Keeping the Path

Teddy Roosevelt was an unusual President. A sickly youngster he persevered to build a strong body healthy enough to travel the wilds of the ‘wild west’ when it was still wild, and to lead the Rough Riders in battle. On horseback no less!

But Roosevelt was also a major preserver of natural wonders and nature in general. He was passionate about creating national parks. We praised individualism and personal freedoms. Yet he also knew the value of a people working together to build a great society.  Perhaps this quote encapsulates a core value of President Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919):

“This country will not be a good place for any of us to live unless we make it a good place for all of us to live.”

The place we live must be healthy – air, water and soils – but also a good place to live for people of all backgrounds, economic ability and life skills. He spoke of including people of great differences to build a healthy whole.

And to think he was a Republican! Now that’s the party I was once a member of. The party of Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt to name just two. Eisenhower as well. These were men who motivated me to think broadly on many topics.

Today, we are reminded of how different the present day is from times past by Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont:

“We must not be content with an economic reality in which the middle class of this country continues to disappear.”

We must not be content…indeed! Our nation will not survive if we allow this to happen. What would Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln think about the turn of events?  I’m confident they would shudder in disbelief.

I think we have fallen from our original path. At some point our nation has become riddled with personal self centeredness, greed, selfishness. There are real people suffering because of the failure of public policy and personal greed. And yet we hear cheers directed toward those who have failed. The failure is viewed as personal weakness, so that others may achieve more wealth. Really? Is our America fallen to such depths of depravity as this?  One can only wonder.

Meanwhile this anonymous quote emerges from the internet world:

            “Your beliefs don’t make you a better person; your behavior does.”

How many fellow citizens get that statement? If we feel compassion for our fellow man, it is not enough to feel it and say it. We must back those concepts up by our actions. Your actions, my actions, my neighbor’s actions. Each of us committed to doing the right thing where it is most needed, and not one driven by my own self interest.

Now that’s the America I thought I was being raised in and by. It is still the America I prefer to restore.

In closing I share this quote, also anonymous and also from the internet. It is powerful I think. Perhaps you will think so too?

            “Seven Dangers to Human Virtue:

1.      Wealth without work

2.      Pleasure without conscience

3.      Knowledge without character

4.      Business without ethics

5.      Science without humanity

6.      Religion without sacrifice

7.      Politics without principle.”

Print that and save it where you can read it daily. Something we all need to be reminded of frequently.

November 14, 2013