“I
pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the
Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all.”
How did we get to the where we are
in America? How did we become so angry,
aggravated, and intolerant of each other? When did we dismiss “one Nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL?” I don’t know when it happened, but I can tell you
that I don’t like the fact that so many people have forgotten it.
I believe in my own 80/20
rule. I think 80% of us from every
different category you can imagine can get along and at the very least, be
respectful of each other. However, I believe
that 20% of every categorical group is going to hate everybody that is not like
them until the end of the time. The real
problem is that the 20% of each group is usually louder than the 80% of us that
can respect others, even when we may not agree with them. On 9/11/2001, America was attacked by a force
of evil. Immediately after that, we were
united as one nation under God.
Everybody was proud to be an American, proud to live in the United
States and was genuinely concerned about each other. When you look around at the dissension that
goes on daily now, our unity seems like a million years ago.
As school starts back each year, I
always remember the teachers that were dedicated to giving me the education
that I needed to get through life. I
didn’t always like some of the work it took to get through school, but I
respected the fact that it was what was best for me. Our education system in the United States is
falling apart in a lot of areas. I
believe that much of the reason for educational deterioration is that many kids
are no longer taught to be respectful.
When a child is growing up in an environment that does not teach them to
be determined and committed to their education, they are probably not going to
care. That is another problem that I see
with society today, many people do not consider the best decisions they can
make for their future. They only
consider what they need to do today, just to get by.
I was
blessed with a wonderful mother and father.
They gave me direction, taught me to be respectful and gave me rules to
live by. Not one time in my life did I
ever hear my parents support something only for political reasons. They made decisions based on what they
thought was right. Because at the end of our life, when the decisions we made truly
matter, there will only be one way we are going to be saved. And I hate to hurt
anyone’s feelings, but I can assure you, being saved will not have anything to
do with a political party.
I grew
up on a small, private dirt road named Boyd Brafford Dr, after my grandfather. Down that road we were free to play, ride
bikes, visit grandparents, and not worry about many of the evils that the world
faces today. We walked about a quarter
of a mile to the bus stop all of our lives by ourselves and we never had one
issue. That will always be home to
me. Every time I ride down that road, I
think about so many wonderful memories and how grateful I am for my childhood. But I also remember the lessons I was taught about
respect, appreciation, and honor. Long
before a song made it famous, I was taught that no matter what, always be
humble and kind.
Today marks
18 years since Deddy passed away.
Ironically, we are having one of the strongest hurricanes that we have
had in many years. There is an old
Chinese proverb that says, “When the roots are deep, there is no reason to fear
the wind.” I think as Florence passes
through and damages start to be assessed, we’ll all see the good in people come
to fruition. Family, friends, neighbors and strangers
will come to the aid of others in need.
Lives will be saved, trees will be cut from houses and roads, linemen
and emergency crews will work incredibly long hours for weeks and most of all,
compassion will prevail over strife. It’s
a shame that society often needs a tragedy to remind all of us of how much we
need each other. I think we can all
agree that if the world we live in today would put forth more effort into
helping one another and less effort into finding reasons to hate each other, it
would be better for everyone. I
think there are a lot of lessons that need to be learned in the world today,
but we have to be willing to listen to one another in a reasonable way. One of the most significant reasons I miss my
father so much is that he was always was a voice of reason. He was the one person I could always turn to
during a difficult time. As I have
gotten older, I have grown to appreciate that even more. No matter where I go in this world, home
always leads me back to Boyd Brafford Dr.
I wish
all of you the very best as Hurricane Florence rips through North
Carolina. I pray that all of you stay
safe over the next several days. As
always, we will get through this together and I am certain that compassion and empathy
will prevail, and that is an America that we can all be proud of. #Keepthefaith #BraffordStrong #Krobsworld #Robbiebrafford
