Tipping Point

By Tammy Derouin

As I feared, this year’s July 4^th celebration was difficult.  Last year I couldn’t shake a gut-wrenching feeling that life was about to drastically change.  I remember holding back tears as I watched the firework display and wondered how many more years we would celebrate our independence.   

The Declaration of Independence clearly describes tyranny, the reasons the colonists severed ties with an oppressive monarch.  If you haven’t read it lately, it’s worth revisiting.  The Revolutionary War was necessary to secure our independence.  Subsequent wars and acts of aggression against the American people would continue throughout our history.  Such encroachments were once confronted and challenged in our never ending battle to remain free and independent.  Our enemies were defeated so that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness would continue. 

Recent events, such as the hijacking of our press, accepting lies rather than demanding truth, the government’s desire to play “musical responsibilities” among the branches as they disregard the law of the land and placing individuals with less than honorable ambitions into the sacred offices of our government, are but a few prime examples of the continuous attempts by our enemies, foreign, domestic and government sympathizers, to chip away at our foundation. 

Their relentless attacks and our inability to see beyond the trappings of political correctness, have paved the path for the fundamental transformation of the American people and our country. We’ve allowed our enemy to fester and grow without care or concern.  We have failed to protect our freedoms.

The difficulty I had this year with the July 4^th celebration was that there weren’t any tears.  I was numb.  You know that feeling you get when someone you know and love has struggled with a long term disease or has suffered with sickness or with injuries to the point where recovery would be nothing short of a miracle? You go through the motions as you hope and pray that a miracle will take place. The reality of the situation is bleak.  You begin to hope for the best and plan for the worse.

As you plan, you slowly come to terms with the inevitable.  Your mind begins to prepare for the impending lose. Those who have watched the decline agree that the individual has endured so much suffering.  Eventually, there is a tipping point.  The individual, whether known or unknown to them, let’s go.  The battle is over.  We console each other by saying that the individual is now at peace.  The suffering has ended.    

When we lose a loved one, we use our faith to help us through the loss.  We believe the individual is in a much better place and those of us who are left behind are the ones who will now suffer and grieve following the loss of someone so dear. 

We have silently watched as our country has become weaker and weaker.  Some have recklessly attempted to pull us off life support.  Those who wish to destroy us have launched attack after attack at the heart and soul of our country.  Has our foundation been damaged beyond repair?  How many self-inflicted wounds will we allow?  When will it be easier to pull the plug rather than pull together?

Can you hear the powers that be make the same claims about the condition of our country?  I can almost hear the cries of those determined to launch the final blow.  They will call themselves Americans as they continue their attack.  They will claim that it’s time to end the suffering.  

Block by block, our foundation has been crumbling.  We’ve accepted our current state of impending collapse because we failed to see how serious it was to our survival each time we took another hit.  We chose to ignore and pretend it didn’t exist rather than fight and make necessary repairs.

Are we truly just going through the motions in an attempt to keep our spirits up?  Have we come to terms with the inevitable?  Have we begun to prepare for the impending lose?  There will be a tipping point.  The people will decide but will they realize the consequences of letting go?  The battle will be over but will we be at peace?  Will the suffering have ended or will it have only just begun? 

We will be haunted by the memories of everything we once had; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Will we understand that we discarded something we once held so dear?  Will we finally understand we once lived an exceptional life?  Are you praying for a miracle? 

“You Americans are so gullible.  No, you won’t accept communism outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.”

Nikita Khrushchev, to Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft.