THIS PAGE
TO A FRIEND
The Future Of America Is
Right In The Home
January 16, 2004
By Jim Moore
Like an old sage once said when asked by a scholar why he thought the Bible began with: In the beginning "Well, my son, everything has to start somewhere." I thought at the time I heard this that it was hardly an answer the ordinary person would have thought of. But it was so evident, I found myself applying it to things in life that had puzzled me.
What comes to mind is the strange sounding phrase: family life.I hardly think you need reminding what a sad state of affairs much of family life has become in America. Kids are having kids. Men are procreating then disappearing. Women are having more children than they can handle, and certainly more than they can afford. Discipline has become a thing of the past. And "raising" a family---at least in the conventional sense---has become almost anachronistic; an object of curiosity, or of passing interest, like relics from bygone days.
And yet, if I can believe the role that family devotion and stability played in the making of this great nation, I would have to say that without the foundation of close-knit, supportive, mother-and-father influence on their offspring who can say what this land might have turned out to be?
That old sage's philosophy of "everything has to start somewhere", came to the fore in a meeting we had at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) that I belong to. Every year, the VFW posts from all over Florida have a contest for high-schoolers, in which they are asked to write an essay about America.
This year, the subject was "My Commitment to America's Future", and we were fortunate in having the winner, Amanda Geiger, read her essay at our meeting, and receive her award at our Post 3308.
Being impressed by what this young lady said, I asked her if I could get a copy of her winning essay to read over and study, and she was generous enough to oblige me.
I make an issue of this because in the spirit of "everything has to start somewhere", the commitment to America's future , in Amanda's eyes, begins, as you will see from her words, with the family. The family being the core of the community, and the community being the heart of the nation. 3Here are some cogent excerpts from Amanda Geiger's essay.
"As I pondered this topic," she said, "I though of many different aspects of commitment. I thought of soldiers overseas, fighting for freedom; the sacrifice of their families; officials dedicated to public service; everyday heroes like firemen, police officers and medical professionals. And I wondered,what about me? What could I possibly do that would have any impact on America's future?
"As I was preparing for this essay, I read a book by Gordan B. Hinckley titled "Standing for Something" and here is what he said: 'There is no place, no environment more conducive to the development and enactment of virtue than the family. The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity and peace, all find their roots in the teaching of children by fathers and mothers, and in the strength and stability of the family'.
"I realized that my commitment to America is not centered on the career. I may choose, the books I may write, the offices I may hold, or the battles I may fight. But my commitment to America's future is to be found at home.
"Of the twelve million children under the age of three in the United States today," Amanda informs us, "a staggering number are affected by one or more risk factors. One in four lives in poverty. One in four lives in a single-parent family. One in three victims of physical abuse is a baby under the age of one.
These statistics are truly alarming, but with enough effort we can begin a turnaround within a generation, my generation. The way we raise our children today will determine America's future. My commitment to America's future is to grow up to be a productive citizen, to work, to participate in the democratic process, to marry, and to raise my children to be proud and productive citizens of the United States of America."
As for myself, I would be much more optimistic about America's future if I knew that more people like Amanda were as committed to it as she is.
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