Is This The Country The Founders Envisioned?

Sounds of explosions reverberated off the walls of the long hallway as I made my way slowly to the end. Embers floated in all directions. The darkness, both physical and spiritual, was suffocating, and I could feel it pressing on my bones. When I was half-way through the chilly corridor, quaking on wobbly knees, I caught sight of a photograph on the wall. It featured a young man, not more than 20, who chose to enlist in the army at the dawn of WWI. The man’s face was horribly marred with the scars of war and his one eye reflected the harrowing events he had observed and experienced. As I stared into his face, these words came to mind “freedom isn’t free”.

As I exited the simulation in the Woodrow Wilson Museum in Staunton, Virginia, I could feel the depressing atmosphere linger in my spirit and felt a lump rise in my throat. This was only a simulation of the trenches used in WWI, and yet it was almost more than I could handle. The words “freedom isn’t free” again resounded in my head along with the photograph I had seen. This brief taste of terror had reminded me of something I had forgotten: that the rights and privileges I take for granted every day were purchased at the price of millions of lives on countless blood soaked battlefields.

Teamwork is one of the defining features of America. The Revolutionary War, The War of 1812, The American Civil War, and both the World Wars, all won through the unity and pride of the American people, have shaped us into the exemplary country we are today. Because millions of men and women throughout our history have decided to work together to defend our freedoms, we have a heritage filled with beautiful and remorseful things. Victory and defeat, slavery and abolition, life and death. Although there will always be scarlet stains on the pages of our history books, this broken past shows us that it has forever been the pursuit of the American people, to make a better, more just nation, and that teamwork is necessary for change.

When we focus on the treatment of veterans, the future of America, and how the founders of this country envisioned it to be, and compare this to today’s attitudes, we discover a deep void. There is a lack of patriotism in society today, and it’s only declining.

Over the course of my life, I have observed that there is a rich pride flowing through the veins of every patriotic American of past generations, but that spirit is dwindling in my peers. In the past, when a veteran was seen in public, they were heartily thanked for their service and treated with warmth and dignity. But how often do you see men and women in black hats with yellow letters overlooked by youth today? A thankful and appreciative attitude towards veterans is becoming an anomaly among the young, and this is because our culture is beginning to lack emphasis on the privileges our country has and the sacrifice endured to obtain them.

I truly think this is because society is impressing upon the minds of children and youth the idea “Go and make your mark. Defend your truth, and change the world.”, and while this sounds incredibly inspirational and can be a beautiful and important thing, it can also have disastrous consequences, because it tells people that they are better by themselves. If we are all pulling our beliefs and pushing our agendas in the direction that we believe is the “right way”, we will tear this nation apart at its seams.

This one sided, individualistic push and pull comes partly when we do not involve ourselves and our children in patriotic activities such as volunteer work, which serves as a reminder of the importance of working together and the sacrifice of veterans.

I’ve been involved in the scouting program American Heritage Girls since I was 11 years old, am the recipient of three Presidential Service Awards, and have volunteered for over 3500 hours, and let me tell you something: that has taught me a lot. I do not think that everyone needs to do this, nor would it be healthy for all people, but I am saying that opportunities like taking a team of people to lay flowers at the graves of the fallen, or placing flags in the yards of our churches to honor those who gave their lives, shapes our views of America, and helps us see that we are nothing without one another. No one should miss these chances to serve, and like our rights, no one should take them for granted.

Unity is one of the defining traits of our country, and history has proven time and time again that we are weak on our own. Like a multi strand rope is stronger than a thread, we are better together. Two historical examples of this that literally shook the bones of the world, were America’s abolition of slavery and granting women the right to vote. These injustices were not ended solely by one person, but by groups of people who believed in the same rights and who fought with their lives to accomplish what they believed was equitable and true.

Furthermore, America was formed out of a desire to defend values with the understanding that not everything or everyone is perfect. The founders of the US knew that with time, we would veer from the guidelines that they originally put in place, but they had confidence that we would correct our paths after we rediscovered the truth and the meaning of justice. They gave us the tools to do this: the documents that have stitched our nation together remind us of our values daily, and we must not let their phenomenal words fall on deaf ears.

We have witnessed that there is an internal, freedom threatening disease among people today, and we, as a nation, are quickly losing our natural-born patriotism. We have seen the replacement of teamwork with individualism and free thinking with forced ideas. If we want to see a change in the attitude of our country, we must strive to raise up and teach a generation the values of freedom, the honor of sacrifice, and the appreciation of veterans. It is imperative that we celebrate and hold sacred the privileges that were bought with the blood of our own, because if we don’t, the sacrifices veterans have made are for naught.

In closing, we might not be trying to survive in the trenches, but we’re living in a true battle of beliefs and the future of American patriotism is on the line. This nation’s founders strived to create an American spirit that is patriotic, grateful, and understanding of sacrifice. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and many others understood the cost of freedom, the value of veterans, and the importance of teamwork. I do not believe that they would be surprised at the happenings of today, but that they would instead take initiative and attempt to turn the culture back towards pride in our country, which is what we also must do. We cannot let patriotism die, for it is the very heartbeat of America.