Maintenance

America has an exciting history. She came from an oppressed society and has grown to be the number one country on the planet. As a republic, it stands as a shining beacon of what other countries may hope to be someday. And like all democracies, America faces growing pains as we face the 250-year mark.

Not all democracies last much longer than 250 years. It depends on the upkeep and care that is given to the country. And, how the nation is used. The second law of thermodynamics is that everything will deteriorate. If we want our democracy to last, we will need to put some work into maintaining America.

Think of America as it started out as a family with a horse. As America grew we added sailing boats, and paddle wheelers. Before you knew it along came the Model T Ford and the Stutz Bearcat. We learned how to fly, dropped our ideas of isolation. And now, we work in outer space. And yet as we go along, we sometimes forget to maintain the system which got us to this point.

You have seen me write more than once about having things and having real estate is nice. But the important things are the people, their thoughts and ideas, and their dreams. Things don’t make a country great. People do.

 Today, it looks as though America is starting to think less about what made us great. It seems as though we have fallen into a rut of name-calling and finger-pointing. If we are going to move past the 250-year mark and go on to survive and grow as a nation, we are going to have to stop finger-pointing and learn to work together.

The only way I know to do this is to stop blaming others and start looking inside to see what we can do better. We can do it. What we face now we have encountered before. And, we did not overcome it by beating the other side down. Instead, we learned to work together. We learn to talk and compromise. We learned that when we came to these’s shores, we set aside our common differences to forge one nation of a pluralistic society with the rights to our own race, color, creed, genders, and abilities.

Today, we are fortunate to have America in the good things that America does. If we want to keep it that way each person who lives here has an obligation to help shine her up and keep all the parts running smoothly.  We do so in honor to those who have come before us and as a duty and a hope for those who come after us.

Thank you for being with me today, I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Author: Mike Balof

A retired Air Force Master Sergeant, Mike used to lay in bed at night and worry about what would happen if his plant closed or found himself without a job. One day his plant closed. Rather than panic and hysteria (OK, maybe a little) Mike found himself carried away on the adventure of his life. Mike started with the best job he ever had working at Home Depot. He spent 8 years working with job seekers at a local workforce center, helping them to find employment. He then started his own company developing courses, writing books and urging others to follow their own paths into the future. Mike holds a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Training and a Bachelor of Business Management, earned through the University of Phoenix and an AAS degree in Electronics Systems Technology from the Community College of the Air Force. Mike is a member of the Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society. View all posts by Mike Balof