With all the negative, fear based headlines and all the scare being thrown around by our government, I thought it would be worthwhile to write something happy.  So, I selected the 9th grade writing subject “What does America mean to you?”  A lot of my beliefs in individual freedom stem from the environment I was raised in.  Not all, mind you, but a lot.  My wife deserves a lot of the credit, too.

I was raised in a very small town in rural Indiana by, what I believe to be fact, the best parents ever (that’s for Mom if she is reading).  Relatively large and close family.  One side’s ancestry is from Northern Europe and came to this land in the early 1700′s.  They were farmers from what I can tell and active in the fight for freedom.  Low key, understated, and hardworking.  The other side’s ancestry came from Italy in the very early 1900′s, 200 years later.  My Italian grandfather came over at the age of 16, leaving his parents back in Italy.  His travel was paid for by his older brother who came to the US a few years before.  He worked hard to provide for his family and succeeded in providing his children a good foundation.  Though differences existed between them (those from Italy are a little more loud and kiss on the lips when they see you), they shared the same desire; the right to pursue a life of independence, succeed based on their actions, and not to be subjected to the whims of the few.

The qualities they shared are, in my mind, foundational qualities of most Americans; self-reliance, determination, strong work ethic, pride, humility, and integrity.  Note that I didn’t mention intelligence.  I’m of the belief that the difference in humans’ intellect is actually quite small.  It comes down to how we approach problems and the effort we use to solve them.  How many times have you looked at items you use every day and think “Why didn’t I think of that?”  It wasn’t that the person that did invent something was brighter or “gifted”.  It is more likely that they just got sick of a problem and went about solving it.  Think of the wheel.  How many times did cavemen see a rock roll over one of their friends and never made the connection that they could harness that action for good?  It comes down to looking at problems from a different perspective and putting in a sufficient amount of effort, not intellectual might.  But I digress…

My family members (and maybe yours) came to America because they saw a land made up of individuals focused on making a better life for themselves and their families.  They wanted out from underneath the oppression that existed in their countries.  They wanted the chance to advance based off of their actions, not off of their blood line or political affiliation.  They were willing to sacrifice any “care” given to them from their governments and go off to make their own lives.  That is what makes us unique from all other countries on this world.  We are the one country where the vast majority of its people are immigrants, looking for a place to live their lives, not to be oppressed by the whims of others.  We are a country made up of people that saw hurdles in front of them and, instead of seeing them as barriers, saw them for what they are and jumped them.  We strive to grow.  We strive to win.  That is what differentiates us from most others.  We can take pride in the fact that we have within us the genes of those that looked at problems and faced them, knowing what may follow would be hard but well worth the effort.

But our pride should be tempered because of how we have paid back our founding fathers’ work.  We are sitting at a time where we have allowed some to make arguments that intelligence is limited to few, that achievement is based on luck not effort, that hurdles must be broken through society’s might rather than individuals’ hard work and determination.  We are teaching our children that participating is just as important as achieving.  That their success is built off of their blood line rather than their effort.  That hurdles are barriers.

How did we get to this point?  How did we let ourselves be taken like this?  What has become of us that we dampen the achievements of others in order to prevent offending those that have not achieved?  When did we allow people to take pride in asking for handouts, looking to others to make up for their mistakes?  When did we reach the point that we elect people by listening to their words, discounting their lack of achievement?  And then we follow them and their ideals?  No more.  That is it.  We need to be confident again.  We need to get back to thinking that we, individually, make our futures.  That we are not predestined to succeed or fail.  That we can change our course through our will.  That we live here, together, to live our lives as responsible individuals.  And that we are to teach our children that hurdles in life are meant to be jumped, not looked upon as reasons for turning around.