What a profound statement!

The other day I was walking past the receptionist when I noticed she had a grim look on her face. So I asked her what was wrong and she said that there had been another school shooting. The next comment she made is the inspiration for this piece. Her statement stuck with me through out the day. I couldn’t stop thinking about the look on her face and the statement she made. The more I thought about it the more nervous and scared I got because I have two young sons in school. As a matter of fact they are sitting in a classroom as I write this. It was quite a profound statement. I’m not sure if she heard it somewhere and was repeating it or if it was her just stating her thoughts but I had never heard or thought of it that way until then. What Pat said was this: she said “they took prayers out of the schools but forgot to take the guns”.

This statement got me to thinking. You know the politicians, school board officials, and all the other experts say that the best way to make a positive change in our kids’ lives is by using positive reinforcement tactics, tools, and words. They talk about the importance of being a positive role model to our kids and setting good examples. Yet they have removed two of the best and most positive tools from the schools. These tools taught our kids pride, unity, justice, fate and so much more. They banned prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance from the schools but left the guns.

Let's break down the Pledge of Allegiance: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands”, My friends we may not all be from the United States of America but we all live here and that flag, the star spangled banner, is our most recognized and cherished symbol. Nothing symbolizes the U. S. more than our flag. Our troops wear that flag proudly on their arms when they go into battle and we fly it at half mask when they die for our freedom. Yet our children are banned from pledging their allegiance to it as we once did when we were in school. The next part: “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. Now I look at these words and I see nothing but strong, positive words. I see one Nation, God, indivisible, and liberty and justice for all. You know as I look at it a little closer what I see are the things that our country is lacking today. We do not act as one nation, we’ve removed the mere reference of God from our schools and other places, we have allowed certain events, people, greed and other countries to divide our people, and we still do not have equal liberty and justice for all of our citizens.

Now on the topic of God, why did it have to be completely removed? Our leaders are supposed to be looking out for the best interest of the people. That is why we have elections. Surely they could have come up with a better solution than the one we ended up with. How about instead of God they use god. This would accomplish two things. First it would let the people know that prayer is important enough to this country that it must stay in the schools. Secondly it would let everyone know that they recognize that not everyone pray to the same god. So prayer time could still be in the schools however it would be done as a few minutes of quiet time to allow the kids to pray as they do at home and to the god of there belief, culture, or choice. In my opinion, that would have been a more satisfactory decision that would have satisfied the majority. The decision they chose was a cop out and now we are suffering the consequences of it.

To me the divisions in our country today have a lot to do with the divisions in our government. Our citizens are drawing lines in the sand and are taking sides. At the end of the day it really should not matter if you are a Conservative, Democrat, Republican, or Liberal the only line that should matter is the one that maps the borders of the United States of America. We are so quick to help, feed, rescue, defend, and rebuild other countries of the world and we do a great job at that but yet we can’t seem to get it right within our own borders.

Now I do not put all the blame on our political leaders because they can only do what we as citizens and voters allow them to. We must all do our part if we expect to see a change. One of my favorite quotes is, “If you want your life to change, you must make a change in your life”. Right now, we as a nation, have our priorities mixed up. The pursuit of money and wealth has taken priority over the pursuit of peace, happiness, love, justice, and equality. So we must ask ourselves are we currently doing enough to make a difference in our children’s lives and in the well being of our country. If you are, I thank you and appreciate you for it. However, if you are like me and know that you are one of those individuals who have your priorities mixed up and are not doing enough then next ask yourself what can I do? How can I do my part? Is there anything I can do to protect our children or give back to the people?

Well I have chosen to stop focusing so much on how much money I can make and started focusing more on helping to keep our people, especially our children, safe. I have decided to forgo a percentage of my profits. Any company or organization, including but not limited to, schools, colleges, daycares, government organizations, non-profit organizations, and churches that require, need, or want self defense and/or surveillance equipment that I sell will receive a 15% discount.

If you are interested or know of a company or organization that may benefit you can go to http://www.DefenseAndProtection.com/, http://www.RCNOtech.com/, or email me at MakeADifference@DefenseAndProtection.com. Also I challenge each and every one of you to think about how you can make a difference in the lives of the citizens of the United States. On so many occasions and for so many years we have come to the aid of people all over the world. Well now I think its time we start taking care of our own. Let’s get back to being one Nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!

For the history of the Pledge of Allegiance go to Links section and click on Pledge of Allegiance.