If I had two lives to live, I would live one life to make all the mistakes, and then come back the second time with all the right answers and do it right. Unfortunately, contrary to the thoughts of reincarnationists (if I may call them that), we do not actually get a second chance at life. We get one go around, one chance, one life, one shot, one swing, one……well, you get it! A New York Times survey shows that 81% of American’s are dissatisfied with the direction that America is headed right now, up from 21% just 5 years ago. Dissatisfied? What does that even mean? As a God-fearing/trusting Christ-follower, I’m dissatisfied with the direction America is headed too, but it has nothing to do with the economy. I trust my Father for my daily bread. I’m dissatisfied with the direction our country is going, but it has nothing to do with the leadership that is in place. I believe and trust that all authority is given by God…..yes, ALL. I’m dissatisfied with the direction America is headed, but it has nothing to do with legislative morality. I believe we have made a bed of political mistakes that we must sleep in until a time comes/if a time comes when these mistakes can be corrected. I am dissatisfied with the direction America is headed, because America has become complacent.
American preachers have become complacent in preaching half-truths for the sake of filled pews and offering plates. American business men have become complacent in their deceptive policies and frivolous waste of resources. American educators (and the tax-payers who pay their salaries) have become complacent in allowing the bottom rung of students (most of whom I believe are simply too familiar with laziness and complacency) to hold back and slow down the entire education system. American people have become complacent in allowing two-faced politicians to run our county to this point that it has only exploited the many for the sake of the few. I would like to take a second to say that not all politicians are corrupt or even wrong in the things they do, I know that it’s simply a case of 90% of politicians giving the other 10% a bad name! Think about it!
Ultimately, I want all cynics and critics to listen a second further, before you decide to turn me into an anti-American, unpatriotic, over-opinionated, ignorant jerk. I love my country, I love the spirit of America, and the short but rich history of this great nation! However, it is because of this zeal for my home that I am dissatisfied with its direction. Notice, it is not my home which I am dissatisfied with, it is merely the direction in which it is headed. Make no mistake! To say this, I must admit that the America of the past is better than the America I believe to be coming in the future. I’ll take a step back to a previous era, when an American President stood up against tyrannical government on behalf of a people not his own, when he stood up and demanded “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” To step back further, a generation of young and strong American men voluntarily (some simply out of civic duty and because of random chance) crossed over the Pacific to fight a war that was not their own. They stood on behalf of a people that could not have overcome the oppression and war their own country had dragged them into, and some gave their lives for the simple cause of humanity. These same young men were then turned on by the country for which the served. Step back further still, and in the midst of injustice, violence, and oppression within our own borders a man with a Dream led a peaceful revolt against a country that had withheld from his family the rights and opportunities that are due ever American citizen. To continue back even further, and entire generation put everything on hold, their families, their lives, their jobs, everything, to liberate a continent that was folding under the strength of hatred and darkness.
Let’s take only one more step back, and see what I believe is America’s finest hour. The ground had fallen from underneath the economy, the stock market had crashed. Americans had nowhere to turn but to that drive deep within them to rise to the occasion. It was not big government that saved the day, it was not political plans, or a stimulus package that brought back prosperity to America, it was the light of hope that never went out in the hearts and minds of many Americans. Some gave up, they lost hope. Some gave in to the temptation to leave the troubles of this world behind, and took their own lives. They made the decision that a difficult life was not worth living. They made the ultimate mistake, they gave in to the deepest form of complacency; hopelessness.
Complacency, in its inception may seem innocuous, perhaps even disguised as contentment. However, the difference between the two, is titanic. Complacency begins with happiness, but ends in hopelessness. Contentment begins with dedication and ends in elation. America has become complacent because Americans have become complacent. In the minds of many Americans, sacrifice and struggle are for another time, and another place. This is a country, and a generation that is only familiar (as a whole) with prosperity. Prosperity breeds complacency, unfortunately, when the prosperity is removed, the ugly nakedness of complacency is exposed. As I said, complacency begins with happiness. As Americans, we bought into the idea that our prosperity (as experienced in the last decade) would last forever. I appeal to you that Rome was neither built in a day, nor was it dismantled in a day. Every prosperous generation throughout history has fallen to complacency, let that not be said of us as well!
This is our life, our one shot, our one chance, our one go, our one……well, you know. We can’t sit back waiting for the answer to hit us in the forehead, because we already have the answer; the answer is us. We have to stop wasting natural resources, stop living as if the money will never run out (or the deficit disappear), stop living as if we will never die, stop acting as though we answer to no one. We all answer to someone.
American preachers have become complacent in preaching half-truths for the sake of filled pews and offering plates. American business men have become complacent in their deceptive policies and frivolous waste of resources. American educators (and the tax-payers who pay their salaries) have become complacent in allowing the bottom rung of students (most of whom I believe are simply too familiar with laziness and complacency) to hold back and slow down the entire education system. American people have become complacent in allowing two-faced politicians to run our county to this point that it has only exploited the many for the sake of the few. I would like to take a second to say that not all politicians are corrupt or even wrong in the things they do, I know that it’s simply a case of 90% of politicians giving the other 10% a bad name! Think about it!
Ultimately, I want all cynics and critics to listen a second further, before you decide to turn me into an anti-American, unpatriotic, over-opinionated, ignorant jerk. I love my country, I love the spirit of America, and the short but rich history of this great nation! However, it is because of this zeal for my home that I am dissatisfied with its direction. Notice, it is not my home which I am dissatisfied with, it is merely the direction in which it is headed. Make no mistake! To say this, I must admit that the America of the past is better than the America I believe to be coming in the future. I’ll take a step back to a previous era, when an American President stood up against tyrannical government on behalf of a people not his own, when he stood up and demanded “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” To step back further, a generation of young and strong American men voluntarily (some simply out of civic duty and because of random chance) crossed over the Pacific to fight a war that was not their own. They stood on behalf of a people that could not have overcome the oppression and war their own country had dragged them into, and some gave their lives for the simple cause of humanity. These same young men were then turned on by the country for which the served. Step back further still, and in the midst of injustice, violence, and oppression within our own borders a man with a Dream led a peaceful revolt against a country that had withheld from his family the rights and opportunities that are due ever American citizen. To continue back even further, and entire generation put everything on hold, their families, their lives, their jobs, everything, to liberate a continent that was folding under the strength of hatred and darkness.
Let’s take only one more step back, and see what I believe is America’s finest hour. The ground had fallen from underneath the economy, the stock market had crashed. Americans had nowhere to turn but to that drive deep within them to rise to the occasion. It was not big government that saved the day, it was not political plans, or a stimulus package that brought back prosperity to America, it was the light of hope that never went out in the hearts and minds of many Americans. Some gave up, they lost hope. Some gave in to the temptation to leave the troubles of this world behind, and took their own lives. They made the decision that a difficult life was not worth living. They made the ultimate mistake, they gave in to the deepest form of complacency; hopelessness.
Complacency, in its inception may seem innocuous, perhaps even disguised as contentment. However, the difference between the two, is titanic. Complacency begins with happiness, but ends in hopelessness. Contentment begins with dedication and ends in elation. America has become complacent because Americans have become complacent. In the minds of many Americans, sacrifice and struggle are for another time, and another place. This is a country, and a generation that is only familiar (as a whole) with prosperity. Prosperity breeds complacency, unfortunately, when the prosperity is removed, the ugly nakedness of complacency is exposed. As I said, complacency begins with happiness. As Americans, we bought into the idea that our prosperity (as experienced in the last decade) would last forever. I appeal to you that Rome was neither built in a day, nor was it dismantled in a day. Every prosperous generation throughout history has fallen to complacency, let that not be said of us as well!
This is our life, our one shot, our one chance, our one go, our one……well, you know. We can’t sit back waiting for the answer to hit us in the forehead, because we already have the answer; the answer is us. We have to stop wasting natural resources, stop living as if the money will never run out (or the deficit disappear), stop living as if we will never die, stop acting as though we answer to no one. We all answer to someone.
‘As surely as I live’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.’
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Romans 14:11
“It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody!” Bob Dylan.
Suffering and sacrifice is not for the weak. What a privilege to be entrusted with suffering. Our generation will be defined by where we go from here, so what are we going to do with what we’ve got? Our choice is to be complacent and allow things to continue in this direction while we sit by and slowly lose hope, or we can rise to the occasion. Contentment does not mean we are satisfied with the way things are, but recognizing that they are what they are and becoming dedicated to make them what they should be through a gradual uphill climb to our destiny.
