This is the foundation of why I am doing what I am doing.
"What do we do when the world falls apart and all of these treasures we have stored in our barns can't buy..." ~ Jason Upton. That song lyric ends one way. But, for me it ends another way. In this country, we idolize the trivial things of life while we forget the greater good of what we are. Who we were created to be. Keep reading, and I will explain.
Our founding fathers weren't perfect, but who is? They were imperfect men who understood they lived in an imperfect world. But, they made a decision to stand for an idea. Something bigger than themselves. So, against insurmountable odds, they chose to make their stand. They understood that they may never see the reality of what they were fighting for. But, they took action anyway. In today's world, they would have been cancelled before they could ever get going. Weaker men would have started a campaign to silence their cause. Not because they didn't believe in the end result. But, because they are cowards, too afraid to fight for a goal that meant they would have to risk everything.
Generations later, it would happen again. The American Civil War. Brother against brother, father against son. A war that should have tore this country apart and potentially ruined it. Yet, men fought for a greater good. A dream that they knew they may never see themselves. Yet, they fought anyway and America got stronger.
Generations passed again and there was the World Wars. Men on boats, packed in, to attack a beachfront that seemed like it would be an immediate death for sure. As these young men stepped of the boat onto the shore, they were gunned down. Soldier after soldier came to their final breath on that shore. Yet, men kept running off those boats to fight for this idea of a better life. Again, knowing they may never see the reality of what they were running off those boats for.
All, imperfect men. Plenty of flaws and reason not to be "the guy" to change the world. But, they went forward anyway. All of these men are examples of who we are as a country. We are not the imperfections we read about every day. We have them, but they do not define who we are. We are the sum total of the greater good that lives in us. It is in our blood. Regardless of the social media applications we use and the 24/7 news that we watch. We are not defined by our imperfections. We are defined by the actions we take in spite of those imperfections.
So, what are we going to do about it? Wait for the perfect time and the perfect place to act? Wait until we are perfect men so that we can withstand the opposition when we take that first step?
We can't. There is never going to be a perfect time and a perfect place to take that first step. We have to create the perfect time and place. We face similar obstacles that the founders faced. The task at hand seems overwhelming. Each individual step seems insignificant against the enormous opposition and effort it would take to make an impact. But, I am reminded of the story of a father and son walking along the beach. Countless starfish are along the shore. The father walks along and continues to pick up the starfish and throw them back into the water, His son, puzzled, asks why he does it. There are so many, what does it even matter, The father picks up another one and tosses it into the water and says, "It mattered to that one." Every step we take and every effort we make to take a step towards the "American Ideal", it will matter. We may not even see the end result of what we are pressing towards. But, that step, that action will matter. And when they are all added up, future generations will look back and be glad we took them.
So, its time to move. Take that first step and lets see what it looks like once we add them all together.