As I have written before, it was the financial bailouts of 2008, during my season of working in branch banking, that I was shaken out of my slumber. Over the course of the next three years, the walks I took with my bride ceased to simply be walks in the neighborhood and nature trails, but hikes through cemeteries and battlefields. Living in the Fredericksburg, VA and the Washington, DC regions, there were plenty of cemeteries and battlefields to explore. We began investing Memorial Day’s and Independence Day’s going to events at these venues – as I personally began thinking about the sacrifice of so many coming before us to provide us a society which ultimately has produced the most affluent and largest middle class in the history of the world.
We are living in historic times. It is my prayer that multitudes of American’s, like myself, are indeed waking up to the forces causing great divisions in our society.
As our middle class today is being crushed, in large part due to crony-capitalistic, centrally controlled governmental policies, the media has us distracted on things that don’t unite, but further our divide, and un-cautious words exacerbate the unravelling.
Last Friday, our Commander in Chief said words which caused players and teams within the NFL to take a knee in protest of his words – when the individual, Colin Kaepernick, who started the trend of taking a knee during the national anthem, wasn’t protesting an individual, but what he saw as a trend of police brutality within the black community.
This weekend, there was a paradigm shift in the purpose of what the original man who took a knee was protesting from a cause to an individual – however I didn’t hear the consequences of this clearly articulated in the media, following the protests at the football games. That’s because I believe the media appreciates, benefits from, thus helps foster more division. The question should be raised, when is the best time and what is the best format to rally for a civil governance cause? Furthermore, when is the best time, and what is the best format to replace an elected leader you philosophically disagree with, or whose style you disapprove of. In my humble opinion, taking a knee during a time period we are remembering the folks who lie dead in cemeteries isn’t the appropriate time. Furthermore, entertainment, whether in the sports arena or film awards shows also are not the appropriate time. That is not what I personally purchase a game ticket or a movie ticket for.
We need more American’s engaged in the process of civil governance. There are over 500,000 elected offices in our republic, and there are countless local, state and national boards where all American’s can serve, including actors and sports players. I would humbly urge all those who took a knee during the national anthem on Sunday or who bashed our Commander in Chief at the Emmy’s last week to call their local or state elected official this week, and ask what board has the greatest need, where they could volunteer their time – to help build a better, more unified civil society.
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