Americans can benefit by staying informed
My grandfather Mike Kirby, who was born in Ireland, and I would hop on the Dudley streetcar early on Saturday mornings and head over to E. O’Byrne De Witt’s Irish news and record shop in Roxbury.
He would join a dozen or so Irish immigrants who discussed the news in the many Irish newspapers for a few hours before heading home. Since most of them also had relatives in England and Australia, they also kept up to date on major events in those countries.
I learned a lot from them.
They all had sons serving in the U.S. military and fighting overseas, so war news was always their first priority. My grandfather’s son Billy was a combat veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, my brother Steve was in Korea and my brother Dennis was in Vietnam during the war, so there was always a lot of world news for all of them to follow.
This was the case with many families. Our political and military leaders like Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, George Marshall, Harry S. Truman, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, President John F. Kennedy and John Glenn were universally respected. When they spoke, people throughout the world listened. Of course there were healthy differences of opinion about politics, but nothing like the petty bitterness we are witnessing today.
Americans, no matter their economic or social status, were far more informed than young adults today.
We often hear people say that our culture is changing radically, but I never hear anyone explain why. That’s because in today’s politically correct environment, government officials, academics and others are afraid to tell you the truth. They don’t want the political elites criticizing them. Even colleges and universities don’t want to rock the boat on moral and cultural issues for fear of being called “out of step.”
Here we are right in the middle of a national election and the presidential candidates aren’t even talking about the decline of America’s prestige and influence throughout the world. Have you heard any of them talk about the genocide of Christians, rape of young children, sex trafficking, the decline of American families and the drug crisis in our cities?
Informed and concerned Americans must get involved again. Like our immigrants years ago, we all need to be more involved in the civic life of America and we have to speak out on the many atrocious acts occurring throughout the world.
We can no longer sit back while America continues to decline and see a world in chaos. Let’s be more informed and more involved.