I had just recently spoken to some friends of mine. We got into a discussion about patriotic songs and one of my friends piped up, "I don't like any patriotic songs, I don't even like this country." On the outside I just smiled and took it in stride, but deep down I started to boil.
It is true. I am not a soldier and I have never seen war, at least in real life. But if what Hollywood is portraying is even 1/8th the horror that war really is then I can probably get the picture. Not to mention the countless number of real-life soldiers I have spoken to, and friends I have watched be shipped overseas.
Many of these men and women are giving their lives to this country. But what are they dying for? What is this country? If you take it from my friends perspective they are dying needlessly for a country that is so controlled by the "conspiracy-ridden" government that it cant even operate properly. Every twist and turn holds some new cancer causing drug that the "government" is putting into our water, shampoo, toilet paper, toys, cars, food, etc. Every turn holds some new danger of a world that has been ridden with booby-traps. Watch out, stay ever vigilant! Everything is out to get you.
I will admit, corporations are using unsafe policies and practices and putting their clientele at risk. I do believe that, in some cases, people should abandon the billion dollar pharmaceutical companies for the safer herbal alternative. Stop looking for the pill to fix everything, but I digress. I will admit that some of these fears are valid but people like my friend are focusing on the wrong thing.
These people usually float through life. They seek ways to blame others for their crappy lot in life. Like a fermenting turd they sit there and get smellier and worse to everyone around them. These people are poisonous people. I don't need to tell you to stay away from them because truth be told you can smell them coming. Most of their friends are the exact same way. Entitlement is a word that you will hear often with this group. At any given time you can hear them complaining about the country and things that they don't like. If the government sets up a program that doesn't directly benefit them they are foursquare against it. Yet, when it cuts back they scream, "Capitalists!". They vehemently hate anyone who makes it financially and label "rich" to anyone who has learned to handle money. They vilify these "rich" as a way to escape responsibility for not achieving their dreams. There is much more that I can say about this group of people however I do not want to devote anymore time to explain people that give so precious little back to this great country.
Despite my irritation toward this class of people, I do not hate them. I really just want to ask a question. If they are so against the culture that we have, what are these people doing about their culture to fix it? Moreover, don't they realize that they must change themselves to make anything better?
My God tells me that ". . . you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32 NIV). A truth that I have found is that when someone dies for your freedom, whether it be God, or a person, you owe it to them to conduct yourselves like free people. Moreover, you owe them your life.
These soldiers are dying for an ideal that I don't think people like my friend are living up to. This country is in trouble. This culture is headed down the drain. We need men and women of honor and integrity to stand up and lead this country to change. I was listening to Orrin Woodward speak in Minneapolis, MN. He said that in every bloody revolution you can look 50-75 years previous in that country and see that an idea war was lost. The result was a horrific revolution.
My point is that if we lose this culture, if we let it slip; if we do not look inside and change the person we see there; if we stand by in horror while everything that has been sacrificed gets spat on and trampled into the dirt, our children and our grand-children will pay in blood for our laziness.
For those who have sacrificed so much, I salute you. God Bless.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
For Those Who Have Sacrificed So Much, I Salute You.
Posted by Halfway Skyscraper at 9:05 PM
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5 comments:
I love you!
happy happy birthday!!!
Sup man! Nice to see someone thinking about their future and leadership. Way to be.
I'm on the same path in a way. When I get more time I will converse more with you about it.
Until then - read something by John C. Maxwell. *grin*
As for people...
Partly why people no longer love this country is because this country doesn't stand for anything. (The government is merely the reflection of the heart of the people) Indifference. When you have indifferent people - who refuse to stand for truth and want everything to be relative then you eventually get that in your elected leadership. The key to caring is actually doing. Laziness never cares. It would seem the majority of people in the U.S. don't take responsiblity - and are not action oriented. Thus - in the end - they lose hope and blame others. They should create hope and take responsiblity.
Not always easy.
Be Blessed.
Be Focused.
Jonathan Heston
Hey Curtis,
I understand your frustration with the scoffers. I often feel the same way about people who reject Jesus - Especially the condescending ones who look down on Christians, thinking themselves too intelligent to believe in anything that can’t be scientifically proven. You say you don’t hate them. After reading your 5th paragraph I have to ask, are you sure? – “Like a fermenting turd” seems a bit hateful to me. Maybe you are referring to their attitudes and not the people themselves.
Personally, I think military recruiters (those in the official position and those who are self appointed, i.e. well meaning friends and relatives) have approached many of these young people. Maybe they then feel somewhat guilty for not wanting to serve their country. To deal with this they look for an excuse and quickly jump on the readily available conspiracy bandwagon. Must admit, I considered doing the same when I was young.
You, and a select few, are just fortunate that you can understand the truth.
So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were hardened. As the Scriptures say,
“God has put them into a deep sleep.
To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see,
and closed their ears so they do not hear.” (Isa 29:10; Deut 29:4)
Romans 11:7-8 (NLT)
To clear things up, I didn't mean to sound hateful. When I was speaking about "fermenting Turd"'s I was speaking about their attitude. That was supposed to be a little sattire to get a chuckle. I admit that you cannot see my expressions or the emotion that I wrote this with. Sorry for the confusion.
Curtis
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