THE ENTERPRISE--MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
WHAT A WONDERFUL LIFE & WHAT A WONDERFUL COUNTRY
After all the turmoil, the partisan political wrangling, the terrorist threats, and all the rest, stop and think about this:
"You can judge the quality of a country by comparing how many people want to get in to how many want to leave."
I think the United States of America would fare very well on that score.
WE HAVE MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR
First of course are our families and loved ones. Next, our brave people in the armed forces who are willing to lay down their lives for our country and our freedoms. Those amazing freedoms.
- There is our freedom of religious worship (at the church of our choice)
- There is freedom of speech, (even if what we say isn't very nice)
- Freedom to own and use property
- Freedom to make a living, earn money and keep it (well, some of it)
- Freedom to congregate (for whatever reason we choose)
- Freedom to move freely about the country, (and assuming we are in good standing to leave it and come back in as we please.)
- Freedom to vote (secretly) for our leaders (whether we like them or not afterward)
- Freedom to write books and articles (and publish them at will)
- Freedom to buy books and periodicals (or to check them out of our libraries at no charge)
- Freedom to enjoy our beautiful national parks, and state parks and local, city/county parks.
- Freedom to attend concerts and sporting events and many other public gatherings...
Do I need to go on?
WE ARE GOING THROUGH A TOUGH PATCH
A lot of Americans are unemployed and struggling, and many more are "underemployed" and also struggling. Our youth, especially the less educated/skilled ones are suffering the most from the inability to get jobs. We probably can't really "afford" the unemployment benefits we are extending, and they may not encourage people to look for jobs like they should, but we are a humane nation, and a caring people who know that even when it is not affordable, it is the thing to do. We need to create more jobs. We know how to do that--but it takes time and it is hard and unproductive to rush things.
We can learn by observing nature on the farm: we can prepare the field and till the soil and plow the field and plant the seeds, but we can't rush the harvest. The plants will grow at their own rate--and so will our country's jobs and economy. Trying to rush the crop usually spoils it, so let's hope the lessons of nature don't go unheeded.
WE ARE A PEOPLE WHO MOSTLY BELIEVE IN GOD--IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER
Here we are a few days before Christmas, and whether you believe in God and Jesus--or any of the other religious choices--this is a time for us to all recall what happened a little over 2000 years ago. It was an occasion of a birth--the start of something new, and someone important, who changed the world by His will and His positive nature. So let's all resolve to resist the negatives, and find the positives; to not dwell on the problems but the opportunities; and not "fight" about the solutions, but unite to find them. After all, in this year of promise and peril of obstacles and opportunities, we are still the UNITED States of America. Some of our oldest phrases ring truer than ever: "United we stand, divided we fail," and "In God we trust."
WE HAVE BEEN IN TOUGHER SITUATIONS AND COME OUT OF THEM
And we will again. By the will of God, and by the will of Americans, and because we have an indomitable spirit, that no nation on earth can match, we will have a Happy New Year--and many more to come. Let's pause to thank God for all we have, and commit to work smarter and harder and better to get our country back to working again. It's time to "Change How America Works" for the better, and to work toward that goal, is my "New Year's resolution."
God Bless You All, and God Bless America--"Land of the free and home of the brave."
And Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Best, JOHN
Comments