The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By: Mitch Worley, Quill Reporter
July 9, 2008
The Fourth of July gave me a lot of time to sift through my personal happenings and get back into the swing of managing the whirlwind of beautiful chaos my life has been the last year or two. I guess I didn't give much thought on what to challenge you, the reader with, or what to challenge myself with for the upcoming week, but I think this will suffice.
I don't really brag or boast in a serious manner about things because if someone can't realize your good at something without saying anything to you about it, chances are you aren't as good as you thought you were at whatever you thought you were good at.
There is one thing I get complimented on quite frequently (if you consider this a compliment), and that is the fact every time I open my mouth to speak, something real is going to come out.
In many ways, I see myself like Charles Barkley. We're both portly gents, we like to make people laugh, we're loud, and we call it exactly as we see it.
That doesn't mean that people who are outspoken are right all the time, or even on a consistent basis, but at least you know that what you're hearing and seeing from that person is as real as it gets.
A great number of people in certain circumstances will say and do one thing around certain people or in a particular instance, but later on be the complete opposite to appease a different group of people.
The most glaring example to me was with the tragedy of 9/11.
People seemed to band together to fight terrorism and fly flags and show our patriotism, but when the dust settled, very few continue their avid support of this nation and take the time to demonstrate on a regular basis what it means to be an American.
That's my major shortcoming with being real all of the time.
I'm swift to celebrate our great nation on the occasions that call for it, but daily I neglect to remember the sacrifices made for my freedom and what it takes to get this country back to the days when it ran like a well-oiled machine and was revered by the whole world.
Countries that abhor us and want to see us fall relish in the fact that we don't always stand as united as we claim we do, waiting for us to become vulnerable once again and forget all about what we do have that they want to have but can't.
Let's band together again. If you don't support what's going on in the Middle East, at least support the troops as they do the job they voluntarily enlisted to do and obey commands from the elected officials we put in place to make the decisions on what would be wrong or right to do in the situations we are currently facing.
My fellow Americans, put up or shut up before someone moves in and does it for us.