Paying The Price

Paying the Price

by Tom Woodard

I heard two very interesting statements this past week which I believe very succinctly pinpoint where we are in America right now. The first was from a man who has written a book about the collapse of the housing market. When asked at what point he realized the housing market was going to take a dive, he said it was in 2006, when he saw several of the largest mortgage companies start offering a four option mortgage with one-hundred percent financing. The options for the borrower each month were to pay the full payment, pay interest only, pay nothing, or, unbelievably, to make a "negative payment" - in other words, borrow even more money on a house the borrower already had no equity in!

This is when he realized the housing market was on the verge of collapse, but what he said next is what struck me so hard. He said "Americans have come to the point where they want the American dream without having to sacrifice for it." Never before this present generation has there been such a weak, immature, spoiled rotten mind-set. Before the present generation, it was taken for granted that whatever you dreamed of having, you would have to work for it and earn it by the sweat of your brow. This has been the common wisdom of the ages. You can find it in the Bible, in Proverbs, and in other ancient writings, as well as in the writings of scholars and leaders all through the centuries, up until now. And the reason that the wisdom of this knowledge endured through the ages is that it was built on practical experience and the truth born of that experience.

But now we, in our infinite wisdom, have decided that what we want we should have, whether we are willing to work for it or not! We are entitled, just because we want! This is folly, born of ignorance, greed and selfishness. And it is a lie - a lie we have somehow convinced ourselves of! As a consequence of our wanton wastefulness and self-indulgence, we are now the greatest debtor nation on earth, the U.S. Dollar is practically worthless, we owe the soul of the nation to foreign governments, including the largest Communist dictatorship on the planet, we cannot pay our bills, and our assets are being bought up by powerful nations elsewhere!

This leads me to the second comment I heard this week, which was from a political and economics analyst. He was asked what was to become of the United States in light of all of the things I have outlined above. His answer was blunt and forthright. He said "The United States will become a second-rate nation, largely irrelevant to the international scene, and largely just a supplier of raw materials to other nations." Nations like China, Japan, parts of Europe, and others. In other words, we are on the brink of the fall of the American "Empire". And as in the case of all previous empires, whether ancient or more recent, the fall of this one will be, and already is being, brought about by decay from within and not from external forces.

I have seen this coming for the past eight years, but I also know that it can be avoided. The people of this once great nation can prove the prophesy wrong by re-learning the principles and practicalities that led our forefathers to forge this country into the great power that it is, and is on the verge of ceasing to be. The question is "Do we have the moral integrity, the courage, the guts and determination to sacrifice and re-forge our destiny? This is a big question. It is a question of moral imperative, and if I were a betting man I would bet that we have become too spoiled, selfish and weak to recapture the qualities of our forebears which made this nation great. But that is one bet I would dearly love to lose!

I believe that God has presented us with both opportunity and challenge in the present financial crisis. I believe that we should look upon this situation as His chastisement for our waste and foolish living. Chastisement is one of the ways God tries to get our attention and to call us to repentance and a return to the paths on which He would have us to go. We need to rediscover His will for our lives and our nation. We need to rediscover the strengths of our forefathers. We need, desperately, to rediscover the real heroes of this country - not sports figures, actors and actresses, singers and musicians, but those who forged this nation and who gave of their blood, sweat, tears, treasure, and sometimes their very lives, to make it free and keep it free, and to make it great, and a most respected nation among nations. Real heroes, men and women of character and courage and a sense of duty and sacrifice! The pathetic "heroes" of today are nothing - drunkards and drug addicts, without character or morals! We need to rediscover our real heroes, and then aspire to be worthy of their example.

As fat and lazy as we have become, it can be done! It is time for this generation to stand up and be counted. It is time to rediscover service and sacrifice, of doing for others as we would have them do for us, for selflessness, self-deprivation and self-denial, of sharing, of frugality, of saving and recycling, of civic pride and public service. It is time, and past time, for rediscovery of the things that really matter, not of material wealth and extravagance but of family, community, Church, God, and the basic necessities of life.

This generation can rise from the ash heap of selfishness and greed leading to self-destruction, but to do so we must repent of the sinfully decadent way in which we have come to live. We must repent of the 'free ride' mentality which has become pervasive in our land. We must repent of laziness and lack of a real sense of responsibility, and understand the principles of doing a day's work for a day's pay, of understanding and accepting that actions do have consequences, of accepting responsibility for ourselves and our own welfare, and expecting nothing that we do not earn. We must stop being 'victims' and spoiled babies, and become victors! We must shed our senseless arrogance and false pride and find humility. We must be willing to suffer and scrape and dig, and climb out of the depths into which we have sunk, both morally and financially.

I'm going to bet that we fail the test, and that we and our once great nation will slide from that once high state which our forefathers established for us, into mediocre oblivion. Now, having made that bet, I challenge us all, myself included, to make sure I lose that bet! May hard times return us to a sense of responsibility. May hardships and difficulties cause us to rediscover and embrace the principles and the intestinal fortitude which forged this nation into the greatest in the history of man. May we accept the great challenges that face us and overcome them all, with a renewed commitment to education and science and discovery, to new technologies and new fuel sources which will renew and ensure our freedoms and liberties for generations to come. And may we rededicate ourselves to the Lord God Almighty, without whom we will surely fail!

The question is whether we will join the long list of great nations and empires whose great deeds and artifacts now lie in the dust of history, or accept the challenges that face us and retake the moral high ground that will renew and refresh the foundations of this great land. The challenge does not belong to anyone else. It belongs to us! We will either rise triumphant or we will destroy ourselves.

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