The Vision
December 7th will forever stand in (not infamy) but the light of a vision. What is that vision?
Social scientists call that special feeling of pride and patriotism that one has toward their country ethnocentrism. I will admit right from the start that I have that feeling but I sincerely believe the reason is quite different than that assigned to ethnocentric bias.
I was born American. I have traveled to many other countries and I always find myself more than smiling when back in the States and that customs agent says, “Welcome home.” I am proud of America. I know this young country has not always had it right. Indeed, we have many things in our past to feel ashamed of but then where is the world without some of them. Take for example the policy of “manifest destiny” and the near annihilation of the American Indian. Fast forward to America’s entry into either world war. For most, America’s role was significant in both wars and definitely contributed to preserving a democratic life style in much of Europe.
Countries are like people. As individuals we make many mistakes and suffer more than a few hardships along the way. However, when we look back, most of us discover that where we are we would not have been but for that event we think of as a mistake or hiccup along the way.
As a boy I heard stories from my family that encouraged loyalty to America. My father was decorated with a Purple Heart in WWII and I heard all about General Patton and the German General Rommel and how Patton outsmarted the Desert Fox and his 90 panzers. My Father would swell with pride as he shared stories like this. So by the time I was an adult I was truly indoctrinated in American greatness. However, when I went to college I learned things like why Stonewall Jackson was called stonewall—he shot deserters to stop them from running in the face of the enemy. My view of America began to change.
As my education continued I discovered many travesties and tragedies that befell others at the hands of America. Then when I became a lie-detection examiner I discovered just how many people were liars and thieves. By the time I was in my early thirties I had become quite jaded. Jaded about America and Americans. Fat, lazy, do as little as possible while seeking Peter principal leadership roles, rationalize their dishonesty and greed and worship it all away on Sunday.
One day in my own search for meaning I had a special experience. I have written about it elsewhere so suffice it to say that a spiritual wedge opened me enough to begin what has been my pursuit ever since.
The great philosophers speak of meaning. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? And so forth—these are all the basic questions of meaning that gives rise to our potential for what Maslow termed, self-actualization. Understanding that the questions are rarely answered but to live into the answers, I began to examine every aspect of my life as well as that of others. My shift from why the perpetrator commited the crime to why people are so easily influenced and manipulated set about years of study in the arts of mind control. I memorialized much of my work in my book, “Mind Programming.”
As my investigation proceeded, I discovered some literature that suggested America was a great experiment. Imagine this, some say America was planned a thousand years before Christ. Indeed, Manley Hall insists in his book, “The Secret Destiny of America,” that America exists for the purpose of spreading freedom.
Baird Spalding in his classical works, “The Life and teachings of the Masters of the Far East,” sets America apart as the “lighthouse” to the world of liberty and justice for all.
Like all of us, America may have committed errors and stumbled badly at times in the past, but it remains the vision of opportunity and freedom for the entire world. On this December 7th, as we remember Pearl Harbor and all that comes with those memories, as we honor our dead and injured and all who fell or suffered while protecting this great country, let us also remember the vision that is America and let us all do our parts to advance the integrity of that vision.
Thanks for the read,
Eldon
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