expression of ideas, and constraints to creative
genius are censored, then people cease to grow and become stagnant.
Is our country perfect? No, but we are still viable, we are still
growing, we are still improving. As long
as our citizens act responsibly and act from the basis of our origins we will
continue; we cannot give up our rights and continue to grow. We cannot give up our freedoms as guaranteed
by the Constitution, unless we want our country to change . . . into something
else. The greater good is freedom.
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