Three years ago I wrote a piece titled “Happy Birthday America”. Its inception was rooted in some thoughts
I had just after the attacks of 9/11/01; stating how a country of children and
grandchildren raised on John Wayne and Babe Ruth; Billy the Kid and General
Patton and other larger-than-life yet real figures could never be destroyed by
outside forces. It also stated my belief that the two-party political system is
flawed; mainly in that many Americans will not think or even develop an opinion
until they hear what their chosen party has to say. If you’re so inclined, here
it is again;
www.facebook.com/notes/rebuilding-rudy/happy-birthday-america/196993267034217Above all else, it stated my belief that only we can destroy ourselves and sadly, we are doing just that and are too preoccupied to notice.
In July of 2013, a man named Elmer Crow gave his life so
that his two grandsons would live. Diving into the Snake River in Idaho; Elmer
took his lasts breath showing the two boys to safety. A heroic finish to a life
dedicated to serving the common good. To this day, the Pacific Lamprey; a
native fish that was once near extinction now thrives in its native habitat
thanks to Elmer and the hundreds of conservationists he taught and inspired.
The story of Elmer Crow barely made it out of his hometown, reaching the
national level only in Native American publications. Throughout the same year,
we were pelted with story after story of Miley Cyrus, a moderately talented
diva who for some reason, people could not and would not stop talking about.
She stuck her tongue out and acted like a general idiot; yet our society adored
her as if she were the second coming of Aretha Franklin.
Something is seriously wrong here. People who dedicated
there loves to serving others are all but ignored while superficial
attention-whores are showed the same praise we once showed leaders, scholars
and yes, even musicians.Last May, I read a story about students who were banned from flying the American Flag on a holiday celebrating a foreign country. There were varying reasons (excuses?) for this ban but the overall message I received was “We must honor all cultures except for our own…” You can bet there would have been an uproar had anyone tried to ban the flying of foreign flags this Fourth of July.
A little more recent, USMC Corporal Kyle Carpenter was
awarded the Medal of Honor. Accordingly, he received much praise for his
selfless actions; risking life and limb so his fellow Marines may survive the
bitter fighting they were embroiled in. As Cpl. Carpenter toured the Nation
raising awareness of veteran’s concerns; our Great Society focused on something
they felt was much more important. Jeremy Meeks is a convicted felon awaiting
trial on ten additional felony
charges. Meeks was offered a thirty-thousand dollar modeling contract; in part
because his ‘teardrop’ tattoo was ‘edgy’ and ‘sexy’. In prison/gang culture, a
teardrop tattoo signifies that the person has committed a murder on behalf of
his gang. Call me old-fashioned, but I see nothing ‘edgy’ or ‘sexy’ about a way
of life that is rooted in preying on innocent citizens.
Apparently our society does and not only that, our social
networking culture considers this gang banging piece of crap twenty times more
important than a man who serves the citizens of this once-great nation. A Facebook page dedicated to Jeremy Meeks has
over a quarter million likes, the page for Kyle Carpenter has less than ten
thousand.
I will combat this culture of ignorance, of praising those
who should be punished, of refusing to hold the proper people accountable the
only way I know how…
I will raise my children right. I will teach them right from
wrong. I will show them the rewards of honesty and I will show them the results
of dishonesty. I will show them that even though our society places value on
material things, it’s what you leave behind you, not what you gain on the path
that matters most. I will teach them that they are entitled to nothing but
opportunity, and how far those opportunities take them is their decision and
theirs alone. And yes, I will teach them that Tony Gwynn’s eight Silver Bats
and five Gold Gloves are not nearly as important as knowing how he achieved those awards.
I really thought I had seen it all when people started
getting famous for being celebrities, and people became celebrities for being
famous, while the rest of us scratched our heads and wondered exactly what
these people did to become famous. I thought the Kanye’s, the Mileys and the
Paris Hilton’s of the world were as low as We the People would stoop. Sadly, we
have stooped even lower. For when a teardrop tattoo holds more reverence among
the masses than a Medal of Honor, something is very, very wrong. And to right
this ship, we need a leader. Not a politician but a leader. A man who leads the people, not a man who leads his chosen
party. A man who speaks his heart as well as his mind, critics be damned. A man
who makes promises and keeps them, not a man who pays lip service for the sake
of a vote. In short; unless we can clone a Washington, a Lincoln, or a
Roosevelt or two, we are f***ed.
Which begs me to ask the question I asked last year when
WWII and Battle of Okinawa combat veteran Delbert Belton was bludgeoned to
death by two gang-banging punks, and not one politician cared enough to voice
his concern.I wonder if Australia has any vacancies…
