A 1950's Army Motto and America Today

I read an old Army saying from the 1950s the other day, and it made me think of just how different, and not necessarily in a good way, the Army  - and America - is today. The saying goes:

"If it moves, salute it.

If it doesn't move, pick it up.

If you can't pick it up, paint it."

There has been more than one occasion where I have been walking around and junior Soldiers not only fail to salute, but completely ignore an oncoming officer in an active effort not to have to salute. Instead of taking pride in their surroundings, they not only walk by trash strewn on the ground, they throw more on the ground themselves. And to top it off, instead of putting forth hard work and effort to produce quality work, they "sham" as much as possible, complain about the work they do end up having to do, and then put forth the least effort they can get by with to scrape by on the work they do produce, which inevitably results in a shoddy product. When their superiors correct them for their poor work and work ethic, they blame everyone under the sun from their parents, to their peers, to the boss themselves for the resultant poor quality work. Never once imagining that the problem lies within themselves.

If our Army, the one institution that is supposed to be highly disciplined in every area, is so riddled with systemic problems such as these, no wonder our nation as a whole is suffering such catastrophic upheavals at every turn, whether it's the real estate market, honesty in schools, ethics in politics, or the nightmare our economy has become! No wonder hundreds of thousands of people are out of work and businesses don't want to hire them! No wonder the vast majority of Americans have had or are having financial worries and losing their homes...BECAUSE WE FAIL TO SEE THAT THE PROBLEM IS NOT EVERYONE ELSE. THE PROBLEM IS OURSELVES! The problem is not that the rich are stealing from us or keeping us "down." The problem is not that our government is not doing enough for us. The problem is not that the healthcare system is broken, or the education system is broken. THE PROBLEM IS THAT NO ONE WANTS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS, DECISIONS AND FAILURES. No one wants to own up to the fact that the rich are rich because they either got lucky, were born into it, or they worked their ass off for it. NONE of which is against the law nor unfair. IT JUST IS.

No one wants to believe that the government shouldn't be our babysitter. That our government shouldn't be giving anyone handouts or favors or welfare or any of that garbage that the self-entitled feel they deserve. What they DESERVE is to get off the dang porch and go make something of themselves. Stop waiting for the government to GIVE you anything. You don't deserve it! You deserve what you work hard for in life and NOTHING ELSE. The government should be SMALL and in the interest of free enterprise should quit giving subsidies to everyone under the sun and quit bailing out idiots who have failed at business. When I made stupid financial mistakes, no one bailed me out. I went bankrupt and my credit took a crap, and I'm still paying for it in some ways almost 10 years later. You better bet I'll never do THAT again! However, one thing the government SHOULD DO is make taxes MORE EQUITABLE via a flat tax on ALL income, personal and business, and let that be it. No loopholes, exceptions, exemptions, subsidies, breaks, favors, or WHATEVER else people have been getting to get out of PAYING. JUST PAY AND BE DONE!

No one wants to think that maybe if we'd get off our fat asses, go to the gym, quit eating garbage and drinking and smoking POISONS that maybe the healthcare system wouldn't COST SO MUCH IN THE FIRST PLACE. Or that when a doctor, who is human, makes a human mistake, our litigious asses should realize that and should think twice before suing them.

MAYBE if parents would listen to teachers, pay more attention to their children and hold themselves and their children accountable for ATTEMPTING to make good grades, then they would PASS SCHOOL and any crazy test the government expects them to pass. THERE IS NO MAGIC LEARNING BULLET PEOPLE. It's called STUDY YOUR EFFING ASS OFF UNTIL YOU CAN PASS THE TEST! If after you have honestly done that and you still can't pass the test, it's no one's fault and certainly not the teacher's fault. It just means you probably shouldn't expect to go to college. Sorry, we also need ditch diggers in America. That's another problem. Not everyone should expect or want to go to college. Our degrees are so watered down at this point and the market so glutted that they're barely worth the paper they're printed on. Some people just don't have the aptitude to go and it causes undue stress on them and eventually puts pressure on the institution to lower their standards to meet the demand. NOT GOOD! We need to start tracking folks so that they do something they're good at and will enjoy, AND so that we can start bringing jobs back to America from overseas.

So you see, the problem ISN'T OUT THERE. It's RIGHT HERE. It's YOU AND ME. Take a good hard, honest look at yourself and ask: Am I part of the problem and if so, what can I do to fix me, so that I can help fix America?