Thirty-three years ago this month, “Hook” hit the big screen. Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman and Julia Roberts, the movie gives a modern spin to the classic tale of Peter Pan.
Peter Pan, played by Williams, is all grown up, with a family of his own and weighty business to attend to. The cares of life weigh him down. He is distracted. He ignores his family.
But one scene ranks to me as one of the most incredibly poignant moments in modern movie history.
You see, Peter Pan had forgotten who he was. The once-great Peter Pan could not remember his childhood adventures, and his fantastic legacy was a distant dream. He couldn’t fly, fight, or smile. Peter Pan was a stodgy, joyless grownup overwhelmed with the cares of life.
But then comes the scene when the Lost Boys begin wondering if he is really their Peter Pan. The smallest of the Lost Boys begins touching his face, pushing at his wrinkles, and touching his gray hairs. Then he pushes back both of Peter Pan’s cheeks making a smile on the older Peter Pan’s face. “Oh there you are, Peter!” he says. The Lost Boys knew Peter Pan was back; he was able to find himself and get back to really living.
I think this is a picture of America. For too many years, we’ve lost the joy, wrapped in the clutter of serious life, and unable to remember who we really are as a nation. It’s as if America forgot itself.
Let’s be honest, the past four years have been hard with Covid and government lockdowns, civil unrest, epic inflation, a bumbling White House, a flagging military, a skewing of traditions, cancel culture, lawfare, transgender activism, and BLM riots.
Think back over the past four years under the Biden administration. Is there anyone in the Middle East that feared Joe Biden? Was China at all concerned with having a strong friendship with the U.S.? Have the drug cartels and coyotes on the southern border had any concern for U.S. law? If oil prices were steep, would the OPEC nations pick up the phone when we called? We warned Russia not to invade Ukraine, but they did it anyway. We abandoned friends and allies in Afghanistan, and the Taliban was emboldened.
The world is filled with foreign leaders who stopped valuing our friendship and had no fear of us as an enemy because the Biden administration was filled with glass-ceiling-breaking, America-bashing beta-people who insist that climate change is an existential threat to our way of life and that your use of pronouns is the clearest indicator of your worth.
In the midst of hard times, Americans began losing some of the sense that this is the greatest nation on the face of the earth.
But I sense a turning. The distant dream of a dynamic America is returning. We’re going to find that smile and get back flying and fighting and living.
You can see it tangibly in events like the recent Army-Navy football game. President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and a whole host of patriots attended the annual event. As the national anthem was sung by cadets from both West Point and Annapolis, Trump stood at attention and saluted. A military flyover followed. The crowd went wild.
It felt different. It felt better. It felt like the America that has been missing for a few years.
My sense is that this was not a one-time moment. Patriotism is back. Peace through strength is back. America is back.
I’m not surprised by Trump standing at attention and saluting during the Army-Navy game. I’m equally not surprised that Biden never did. It’s how they do things. It’s how they view America. One believes in leading from a position of strength. The other believes in apologizing for being strong.
A leftist agenda has stymied our national pride. It is beyond time for leaders to go back to a position of strength and readiness, not equity and wokeness. We must restore the sense of identity that made us the cowboys of the world. We must walk in our God-given authority as a force for good, a foe to evil.
This is our country … our home … our refuge. A place where the sweat of our brow and the work of our hands forged a future for our kids. Our country – where generations before us labored, fought, loved and laughed – to form a more perfect union. The core of our citizenry recognizes the value of our national heritage. The vast majority of Americans will fly the flag, stand for the anthem, and volunteer for the cause. We just want leaders who inspire us to do so.
I’m no rocket scientist. I’m just a salty old Ranger who gets misty-eyed when I see the flag waving. I don’t know everything, but I can see a few things, even from this side of the far horizon. I can see a nation that is hungry for leadership that reminds them of who they really are: the biggest dog, the greatest friend, the one who helps the hurting and hurts the harmful. The one that promotes the good and opposes the bad. The by-God United States of America, with whom it is better to be our friend than our foe any day.
We want to be led by those who fully engage these sentiments and restore the pride and patriotism that has been flagging for four long years.
Leadership is coming that embraces the kind of nation that we have been and still are. We just needed to be reminded.
Oh look, America … there you are.
To contact Phil or request him for a speaking engagement, go to www.rightsideradio.org.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819News.com.
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