WILLIAMS COLUMN: When it’s all gone, stand up – LaGrange Daily News

WITHInger and songwriter Lee Greenwood is known for his song “Proud to Be an American.” Everyone knows the chorus: “And I’m proud to be an American, and at least I know that I’m free. And I will not forget the dead people who gave me this right. And I would proudly stand by your side and protect her to this day. Because there is no doubt that I love this land – God bless the USA!”

The choir sounds. My class at US Army Ranger School sang it in formation. The passion it evokes is further enhanced when crowds of people sing it together.

But there is a line that most people mentally miss. A small part of a huge song with a huge meaning. The opening lines, sung quietly and slowly, say, “If all things were to disappear tomorrow, I’ve worked all my life… and I had to start over with only children and a wife… I’d thank my lucky stars.” to live here today…where the flag still stands for freedom…and they can’t take it away.” A sobering line.

What if…

…Everything you knew and loved was removed?’

…Everything you believed in has been turned upside down?

…Everything you’ve ever fought for, stood for, or worked for is gone?

What would you do? Could you please stand up? Could you stand it? Will you be able to fold, collapse, fall apart? Proverbs 24:10 (MSG) says, “If you fall apart in a crisis, you will have nothing in the first place.”

Notice that Greenwood named two things that will help start over: the presence of others and the freedoms we have in America.

There is so much going on in the world today. If you instill or promote conservative principles, you see those principles too often trampled upon in public. For many, this election cycle has been about rebuilding and preserving the America we love.

But the progressive left will not go away quietly. By standing their ground and defending their liberal ideology, the left despises the fact that conservatives have rights. The left demands that conservatives bend the knee to progressive whims, programs and rhetoric. The left has demonstrated an inability to come to terms with the fact that conservatives have a mind of their own, filled with real conservative worldviews protected by constitutional rights.

Liberal progressives prefer that rights such as due process, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion should be viewed as simple privileges granted to citizens through generous government assistance. Liberal progressives and Democratic politicians expound freedoms in a grand manner, as if they were simply part of a set of neat ideas that they dole out from time to time at special moments. The left prefers that we not view our rights as real rights, because rights are immutable. But if rights are seen as mere privileges, they can be taken away.

But we are not alone. We have rights. If everything was deleted, who would you be left with? What would you stand for?

A Fort Bragg survival instructor once told members of my unit, “If you haven’t already, you better find something bigger than yourself to hold on to. Because if you get caught and everything is taken away, you have to have something bigger than yourself to believe in.”

True words.

The Hanoi Hilton was a notorious North Vietnamese prison where American military personnel were held for many years. Much has been written about the ability of some to survive in this hellhole, and others not. They were often mistreated, tortured and kept in solitary confinement for years. The key to maintaining mental stability was found to be to face reality with faith and realize that they are not alone.

Admiral James Stockdale was kept at the Hanoi Hilton for seven long years. He coined the “Stockdale Paradox” as pragmatic optimism. The ability to see facts clearly, to face them, while holding principles, values, faith and each other as the means to an end. “You must never confuse faith that you will eventually win—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to face the harshest facts of your present reality, whatever they may be.”

Stockdale said: keep the faith, know what you believe in, surround yourself with like-minded people and work with what you have!

The admiral’s advice corresponds to Ephesians 6:13. “Take up therefore the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Evil days are coming. But having done everything, endured everything, lean on something greater and greater, and when all is said and done, stand up.

Conservative Americans believe we have been treated badly over the past four years. The Biden/Harris Administration and progressive liberals in the House and Senate have damaged the morals, traditions, and values ​​that everyday Americans have long held. The constant assault on the sensibilities of hardworking Americans who dare to exercise their right to say “no” to madness has too often resulted in frantic invocations of Hitler, fascism, racism and misogyny.

The Stockdale Paradox reminds us that the question is not whether hard times will come. The question is what do you do with them.

The times demand that conservatives adhere to principles, faith, values ​​and rights. That we remember that there are more of us than them. There are things worth fighting for. Things worth standing for.

If tomorrow all the things you’ve worked for your whole life were gone… what would you do? Find that faith, remain pragmatically optimistic, gather your team.

Having done everything….stop.