Can a Lost Generation be Salvaged?

SUBTITLE: Public education in America is corrupting young minds; they are producing a generation of anti-American radicals. Something must be done, now.

In a recent article in the New York Daily News, a high school senior vents her frustrations and hatred for her country. The premise of this young woman’s distaste for America is based on her being asked to sing the National Anthem at her graduation; in the end she refused and will sing what she refers to as the black national anthem. I’ll not go into the usual hyperbole and rhetoric that you would rightly expect from a person that has been subjected to a dysfunctional education, for in fact, it is all there in the article.

What I did do was to respond to the editor, and forwarded a copy to the attention of the student at the school she attended; it read as follows.

John Milton once wrote “Deep versed in books, and shallow in himself”, or herself. “Why I wouldn’t sing the national anthem,” June 25 (2020). Liana Morales is a senior at Urban Assembly School for Performing Arts. Judging by her disdain and resentment for the American ethos, as discussed in her article, it is quite apparent she may know little, if anything, about the real history and the birth of America.

How a group of learned and courageous souls with a dream, set about to bring a new and original concept to fruition; a worthy and noble cause that, I believe, has transcended time and human folly. How these men forged exceptional and historic documents that laid the foundation of this nation, on bedrock of solid and immovable virtues of justice, fortitude, and perseverance. They set in motion a revolution in the cause of liberty and freedom against what was at the time the greatest military force on earth. Unlike the street rabble today that burns and devastates, and tears down, and destroys livelihoods and cities, these heroic men, “Pledged to each other (for the welfare of their countrymen) their lives, fortunes and sacred Honor”. 

The Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...”  The Declaration of Independence was created as an expression of what the Founders believed was a clear and forthright defense of the American mind, especially in the public square, and that liberty and freedom was its hallmark, “That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Constitution, “We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense...” was created to complement the Declaration of Independence, and has endured for centuries, and is revered the world over. People from every corner of the planet gravitate here to America, Ms. Morales, in the hope of landing on her teeming shores and finding new lives and a dream, “Promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of Liberty.”

Has Ms. Morales ever bothered to read these documents, and is she inquisitive at all, for she seems oblivious to their intent and what they mean and stand for. Ms. Morales, it would appear has little, if any, regard for the traditional values and institutions that have made this an exceptional nation. Sadly, she reads more like a cynical and embittered hardcore adult, part of the grievance industry, the usual group that finds fault with all things America, and they use their lack of self-worth and blaming systemic racism as an excuse for failure.
 
Ms. Morales is young and can be forgiven for not yet being acquainted with the many vicissitudes that can plague one's life. I’m talking here about reality, as it truly is, not something she heard from a friend or learned at home or school, without being introduced to other opinions; an exchange of ideas, not just one side of an issue. 

Now some may think me too harsh with Ms. Morales. However, as she goes through life she will have to be prepared to deal with adversity and some pain. There will be those who disagree with her opinions and beliefs, and she will have to adjust and maintain composure and deal with it in a mature manner.

America is indeed a land of opportunity and hope, where dreams can come true. Unlike other countries where people, especially children, live under brutal regimes and suffer interminable hardship and pain, deprived of basic human needs, food, freedom, and a good education. Be thankful for what you have, Ms. Morales, for you don’t yet realize how fortunate you are.

There are truths, absolute truths, but only one truth; individuals can, as in Ms. Morales case, react to it emotionally. In post-modern America, the progressive left tries to center the search for the “truth” on those emotions. When this is done, these measures and the process divest the truth of its universality and make it relative for each person. Thusly, you will arrive at moral relativism, where ethical truths depend on the individual or group holding them, in other words, “My Truth, Your Truth.”

Ms. Morales should be thankful that her homeland, yes, with all its faults and transgressions, is a place unlike any other in the world, giving her the opportunity to excel and continue to live in freedom and liberty, even though she may think for now that this freedom is not what she believes is adequate and consequential enough to satisfy her own interpretation.  

Although her thinking is disappointing, that she should harbor such animosity and bigotry, I do not blame Ms. Morales, as hers is a still a young and impressionable mind. You see, she is the product of sinister progressive leftist indoctrination. In a sense, she has been taught to hate America and people who look and think differently than she. Her young mind and possibly the minds of a generation have been inundated with lies and misinformation, all a manifestation of a corrupt radical and secular agenda, and an educational system that has warped and twisted their understanding.

I will conclude here with this message to Ms. Morales. There is a verse in a poem that reads:

Hopefully in the end, you will take the time,
to appreciate life, and make of it a time well spent,
and treat others with dignity and respect,
and face fear and adversity with courage and strength.