Jonathan Cousar's Blog
What's Required of Us
Posted by Jonathan Cousar August 24, 2009 - 611 views
My Big Lesson This Year: Every generation has to fight for freedom.
I remember studying American history and learning about the Revolutionary War when I was a child. I remember feeling a sigh of relief at the end of the story and thinking, "thank God that's over and our freedom is secured." What I have learned in the last year is that the struggle to secure freedom is never over. It is a constant generational struggle. A facebook friend, who is a retired school teacher, wrote this to me yesterday:
"Facebook has put a strain on some of my personal friendships. A majority of my friends are teachers and very liberal. Obama is destroying good friendships. It's very sad but they don't understand the dangers our country is in.
Jonathan, my father was born under Lenin, grew up under Stalin, but died a free man in the US. He had many friends that came here from former Soviet Republics as he did. I grew up hearing some bad things. None of them ever saw their families again after escaping one way or another. My father worked against communism and worked here for the government.
This madman is heading us into that direction. It starts with takeovers and demands you snitch on your family and friends or else. I will not die in a Marxist country."
We have to fight for freedom again in this generation. But our fight is different. And thank God - it's easier. But it will demand sacrifice. We may suffer the loss of friendships, or a loss of status in our communities or maybe even a lost job. But our forefathers and those under totalitarian regimes suffered actual loss of life. They suffered brutal physical torture. They suffered permanent life-long separation from family and loved ones. Our sacrifice doesn't even begin to compare to all that. BUT WE MUST MAKE IT.
We have to be willing to make this comparably small sacrifice. The sacrifice we have to make is we have to speak up and speak out. We have to speak up to our friends and neighbors and we have to speak up to our colleagues at work. We can no longer keep quiet.
I have begun to make this sacrifice within the last year. And I have lost friends. I've lost status in my community. I've been ridiculed by people who I thought liked me. I've even lost friends at my church. But we have to do this.
We have to STOP SHUTTING UP. You ever notice that when our voices start to get heard, the Left goes crazy and starts demonizing us until we shut up again.
We were rightly angry and we rightly yelled at our congress people this summer during their town halls. But suddenly the Left said "oh look how primitive and barbarian they are. Look how uncivil they are." And look what happened. We didn't want to be called uncivil so we shut up.
Suddenly we were polite and respectful at the town halls. So polite that they stopped listening!
All my life liberals have intimidated me into shutting up. They've made me feel like I won't get ahead if they discover my true love for America. They've made me feel like I won't be respected if they discover my deep respect for our founding fathers.
Being a half decent person and not wanting to offend anyone - and certainly not wanting to lose the respect of my colleagues and peers I always shut up. I kept quiet - to keep the peace. And it worked! Everyone loved me again the minute I shut up. But in shutting up - I gave the floor to the Left. And they took it and ran with it and now because so many of us kept our mouths shut - out of a desire not to offend anyone - the Radical Left now runs the country.
Last year - in July of last year - something snapped inside me. Something said "you can't keep quiet anymore." Something said, "it is your silence that has allowed this to go so far."
So, I started running ads on Facebook, at my expense. Several thousand dollars worth. Ads exposing the truth about Obama to liberals and independents. I exposed the truth that they weren't getting from the deceptive mainstream media. And not only did I run ads but I also began to speak up in person to people I had always been silent with in the past.
If millions of Americans would do similar things, if we'd all speak up to our liberal friends and let them know we're out there, we'd turn this country around in no time.
But like our retired school teacher, the liberal threats came true. I have lost status. People I know have lost respect for me. I've even lost a few friendships. But that is our sacrifice in this generation - to keep the fight for freedom alive. Our price for telling the truth is a loss of status. A loss of friendships. I admire our school teacher for her courage in being willing to speak up even though everyone she knows is against her. That does take courage.
Because of her and others who came before me, I am more than willing now to pay that price. I hope you are too. If we all sacrifice together, sacrifice what's good for us personally - in order to save the country we love, we can beat this thing.
The price our retired school teacher's family paid in the Soviet Union was a loss of life. The price our founding fathers paid was a great loss of life. Our sacrifice is nothing compared to theirs?
Are you willing to pay today's price for passing freedom to a new generation?
