One More Day Alive

With Independence Day just around the corner, it might be a nice time to reflect on how fortunate we all are to live in this amazing nation, even when it seems like everywhere you turn things have gone wrong  over the past few years. But some amazing things have also gone right — pinpointing some very special attributes of our country.

Yes, there are still way too many people without jobs and the housing market is still in a slump, but all of us have adjusted remarkably well to one of the worst economic struggles in the last 100 years. Report after report and study after study show that Americans have used the experience to reexamine their values and adjust their desires.

Despite the fact that many people had to drastically cut their own personal budgets, they still felt compelled to give to others around $300 billion last year; that’s remarkable. We did it not because our government forced us to, but because we wanted to. Incidentally that’s the key difference between socialism — where government supplants our moral right and obligation to help, which the Catholic Church squarely condemns — and social justice — where we choose to help because of our moral character. That character is alive and well in America!

And it seems that when the chips are down Americans go to church — attendance has continued to rise in America since 2008, when the whole economic turmoil started according to the most recent Gallup reports. Maybe that’s because nine out of 10 Americans say they believe in God (that number is only one in five in nations like Denmark and Sweden) — and most believe our nation was founded upon the divinely derived innate value of human beings. When times get tough, we go back to the source of our strength, our beliefs and our nation.

When times get tough in America, we stick together, especially with our mates. A report from the CDC released in May shows that the divorce rate has gone down for two years running after years of rising. Though some cynics say it’s because people can’t afford to get divorced, others point to the more sensible conclusion that since the number one reason for divorce is historically financial, maybe Americans are starting to revaluate their reasons for splitting as they reevaluate all their other economic indicators.

Finally, let’s take a look at crime in America. You would think that tough times would make crime rise, especially when it comes to theft. On the contrary, the overall crime rate is dropping like crazy across the board according to the FBI’s Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report. Robbery dropped 8.1 percent, murder decreased 7.2 percent, aggravated assault declined 4.2 percent, and rape decreased 3.1 percent.

Experts can’t really point to a reason for that decline. Maybe money really is the root of all evil — when we are too obsessed with it. Or maybe we simply need a wake-up call every once in a while in America to remind us of our commitment to each other, to God and to the values that this country was founded upon. After all, this wasn’t the land of wealth of and wonton pleasure, but the land of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And we Americans don’t give up on that, or each other.

When times are tough, we respond, ready to fight arm in arm not just for our own selfish needs but for what’s right, what’s just and for the rights and welfare of others. That’s what God created us to do, and He gave us this blessed nation, unlike any other on earth, to do it in.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

• It Was the Worst of Times - It Was the Best of Times Something amazing is happening all around us. As one of the worst economic downturns in history struck this nation last year, the nation has responded not by crumbling under the strain, but by downsizing, reprioritizing and reassessing their values. The results – a nation that saves more, spends less on......
• Satan implicated in economic collapse! What do greedy union bosses and Wall Street tycoons have in common? Could it be Old Scratch - the guy with the horns and the bifurcated tail? Greedy Union bosses refusing to accept salary modifications bring down the auto bailout in the United States Senate on the same day a......
• Finally, principles over politics The horse race is on again — that chaotic, contentious and glorious phenomenon known as the American presidential campaign. And for the first time in my life, I am inspired by the madness. While many pundits and critics castigate the field of candidates as less than lackluster, it’s still “anybody’s......
• Listening to a Soldier’s Story!   By Chris Benguhe Approximately 20 percent of the 30,000 suicides in this country each year are committed by veterans. That’s about 18 veterans committing suicide each day! Sometimes we need to take a break from all of our own problems to talk to someone who needs desperately to be......
• Would God be a Capitalist or a Socialist? By Chris Benguhe Is humanity evil, and is it government’s responsibility to rehabilitate it? Or is mankind innately good, and with the most basic of oversight and moral motivation will the majority of us choose to do the right thing, allowing government to focus on controlling only the most aberrant......

• Male Bass in Numerous US Rivers Seem to Have Been Feminized According to Study Government scientists are figuring that one out of every five black bass in the American river basins, despite being male, have egg cells that are growing inside of their typical sex organs, and this is a sign of just how...
• The Value of Paper Money Those who are into coin collecting often fail to think about the value of paper money. While they think about coins and how to add them to their collection, they fail to see the benefits of the other side of...
• How To Get More - Article Marketing Tips Article marketing is responsible for helping many new Internet marketers drive targeted traffic to your site, and it can help you too. We're here today to talk about some outstanding article marketing suggestions for your business. Whether or not you...
• American's Better Off Than Ever Before? Yeah Right! Prof. Perry of economics at the school of Management, University of Michigan has an interesting blog on economics called Carpe Diem, which roughly translated means seize the day. In a recent post, he claims "that despite what many people think,...
• The Truth about Credit Cards and Debt pt 1 This is part one in a two part series about credit card debt and where we actually stand as a nation when you consider the pure numbers. You have probably heard figures like "The average American carries more than $8,000...