How many of us let our pasts determine our futures? We spend our lives trying to undo the past, or we try to forget the past by drowning in alcohol or blurring our memories with drugs. Some of us become so mired in our pasts that we spend the rest of our lives just wallowing in misery. But some, a lucky few, determine to struggle against their history and make a brighter future for themselves.
Right now I can think of two examples that are in the public spotlight but I am sure there are many more who struggling in private. Congresswoman Gifford is one example of a person who seems determined not to let the horrific circumstances of fate rule the rest of her life. Another person who has overcome tremendous odds is J R Martinez the soldier who was burned so terribly in a Humvee explosion. He has endured pain that we cannot even begin to imagine and still bears horrible scars to his face that would cause some people to refuse to face the world. Instead he is showing the world a spirit of resilience that shines through so brightly, we barely notice his appearance.
Those are a couple of physical accidents that have changed the course of two people's lives. But the past affecting the future may be any number of things. Right now our country is facing a crisis of faith. We have lost our resilience. We no longer believe in our government. I heard that the latest pole shows that 91 percent of Americans disapprove of Congress. Eleven percent of us want the country to become Communist.
Our presidential election campaign is a joke. And if we think so, how do you think we are being perceived in other countries? Are we going to let our country continue on this path? Where are the great leaders of this century? And it is not just our presidential candidates, it seems in every area of politics it is one scandal after another. Here in Illinois our recent governors have all gone to prison for one thing or another. Does that mean we should just shrug our shoulders and say, "That's politics?" Do we let our past determine our future? Or do we stand up and say this is not going to continue? We have to take control of our own destiny. We cannot change the past but we can and will change the future.
We have to start by changing the moral decay of our country. We have to go back to the standards that made our country so invincible and so admired. I am not advocating Puritanism or right wing conservatism. I am saying as individuals we need to stand up for our principles. Look at Penn State! That is what happens when we stick our heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge what is wrong because we don't want to upset the status quo.
Our country was founded by individuals who did not like their pasts and were willing to take chances to change their futures. I do not like our recent history, do you? Are you willing to have a voice in changing the future? As individuals, we just need to strengthen our convictions of what is right and wrong. We need to stand up for the weak and defenseless. We need to look beyond our own little worlds and see what we can do help our children, our schools, our government and ourselves to grow stronger moral fibres. We need to pull ourselves out of the slump of our recent past, stop drowning in regret and do something to make a future that will make us proud invincible Americans again.
