Get your life jackets on and lets fix this ship and sail on.

Carolyn Hileman

The funeral march is playing, the flowers and wreaths all on display, the coffin covered in a United States flag it is a dark solemn moment with mourners filling the pews and even to the street outside. They have come to say their last goodbyes, given up hope, shocked and stunned and feeling all alone. They’ve come to bury America, her spirit and every last thing that reminds them of her, but just before the funeral starts someone yells out she is still alive. Barely breathing, but still holding on and she is not ready to die just yet.

The bills are stacked high, people are being laid off, profits are down and anxiety is high but you know what , the flag is still waving, we are still living and we my friend are what makes that flag fly as high as it does. Can’t sell a product, make a better one, can’t find a job, make one. The only person holding you down is you, this is America, this is the home of the free and the land of the brave and we don’t keel over for anyone. I know we have some out there who are saying that we are going under, there are some big businesses who are begging for money, but you know what it is not those big businesses that make this country run, it is the old man who makes a hundred passes with his tractor and still makes one more because he knows it must be done. It is the nurse who cools the fevered brow, the sales clerk who even though she has had a rough day with less than wonderful customers still puts on that smile when she hands you your purchase.

So you know what we are going to do, you and I we are going to prove all those analysts and news people wrong, we are going to work a little harder, we are going to smile a little brighter and we are going to go the extra mile because that is what we have always done and that is what our ancestors have always done and we are never, ever going to give up. America chooses her leaders by those who are willing to work hard, willing to pay their dues, those who have a never say die attitude and you and I are those leaders. People need services, they may not be willing to pay for luxury items but they have to pay for services, give them a service they need and give them a little more, a good attitude, and the willingness to stay late if need be. We are not going to pretend there are not any problems, we can’t do that by now it has affected us all, but we are not going to hang our head and give up either.

Every time we read that someone, somewhere has been laid off we are going to work a little harder, smile a little brighter for that customer and we are going to turn this problem around. Don’t tell me it can’t be done, because our parents and grand parents did it. Don’t tell me it is different now, because they were cold and hungry just like the rest of us, no it is not that different except maybe we have a little more to work with than they did. It is time to shut this sympathy party down, take a cold hard look at why we are in this mess and how we plan to get out of it. Don’t look to our government to bail us out we will be the ones bailing if this ship starts to sink, so get your life jackets on and lets fix this ship and sail on.