What will you do? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    I have been thinking lately, with all the political "noise" surrounding me, of one all important question. "What am I going to tell my great grandchildren, of which I have two at the moment, about why their government dictates every facet of their lives when I grew up during the greatest time of personal freedom in history? What have I done to try and make sure they have the same opportunities that I have had in my life?

    What did I do when they took God out of the schools? Nothing. What did I do when they took the 10 Commandments out of our public buildings? Nothing. What did I say when they told me that morals and personal responsibility was old and out of date? Nothing. What did I do when they told me "It takes a village to raise a child"? Nothing. What did I do when Presidents besmirched their national office? Nothing. What did I do when local governments took away land that belonged to another? Nothing. What did I do when my local and federal government representatives ignored their oath of office? Nothing. What did I do when our President lied boldly and continually about our country? Nothing.

    Oh yes I said something to my wife or a friend, or talked back to the TV, but what did I DO? Nothing. Yes I spent 20+ years in the military during the Cold War and Viet Nam but was that enough? No. I voted at ever local or national election and always for what I thought was the best choice but was it an educated choice? No. Will my great grandchildren accept this and say it's ok Grandpa you did the best you could? Will I accept this as my best? No.

    I certainly pray that this will not be my epitaph. So I have decided: I will DO something.

    I realize that time to act is getting short; both my time and the country's. I am far from having the ability to hold an office but I will get more involved in local and federal issues. I will educate myself on the issues. I will find the finances to help whenever I can. I will take time to get off the couch and do what I can to protect the future of my great grandchildren. I will join with others of like mind who care about this great nation, not because it will benefit us but because it will be the best I can do to insure that our grandchildren and our great grandchildren have the same opportunity to enjoy the blessing of liberty that this great nation has afforded me.

    I hope you will join with me in that commitment. Many of us may not be able to leave a tremendous amount of wealth to our children but we, each and every single one of us, can leave something much more valuable than money and property to them...and that is a nation that guarantees them that they can each be everything they capable of being and a government that empowers them to be what they are capable of being. But I firmly believe that for them to enjoy the blessings of growing up in the greatest nations in the history of mankind, we must turn this government around and return it to its founding principles.

    If, along with me, you believe that also please find a group and get involved helping do just that. Then, no matter what happens, we can rest knowing we did all that we could for these children.