The real problem facing America today
One day a high school English teacher told her students to write an essay in response to the question “What would you do if you could not fail?” Most of the students had thoughts of relaxing, not trying since according to the question it would be impossible to fail. But one student looked at the question for a deeper meaning to his answer. He saw that the question could be viewed in two ways: firstly, in the way that his classmates viewed it, as a fantasy of carefree life. But he saw a much more significant question: What would he do if he could not fail, that is, it was necessary that he succeed?
I was that student looking for the deeper meaning in my class, and it came to my mind that the country has fallen into the mindset of laziness, the group that saw the question the first way. It scared me on a deep level to think that most people not only were content to being lazy, but that they wanted to. Now, don’t get me wrong, I was and in many ways am one of those people, but on that day I came to the realization that we as a people must be better than that if we are to survive as a country.
We cannot be content to give up in the face of risk or ridicule, as most people would prefer to do nowadays. This, the greatest of nations, was founded steadfast in the practice of standing up for right, taking risks and overcoming obstacles in order to do what was necessary. If nothing else, we must learn from our history the value of perseverance and moral clarity, as has been showcased throughout our country’s lifetime. What would have come of the revolution if Washington had chosen not to risk crossing the Delaware to fight the British? If Thomas Jefferson had not taken the initiative to draft the Declaration of Independence? What would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had given up in the Civil War and not freed the slaves? What would the world be like today if Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt had looked the other way as Hitler began to conquer Europe? How many people would have died if Ronald Regan had given into the criticisms of his “warmongering” policies during the Cold War? What if we, today, had left Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban and ignored Saddam’s blatant disregard for the rest of the world and let him continue his WMD programs?
These questions flooded my head as I began to write my answer to the question my teacher had assigned. I began to fear for the safety of my country and my friends as I looked around at today’s culture and mentality. If we are overwhelmed and defeated by school, how do we expect to defeat evil? If we allow ourselves to be stopped by a few countries on the other side of the world simply speaking against us, how are we to prevail over terrorists and militants who fight against us? Are we so preoccupied with defending against the opposing party that we cannot defend against the mortal danger that openly threatens us each and every day? There comes a time for arguing healthcare and taxes, but let me make it perfectly clear, THIS IS NOT THAT TIME! We must band together as the “greatest generation” did back in World War II and defeat the evil that rallies itself against us. It transcends partisan politics; indeed, it transcends politics itself. It is a matter of survival, of life and death. If we do not rise up to meet this challenge, we will be destroyed. Make no mistake; our enemies do not care whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, or something in between. The only thing they care about is that you are American, and they want to kill you more than anything else.
You cannot negotiate with our enemies, except with a gun. This is a very different time in the history of the world. Not only do we have those enemies that want to kill us, but we have other enemies as well: those who would have you believe that the terrorists are right and we are wrong. That murderous dictators hold as much say as the leaders of free nations. Those who argue that, while not necessarily intending to, are aiding evil in its mission to destroy what is good: freedom.
This is not a campaign speech or a persuasive essay, it is a plea, a demand that we, as the citizens of the United States of America, stop our internal quarreling and become resolute to what is the task at hand: defending ourselves and spreading freedom around the world. If a few fledgling colonies can defeat an empire of global status, if an isolated nation can muster the strength to defeat Nazism, then we, as the single most powerful nation in the world, that same nation that triumphed in the aforementioned wars, we can surely rise to the challenge of defeating terror and bloodshed. But we must understand that we must fight to stop violence. We must kill to end senseless killing. We must take the fight to our enemies before, not after, they take the fight to us. It is necessary for us to succeed in this task.
"So may all your enemies perish, O LORD! But may they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength." Judges 5:31