I am a devote advocate for freedom. Our military men and women sacrifice daily to ensure our borders our protected. And by doing this, they willingly place themselves in harms way. Being a retired US Army Infantry First Sergeant with 24 years of active service, I have first hand experience of what these men and women go through. It is sad that we cannot protect everyone from everything! From terrorist acts, to school shootings, to mall shootings and whatever other rampage someone goes on. We, all of us, have to take an active role in ensuring our own safety. This is called responsibility. We cannot blame a teacher or a pastor or an employer for something catastrophic that may take place. We cannot blame a gun manufacturer because someone purchased their product and used it against mankind. Just as we can't blame the car manufacturer because someone ran a stop sign and crashed into our car.
In my intro I state that I am 61, yep, born in 1946, ahh the good years. The years where kids played outside til dark. The years that if I got rowdy in school, the teacher had the authority to discipline me. The years that our next door neighbors were respected and listened to. The years where parents took an active role in our growing up, without fear of a social worker snatching our child because of abuse. The years where family did things together, whether we (the children) wanted to or not! The years where Wednesday night was "Prince" spaghetti night! Really showed my age on that one huh!
My point is, we the people cannot stand by and expect someone else to take responsibility for our actions. If we show up late for work too many times and get fired, its not our boss's fault, it's our's! If our child gets a failing grade in school, it's not the teacher's fault, it's our's. We need to get involved and stay involved. We need to accept responsibility for our own actions. We cannot, cannot, rely on our government to protect us from everything. We have allowed the government to enter our homes and tell us that we can no longer spank our children. We can no longer smoke ( I am a non-smoker) in public areas, because of the health hazard to others. The health hazard is not the smoker, it is us not taking the responsibility to not go into a place where we know they are smoking. I really have to laugh at us. How smart are we really? We condemn smokers because they are killing us, yet every day in our local newspaper we read about the drunk that killed a family of four! Yet we don't ban bars, nightclubs, or restaurants that serve booze!!!!!
We all have the freedoms, granted and secured by our armed forces; we have rights, granted and upheld by our government and our judicial system; and we have responsibility for ourselves. We cannot blame or expect anyone other than us to ensure our responsibility. This was taught to me by my father. His words still echoe; "the world doesn't owe you anything; if you want it, you'll need to work for it, no one is going to hand you your life on a silver platter."
I say lobby for those actions that will ensure a life for our families and their families. Stop blaming others for those things we are responsible for and take action, not a backseat or finger point, to ensure our responsibilities are not compromised.
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