BEGIN QUOTE: “The threat is nearly invisible in
ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the
very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in
the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity
of purpose for our nation.
The erosion of our confidence in
the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of
America.
The confidence that we have always
had as a people is not simply some romantic dream or a proverb in a dusty book
that we read just on the Fourth of July.
It is the idea, which founded our
nation and has guided our development as a people. Confidence in the future has
supported everything else -- public institutions and private enterprise, our
own families, and the very Constitution of the United States. Confidence has
defined our course and has served as a link between generations. We've always
believed in something called progress. We've always had a faith that the days
of our children would be better than our own.
Our people are losing that faith,
not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the
ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. As a people we know our past and
we are proud of it. Our progress has been part of the living history of
America, even the world. We always believed that we were part of a great
movement of humanity itself called democracy, involved in the search for
freedom, and that belief has always strengthened us in our purpose. But just as
we are losing our confidence in the future, we are also beginning to close the
door on our past.
In a nation that was proud of hard
work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many
of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no
longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered
that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for
meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness
of lives which have no confidence or purpose.
The symptoms of this crisis of the
American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our
country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse
than the past five years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The
productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of
Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in
the Western world.
As you know, there is a growing
disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and
other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it
is the truth and it is a warning.
These changes did not happen
overnight. They've come upon us gradually over the last generation, years that
were filled with shocks and tragedy.” END QUOTE
I suspect most of you to whom this
was addressed will never read this far, but for those of you who have and who
recognized the above as an excerpt from a speech by President Jimmy Carter
delivered on July 15, 1979: an A+. For the rest of us, it is enough to
simply contemplate that this warning was delivered almost exactly a third of a
century ago and its relevance is undiminished. If anything, things are worse
now than then. Global warming, human population growth, Islamic
extremism, shrinking arable land, ocean pollution, diminishing potable water
and energy shortages are threats that have become more aggregated while the
basic flaws in our social structure are undiminished and in many ways worse
than ever.
I guess being able to see the
future is no guarantee that it can be avoided.
So what is to be done?
In many of my rants, emails and
conversations with many of you, I have expressed my worry and concern about the
future and about my shame that my generation is the first in history to have
left the planet a worse place for our descendants. With all the acute
problems we face and our apparent inability to form a government that is
capable of even administering itself, much less begin to solve problems how can
you not despair? What can an individual do in the face of such monumental
and daunting problems?
I have thought a lot about this and
have been discouraged by the apparent inability of us as individuals to have
much impact on these global difficulties. Well, I am thought whining and
wringing my hands and for me; I am simply going to choose to be more
positive. To take a conscious choice to not give in to despair and not
add to the chorus of voices that proclaim the future of doom.
To believe that things will be
better in the future, I suppose is simply a leap of faith.
The only evidence I have that it is
even possibly justified is the simply joy and wonder of living that I see in my
grandkids. There is something inspiring and transcendent about the human
spirit. The joy and native optimism that we all have as children must be
nurtured and allowed to displace the cynicism and pessimisms we see all around
us.
It may not be much, but I am going
to really try to follow the adage of “think globally and act locally”, by being
more positive in my everyday life.
I hope some of you can and will join
me.
I have been blessed with the gift
of being able to see my grandchildren grow up without hunger or want and raised
by parents of good character who love and nurture them. I have been
blessed with many wonderful friends and acquaintances from around the world who
I cherish and whose memories I hold dear. How can you not be positive in
the face of all that?
I hope you and your loved ones all
have the very best of futures.
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