What's Goin' On?

What's happening in our country?

We seem to more more interested in sports, political rifts, our addictions...than we are in becoming better people. Good people have fallen prey to The Great Nothingness (a la The Never Ending Story), or the "numbed outedness" as I like to call it.

Americans grow more dis-illusioned, and more cynical in the process of dis-illusionment. A 40ish year old man was heard recently in a sports bar, saying, "To hell with it all. I'm ready to pack my stuff and my family and move to Australia or something. This country is going nowhere!"

For a country to go "nowhere," doesn't it imply (at least to some extent) that the people who comprise said country, or clan, or family, or what-have-you - doesn't it imply that the people who are parts of the whole are perhaps on a road to nowhere themselves? For the sum of any people group to be headed "nowhere," implicitly felt is the reality that at least some large portion of the populous has lost site of the initial direction.

John Donne, in his 17th meditation, said this: "No man is an island entire unto himself. Every man is a piece of the continent; a part of the main. Any man's death diminishes us; for we are involved in mankind."

This brief philosophical rant to say this: each of us is a part of something bigger than ourselves. And as Americans, it is our place as indiviual Americans to do our part to ensure a better America. When do we stop expecting government, employers, churches, spouses, parents, friends or anyone else to do for us what we ourselves could do if we would but simply take initiative.

Are you broke? Increase you cash flow.
Don't know how? Figure it out.
Are you over-weight? Fix your eating habits.
Are you consistently unhealthy? Eat right and exercise.
Are you under educated? Find a way to strengthen your mind...traditional or non-traditional.
Do you continue to fail? Keep failing until you succeed, but for God's sake...Don't just quit!

It is our job to make a better America by becoming better Americans. We can cure the health care issue by being more healthy. We can cure financial crisis by becoming more finacially responsible. We can create more jobs by starting new businesses that employee more people. WE THE PEOPLE can do this! YOU can be a part of it.

Start each and every day be asking yourself this memorable question to posed to all of us as Americans by our late President John F. Kennedy: "Ask not what your country can do for you...but what you can do for your country."

Be excellent! Our country is depending on you.