Obviously our military men and women, our public servants such as fireman, policemen and others show courage and bravery constantly in the protection of those they serve. But for the rest of us how do we show courage. I think the way we can all show courage is thru the courage of our convictions, standing up for what we believe, declaring to those around us what is right, but most importantly what is wrong; in other words having the courage to express the common sense principals that we all have. I began to think about this and came to the realization that most of us today are not showing courage as we should. 

Regardless of your religion, politics or any other affiliation everyone has an underlying sense of right and wrong, a moral compass, what some might call a conscious, but what I think of as simple common sense. But for whatever reasons we give ourselves we more often than not refuse to stand up for these common sense principals. We say, “well, it’s just our culture”, or, “that’s the government for you”, both of which lead to the conclusion, “what could I possibly do?”. Take our culture for example, I got news for you, “we are our culture”. And I think it is time for everyone in America to stand up for what they know in their heart is right and wrong and begin trying to shape our culture according to our common sense principals instead of allowing a few who have abandoned what they still know is right and wrong for the purpose of power, greed, acceptance or whatever other motive they might have.

But I think more important than culture is this thinking by most Americans that the government is out of our hands. As if the government is some foreign entity. I have more news, “we are our government”. If we don’t agree with what our government is doing, if they have abandoned their common sense principals, then we MUST change it. Stand up. Get involved. Write letters. Visit your representative or senator or councilman. Don’t just sit back and say things like, “that’s a moral issue which is not the government’s issue”. This makes me think more people need to go back and research why and how our government was created. Read the writings of Thomas Paine, the most influential writer of the revolutionary and constitutional time periods. Government is a necessary evil, primarily because people are weak and, left to our own devices without government, would lead to unlawful and immoral chaos. If not the primary reason, a major reason government was created was to enforce morality.

I believe Americans need to start showing their courage of convictions or we may doom future generations to a country not as good as the one we are blessed with. We need to start looking to our common sense and examining everything in our life, our culture and our government and say to ourselves, “is that right?”. We need to quit being selfish to our personal indulgences and begin to realize that we are just here to prepare this country for the next generation. Some people are so selfish that they do not realize that the most important cause they have is protecting America for those that would follow, until they are on their death bed; and sadly sometimes some never realize it.

We have become such a selfish, self-absorbed country that we will do anything for our short term gratification even though we know it is not right. Where are those great Americans that regardless of the desire to fit in, regardless of their desire for power, regardless of their compassion and regardless of their wish to fulfill a selfish desire, they stood up for what they knew in their heart was wrong. We need citizens and leaders like that now more than ever. Certainly America has had many great citizens and leaders in our past, men and women who stood up for what they believed in.

What is even more saddening to me is that not only are we not showing courage of our convictions but for the sake of power and acceptance we are willing to besmirch those that are willing to stand up for common sense. In fact, I was reminded of one of, if not the greatest leader in our history, a few weeks ago when a colleague mentioned Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately I was also reminded of how great people can be maligned for the sake of the pursuit of power or other reasons, when his primary remark of Lincoln was that Lincoln was surely a racist and removed slavery only for economic reasons (Okay, now I understand, a man that preached the immorality of slavery his entire political career, destroyed the economy of his country to gain a small economic advantage for the north half of his country. Hmmm… Not buying it.). Of course, I am not saying that this colleague knowingly did this, for I am certain he simply is repeating someone else’s misrepresentations of Mr. Lincoln’s views by taking something the President said completely out of context. Even though I might not agree with President Obama on many issues I could not have been more proud of my country on election night. But having studied much about our history including President Lincoln I was even more proud of how our forefathers brought us to this point. Lincoln is the perfect example of someone that stood up for what he believed in his heart was wrong, even though it was socially and politically unacceptable.  He realized that it was the United States’ people and leaders that shaped this great country not the country which shaped the people. By today’s standards he might be considered racist, although many comments by Frederick Douglass, probably the greatest African American of the civil war era, suggest otherwise, but by the standards of his time he was considered a radical abolitionist (I won’t mention the other things he was called by his political opponents). I don’t think anyone could argue that if Lincoln had lost to his opponent, slavery would have at least several more decades and probably longer as his opponent was in favor of several bills that would have protected slave owning states and broadened the legalization of slavery into the expanding areas of our country.

What I hear to today whether talking to someone during a business trip or visiting with a friend at church is the idea that we are powerless. All we can do is take care of our immediate family and that it is beyond our control to change our culture and our government. This can’t be further from the truth. It is almost like separatism or isolationism within our country, where those that listen to their moral compass are not willing to stand up for what they know is wrong or right. You can have compassion and still take a stance for what you know is wrong or right. I would ask each person to examine their conscious, look at the society around them and ask themselves, am I making a stand for what is right and wrong so that our children and others’ children inherit a country that is great, both morally and filled with the same opportunities that us and our forefathers have had. Or are we dooming those that follow with a world where the immoral is the norm and where the American Dream is lost for the sake of power for the few.