FREEDOM: What more could we lose?

I have heard a lot of Americans talk about how hopeless they feel right now. They wonder if they will ever be able to believe again. America put their belief in a president that said he could give them hope, he could bring about a change that would save America. Our hope was betrayed and many of us now simply have sat down, too confused to now how to move forward.

We are losing the freedom to hope, to dream, to believe in something bigger than ourselves. But hope is not lost. We are still Americans! Our parents and our grandparents have seen hard times before. They have fought in world wars and stood in breadlines, waiting for a chance to feed their families. Yet somehow America has prevailed. She has always picked herself up off the floor and pushed forward into the future. Are we going to be the generation that just gives up? Are we going to be the ones to throw in the towel on the American Dream? What about our children and grandchildren? What will they think of us if we give up?

There are those in our government that will tell us that they know best, that we should simply sit still and wait for them to fix all the world’s problems. They want us to lose hope in ourselves, and put the hope in them. Our President had the right idea when he campaigned on Hope. He knew that was exactly what the American people needed. The issue is that instead of telling us to believe in ourselves, he asked us to let him change the world for us. Our Country was built on the backs of people like you and me. Her past issues were solved not because one charismatic leader swooped in to save the day, but because collectively the American people said, we will survive! Americans strapped on their boots and went to work, they believed in themselves and this gave their children a future to hope for.

Do we have enough faith today to believe, or are we simply resolved to watch our dreams float away? American is still a great land. It is still a place where everyday Americans can take responsibility and move this country forward. Currently, we are cowering under the covers and hoping that our government will scare off the monsters in the closet. But, if there is one thing that I know for sure about the hearts and souls of all Americans, it is that we don’t hide for long. Our parents and our grandparents chased their own monsters out of the closet, tackled them to the ground, tied them up and then put them behind class at the history museum so that we would not forget that we have the power to do anything.

Ask yourself today: what kind of American are you? Are you going to continue to believe that hope is gone, or are you going to stand up and realize that hope has not left us? We have been looking for some great leader to show us the way. The problem is that each one of us holds hope in our hands. We must learn to believe in ourselves, to have faith in our American communities, and to look first up to our God and then to our own feet to find the power to tackle our own monsters. Let us walk together into a strong and meaningful future!