Accountability And Stupidity

If you browse through old posters from around World War 2, you're bound to come across multiple printings encouraging Americans to buy War Bonds. This stands out to me because Joe Shmoes were paying for America to defend freedom and democracy back then. Every citizen was involved and invested in America. People knew that it was a true privilege to be living in this country, and they acted in turn by doing everything in their power to make it better. Our forefathers took nothing and made it something, hoping that their children would continue.

Flash forward to today. As I look around, I find people driving in their cars with their cell phones glued to their ears in total oblivion. Television promotes vanity and selfishness to such a degree that it's impossible to not be drawn in. If you listen to the lyrics of most popular tunes, they encourage drug use, infidelity, and crime as if it were nothing more than a natural act. Instead of understanding and cherishing our past, we look at it as if it were a shameful thing. We say that our forefathers were so ignorant and brutish that they could never compare to our glorious culture; as if we have finally reached the point of perfection.

But underneath this facade of glamour a dark, ugly thing lives and grows. We find ourselves unfulfilled with our current vocations and families; so we take drugs to numb the pain. We hate ourselves inside so we tell everyone how great we are. We're ashamed of having such vices as drug use, infidelity, and vanity; so we play it off as nothing. We become so obsessed and withdrawn into ourselves and our problems, that anyone else's (and even our own in many cases) are too much to comprehend.

News today has become a storybook tale. And the only players in it are those in much higher positions (and with much more money) than us. We like to watch it like a sitcom, wondering when the punchline will take place. God forbid we would ever get involved with our country's decisions; only a crazed lune would dare to try and perforate that behemoth. No, we don't want to be involved. Just so long as we're comfortable in our cars; able to talk on our phones; and numb from the pain of our consciences. We may know deep in our heart of hearts that it is within our own power to make this country (and world) a better place, but it's just not comfortable to sacrifice our lives to do it. And so we linger on, chomping at the bit and hoping that the piper doesn't require of us the hefty fee we so willingly committed to.

"He, that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." -Proverbs 29:1