Singer/songwriter Lee Greenwood is renowned for his song, “Proud to be an American.” Everybody knows the chorus:
And I’m proud to be an American
Where at least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died who gave that right to me
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA!
The chorus resonates. My class at the U.S. Army Ranger School sang it in formation. The passion it invokes is further heightened when crowds sing it together.
But there’s a line that most people mentally skip by — a small part of a huge song with huge meaning. Sung low and slow, the opening lines ask:
If tomorrow all my things were gone
I’d worked for all my life
And I had to start again,
With just my children and my wife.
And I’d thank my lucky stars to be livin’ here today,
Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can’t take that away
A sobering line.
What if…
- Everything you knew and loved was stripped away?’
- Everything you believed in was turned on its head?
- Everything you ever fought for, stood for, worked for was gone?
What would you do? Would you stand back up? Could you sustain? Would you fold, collapse, fall apart? Proverbs 24:10 (MSG) says, “If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place.”
Note that Greenwood cites two things to help start over: the presence of others and the freedoms we have in America.
So much is going on in the world today. If you imbue or promote conservative principles, you are watching those principles too often trashed in the public square. For many, this election cycle has been about restoring and preserving the America we love.
But the progressive left will not go quietly. While standing on their own right to espouse their liberal ideologies, the left despises the fact that conservatives have rights. The left demands conservatives bend their knees to progressive whims, agendas and rhetoric. The left has evidenced an inability to abide the fact that conservatives have a mind of their own filled with actual conservative worldviews protected by constitutional rights.
Liberal progressives prefer that rights such as due process, free speech, freedom of assembly, or freedom of worship, should be viewed as mere privileges afforded to citizens via the largesse of government. Liberal progressives and Democrat politicians expound in lordly manner on liberties as though they are merely part of an à la carte selection of neat ideas which they occasionally dole out in special moments. Leftists prefer that we not view our rights as actual rights, because rights are immutable. But if rights are viewed as mere privileges, they can take them away.
But we are not alone. We have rights. If everything was stripped away, who would you stand with? What would you stand for?
I once had a survival instructor at Fort Bragg tell members of my unit: “If you haven’t already, you’d better find something bigger than yourself to hold onto. Because if you’re captured, and they strip everything away, you’ve got to have something bigger than you to believe in.”
True words.
The “Hanoi Hilton” was the infamous North Vietnamese prison where American servicemen were held for years. Much has been written about the ability of some to survive that hellhole while others did not. Often abused, tortured, and left in solitary confinement for years, the keys to maintaining mental stability were found in facing reality with faith and in finding out they were not alone.
Admiral James Stockdale was held in the Hanoi Hilton for seven long years. He coined the “Stockdale Paradox” as pragmatic optimism: the ability to see the facts clearly and face them head-on while holding onto principles, values, faith, and each other as the means of getting through. "You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
Stockdale was saying, keep the faith, know what you believe, surround yourself with others of like mind, and work with what you’ve got!
The admiral’s advice aligns with Ephesians 6:13: “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Evil days do come. But having done all, having endured all, lean in on something bigger and greater, and when it’s all said and done, stand.
Conservative Americans believe we’ve been dealt a bad hand over the past four years. The Biden-Harris administration and liberal progressives in the U.S. House and Senate wreaked havoc on morals, traditions and values long held by everyday Americans. A constant barrage against the sensibilities of hard-working Americans who dare to exercise their right to say “no” to the madness has too often resulted in rabid invocations of Hitler, fascism, racism and misogyny.
The Stockdale Paradox reminds us that the question is not whether or not hard times come. The question is what you do with them.
The times require that conservatives grab ahold of principles, faith, values and rights. We must remember that there are more of us than there are of them. There are things worth fighting for, things worth standing for.
If tomorrow all the things were gone you’d worked for all your life … what would you do? Find that faith, remain pragmatically optimistic, gather your team.
Having done all … stand.
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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