“This is a good country, with good people in it.” – John Wayne
In today’s world algorithms push information upon us that polarizes opinions and minimize other viewpoints. This can make us judgmental and angry and feel that we are right without considering the viewpoint of others. We forget that we live in a good country and that there are still good people in it. All of whom make mistakes.
Starting in the middle of the 20th Century, it became “popular” for people to show how smart they were by denigrating leaders and historical figures and pointing out all of their faults. Simple people and hypocrites decided that was evidence that we should dismiss what they said and did. Honest, thoughtful people with wisdom understand that everyone has faults but the amazing thing is not that great men had faults but that they accomplished great things despite their faults. That should give us all hope.
This is SabersEdge Discourse #013 – Posted on 05 August 2022.
There is an old saying that:
Anytime you point your finger at someone there are three times as many fingers pointing at you.
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This points out the truth that when we point our finger at someone it commonly means that the three fingers beneath the index finger are curled back in our direction. It is a caution to have humility when judging others. But that humility is gone today. People attack complete strangers because of a hat, a T-shirt, a careless word, a Fakebook post, a sign in their yard, or for their skin color all without knowing anything about the individual they are talking to. They force assumptions upon them without knowing their history or circumstances in the most judgmental of ways and then judge them for the very assumptions they are making about them. Further, history is dismissed and statues are torn down by people who are utterly ignorant of the history they are protesting. Some are so prideful in their stupidity that they have torn down statues of abolitionists who opposed slavery in their misplaced and ignorant zeal against the historical fact of slavery that was practiced in every continent and every age. Starting before history and continuing to the present day slavery has cursed our world. I have had contempt for these people who would attack helpless statues while doing absolutely nothing to free the helpless slaves that exist today.
This is the height of arrogance, foolishness, and pettiness. It utterly lacks the wisdom of caution that the above saying urges us to consider.
All in all people on both sides of each argument seem to be forgetting a basic truth. They are allowing themselves to harshly judge people who are uneducated as well as those who are educated in ignorance, those who are uniformed as well as those who are misinformed. They have spuriously forgotten the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. that one day we “would be judged by the content of our character rather than by the color of our skin.” But people of many communities seem to have decided that he didn’t mean them when he clearly meant everyone. To judge people who are biologically the same because of a millimeter of flesh that they are incased in is the height of arrogance, foolishness, and pettiness. It utterly lacks wisdom.
I wear crossed sabers with an “8” over it on my “cowboy” hat. I wear it with the right side folded up to not interfere with sitting in my rifle, and I have a feather in it. I do that because I served in the 8th Regiment of the US Cavalry, and it is a cavalry tradition going back to the early days of America. I had a woman make a very shallow judgment that I was a racist, based on just looking at my hat. Her reasoning, as she told friends, was “Its because of the crossed sabers. They used sabers back in the days of slavery, didn’t they?” They ate food back in the days of slavery, too. So, are all the people who eat food today racist? Are we going to ban food, horses, and hats? Such shallow, petty judgments and biases are the norm today, and it is easy to respond in anger to such foolishness and lack of wisdom.
But when we are tempted to give up on everything, we would all do well to take a moment and pause to remember the words of one of my boyhood heroes, John Wayne:
“This is a good country, with good people in it.”
And maybe we should listen to one of the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, as well, when we remember that these people aren’t everybody, and they aren’t even the norm. They are just the loud ones who speak before they think, so they seem like there are more of them than they really are.
That is why unscrupulous people can manipulate America and the people of the West for their power and profit by making them feel guilty. Based upon the moral foundations of the West they realize some of their own and their nation’s actions were wrong. Yet, though we have made mistakes, they tend to be the same mistakes that people all over the world have been making for thousands of years. Before we point our fingers and pass judgment we should remember the quote and be aware of the three fingers pointing back at us.
I think a good example of this attitude is in the John Wayne movie “The Horse Soldiers.” In it, he faces enemies without hate but with the resolute purpose and truth that marked his actual character as well as his on-screen character.
He is one of the few actors I have seen throw a punch and knock out a communist demonstrator who insulted America, and although he could not serve due to a back injury (this injury gave him his distinctive walk. I recognized it when someone said to me, “What, do you think your John Wayne walking with that swagger?” I stopped and went, “Oh! I never thought of that. I knew he had a back injury but until you said we walk the same I never connected it to his back pain. I walk like this because I am a disabled Veteran and I seriously injured my back when I was stationed in Germany. I am in pain all the time and it restricts my movement – often locking my upper body into a solid block. I guess that is why he walked like that too, he must have been in constant pain like I am.” The person shut up and slithered away.
As I said, it is the unthinking ones who are the loudest. They also put more effort into tearing things down than into building them up. I can only assume this is because they feel so very small and don’t feel they can improve, so instead, they try to tear everything down to their level.
John Wayne stood up for his beliefs on and off the screen. One of his sons served in Viet Nam and gave his life for this country. Like his father, who felt that if he could not join the ranks of the actors who fought in WWII like Jimmy Stewart, Audie Murphy, and others then he could fight it in Hollywood and keep up American Morale and stand for American ideals. And his characters did just that.. If you are unfamiliar with John Wayne try this movie for free on PlutoTV (if you like it there are many more that When I wanted my sons to learn what America used to be like instead of lecturing them with a “in my day” sermon, we sat down and watched Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, and others to show them American values. It seems to have worked, two of my sons served in Iraq and the one who is 15 years younger than the others worked security and now works customer service in a large Hotel Chain. Spend time with your kids to teach them what is right and what is wrong. Knowing that these came from different times or often were of historical events we had a standing rule that anyone could raise their hand and we would pause the show and they could ask a question about it and I would answer.
Here are the links for a couple of movies my kids really liked.
https://pluto.tv/stream-us/movies/the-horse-soldiers-1959-1-1
Although my oldest son really loved not only the story but the humor in this one:
https://tubitv.com/movies/302681/the-alamo
