I have to admit, today's news has me a little discouraged. I hear about what's going on in Washington DC and wonder what happened to all the Statesmen? I hear about a murder trial where the defense is "It wasn't my fault, I was abused!" even though there is no evidence that any abuse ever took place. I hear about Iran's march toward nuclear weapons while the world wants to do nothing more than they have already. Our country has not had a budget in over four years. Department of Homeland Security is letting illegal immigrants scheduled for deportation go . . .
It seems crazy to me. One of our Idaho Courts decided that it is within the right of a spectator to sue an event if an injury occurs. This particular event was a minor league baseball game and a foul ball cost a man his eye. I agree that the loss of an eye is a tragedy; but foul balls are not unforeseeable and some spectators actually try to catch them. When we attend an event don't we assume some responsibility for our safety? Don't we acknowledge there is some risk?
Congress, they keep talking about "Sequestration Cuts" but the area graph that was provided by the Congressional Budget office shows there are no cuts - just a slowdown in spending. (I have highlighted the graph on my FaceBook page so that others can judge for themselves) NO budget yet. The blame game from the White House, House of Representatives, and Senate goes on and on. Everyone seems to be trying to scare the public. What happened to the fact that we elected these people to represent us and be RESPONSIBLE for doing what is right for our country.
Media treats their consumers like imbeciles and then complain when we say we don't trust any of them anymore. What happened to their responsibility to report the facts even when inconvenient and let us come to our own conclusions? Of course subscribership is down when they have ceased to do their job - their RESPONSIBILITY.
And what of us? There is an old saying, "All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men (or women) to do nothing." Are we taking our responsibility as citizens seriously? We have become so politically correct that we are afraid to do what is right. I know this because even though I am vocal, I think hard about whether it is worth it. Doing the responsible thing is often doing the thankless thing but it does not excuse us. If we do not start to follow our beliefs and speak up for what we believe is right our culture will be doomed to ruin. Does this mean we all have to agree? Absolutely not! What it means is that we have to participate. We have to take responsibility. We have to Stand for Something. Otherwise we have brought shame to ourselves and left a mess for future generations.
As we have spoken of before, it does not mean you have to start a revolution, it means you do good in your everyday life. It means you encourage discourse and solutions. You stop worrying about getting credit and accolades and do what you can today and everyday.
I fear someday soon the word responsibility will be as archaic as the word chivalry and with that will come the demise of the great ideas that made our country great.
Will you be responsible or succumb to fear? I pray I will be able to overcome my fears and continue to be a voice that at least gets others to think.
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