by Zig Ziglar
A letter to your congressman would have an impact. We know public opinion carries considerable weight. When Americans and American businessmen started boycotting French goods in protest of the manufacture and exportation of heroin from Marseilles, France, into the USA, an interesting thing happened. The French managed to find and destroy more heroin-producing labs in six months than in the preceding ten years.
I’m concerned about the laws that require any American to join any organization to get a job. Theoretically, these laws were passed for the benefit of the working man. It hasn’t worked that way, however, because the states that have the right-to-work laws have a lower rate of unemployment than those with “closed shop” laws.
I’m concerned about crime, forced busing, the increase in juvenile delinquency, the rising rate of crime among women, the ever-increasing use of drugs, alcohol, gambling, pornography, and a hundred and one other problems, but I’m convinced there’s a solution to these problems.
I’m especially concerned that American youth are not being sold on the American free enterprise system. According to the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Princeton Research Institute, 76% of our high school students do not believe a business needs a profit, and nearly 50% of them cannot give you even one advantage that capitalism has over socialism. Sixty-three percent of American high school students feel the Federal Government should own the banks, railroads, and steel companies. Sixty-two percent do not believe a worker should produce to the best of his ability, which is another form of dishonesty. These things are frightening, but don’t blame the kids. It’s our fault. We write the books, build the schools and pay the educators, and own the radio stations as well as the newspapers and magazines. It is up to us to teach our sons and daughters the advantages of the free enterprise system.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Fortunately, the timing has never been better because Americans are beginning to accentuate the positive. From coast to coast and border to border the evidence is overwhelming that concerned Americans are standing up to be counted, sounding off to be heard, studying to be informed, and working to make long-needed changes. In the past two years, I have seen more dedicated men and women enter the field to fight corruption and crookedness than in the preceding ten years. That’s encouraging.
I’ve also seen young people by the score do an abrupt about face. The recession and job shortage caused many to realize that demanding impossible salaries and conditions from a prospective employer who was struggling for survival afforded them little hope for a job when they were competing with a dozen other youngsters who were better qualified for that job. More importantly, many of them now realize that, ultimately, those who do only what they please to do are seldom pleased with what they do. That, too, is encouraging.
It’s also encouraging to hear more and more of the liberal, big government advocates publicly acknowledging that more government spending and involvement is not the answer, that self-reliance is the order of the day, and the individual is responsible for his own conduct and personal well-being.
The solution, however, is covered in the last four sentences of the speech President Kennedy was to have made in Dallas, Texas, the day he was assassinated:
We, in this country, in this generation, are by destiny, rather than by choice, the watchmen of the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of the power and the responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, that we may achieve in our time and for all times the ancient vision of peace on earth, good will toward men. That must always be our goal and the righteousness of our call must always underlie our strength, for as it was written long ago, “except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen waketh but in vain.”
That’s the foundation upon which this country was built. That is where we must return, because, as William Pitt said, “If God does not rule the affairs of man then tyrants will.” Fortunately, God-fearing men and women are getting back into the political arena. Equally exciting is the fact that Boy Scouts are teaching kids to trust in God and organizations such as Promise Keepers, Women of Faith, The American Family Association, and Focus on the Family are teaching and fighting for ethical, moral, and religious freedom in our society.
We need to stand straight and firm on law enforcement. We’ve leaned over backward in our zeal for fairness to protect the accused. Now, in fairness to criminal and victim alike, we must look to the rights of both and make the criminal, instead of the victim, pay for the crime.
Another way to solve America’s problems is to become politically active. Each one of us must stop saying, “those politicians.” It is not “That Congressman,” “That Senator” or “That Mayor.” We must properly identify them as “My Congressman,” “My Senator,” “My Mayor,” because we (that’s you and I) did elect them—by our support or by our lack of support. Interested in helping America? Did you vote and/or support qualified, God-fearing candidates in the last election? It only takes 150 dedicated people committed to a cause to round up enough people to elect a congressman. Even though public officials pass the laws, citizens—like you and I—elect the people who pass the laws.
One thing all of us can do, and even must do, is sell the beauty and sanctity of the family as a unit. Historically, eighty-eight civilizations have risen to a dominant position in world history. Some rose quickly, some rose slowly, but without exception, they all fell in one generation and each one fell after the family unit was destroyed. In every case the pattern was the same, a relaxing of moral standards which led to pornography followed by promiscuity, adultery, wife-swapping, and, finally, homosexuality. Surely America, if properly alerted, can learn from the eighty-eight examples that preceded us.
HANDS OFF, UNCLE SAM
As voters, we need to become personally involved and elect officials who dedicate themselves to getting and keeping the government out of business and encourage more business people to get into government. One look at the Post Office, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and countless other government programs will convince anyone that despite the efforts of tens of thousands of dedicated government employees who have devoted a lifetime to conscientiously serving America and the general public, the government simply doesn’t know how to run a business.
The need for more direction and encouragement in business principles is painfully evident when we view the rising cost of government and its comparative inefficiencies. For example, the Exxon Corporation can ship a gallon of gasoline from Houston, Texas, to New York City faster and cheaper than the Post Office can send a letter from Dallas to Ft. Worth, and pay substantial taxes on the profit. Incidentally, the government can only provide as many services (like the postal service and others) as productive people and profitable businesses can support.
The December 1975, Readers Digest tells a similar story. In 1915 you could make a telephone call from New York to San Francisco for $20, or you could mail 1,000 first class letters from New York to San Francisco. In 1974, you could call after 9:00 P.M., New York to San Francisco, for sixty-five cents, or you could write five letters from New York to San Francisco for sixty-five cents. So the government broke up the telephone company. (Like the man says, the post office is not something you’d write home about.) Or, of even more concern is a survey that shows the rate of productivity per man hour in government is 39% below the average productivity level of the private sector. Thirty-nine percent! No wonder our national budget (with rare exceptions) runs into the red by the billions year after year.
PROGRESS REPORT
As concerned citizens, we need to showcase the progress instead of the problem. I don’t believe in hiding problems, but I believe the best way to solve a problem is to identify it. Then we need to remember that hope and encouragement are the major ingredients in the solution to any problem. Example: The racial problem. Everyone knows about the problem, but most do not know about the progress we are making toward solving it. The net result is despair that no solution exists
, which leads many people to quit working on solving the problem.
Fortunately, many concerned citizens, organizations, and churches are working on solving the racism problem. The most notable is Promise Keepers founded by former Colorado Coach Bill McCartney. Rallies held in football stadiums all over the country have attracted millions of men. The major theme is for the men to assume their responsibilities and love, honor, and support their wives and children. The second goal is for all men to work for the reconciliation of the races. I have personally seen hundreds of men of every race, creed, and color walking arm in arm to the front of the platform to commit themselves to follow through on this process and promise.
In 1975, Gentle Ben Williams, the all-Southeastern Conference middle guard for the Ole Miss Rebels, was elected Colonel Rebel by the student body. Gentle Ben is an African-American. Just 13 years earlier, James Meredith, another African-American, required the protection of Federal Marshals to attend the University of Mississippi. From “Kill the black man” to “Vote for Gentle Ben for Colonel Rebel” in just 13 years is tremendous progress. We’ve crossed a big barrier and every day more and more Americans are recognizing that the pigment in a man’s skin has nothing to do with the character, heart, and ability that lie inside.
African-Americans have made more progress in the last 40 years than any people in history. We need to remind our foreign and domestic critics that America has more African-American millionaires and more African-American people in college than the rest of the world combined. We have African-American senior officers in all the services, as well as cabinet members, senators, congressmen, and mayors of large cities, and the numbers increase daily. The number of African-American attorneys, accountants, college teachers, and other professionals almost doubled in one ten-year period spanning the sixties and seventies and the increase continued through the eighties and nineties.
The number of African-American university graduates has increased over 100%. Between 1968 and 1973, the number of African-Americans earning $15,000 per year almost tripled. In 1997, the average income of a young African-American couple was 86% as great as their white counterparts. Obviously, everything is still not equal for the African-American and other minorities, but the fastest way to make it equal is to emphasize the progress and work even harder at eliminating all racism. Now that the D.N.A. tests reported in the book One Blood reveal that we are truly all decendents of one woman—Eve—which God told us about 2000 years ago (Acts 17-26), I believe racism will substantially decline.
BE POSITIVE— ESPECIALLY ABOUT THE PROBLEMS
In 1974 and 1975, the prophets of doom were saying that inflation, recession, and unemployment spelled the end of America. Two years earlier, the same prophets were sounding the death knell because of the gasoline shortage. Five years earlier, riots on college campuses were going to destroy us. But they really had a field day on October 4, 1957, when the Russians put Sputnik in orbit. They told one and all, “The Russians are going to get all our secrets, reduce us to a second-rate power, and beat us to the moon.” History, however, has proven that Sputnik didn’t spell the end of America. In fact, the Russians aroused us from a sound sleep much like the Japanese did at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Despite their early start, we easily won the race.
The message: Since America declared independence in 1776, we have been periodically bombarded by the naysayers who have predicted that we were doomed. But Old Glory continues to fly over a free America.
I had no fear of Russian economic and technological strength. I did have fear about their dedication, ideology, and goals of world conquest. One example of how those qualities make a difference in personal performance is the personal story of Pat Matsdorf, the former world’s record holder in the high jump. He set the record in a dual meet with the Russians. Interestingly enough, just six weeks earlier he had been badly beaten at a college meet. Against the Russians, however, he jumped a full 51/2" higher than he had against college competition. A curious reporter asked Pat to explain the dramatic improvement in his performance. Pat looked down and pointed at the letters—USA—on his athletic jersey and said, “I’ve never represented anything this big before.” This kind of pride can be—must be—developed in millions of American young people and adults.
Through our problems and our triumphs we must keep our sense of humor. Let me urge you to open your history book to 1858 to look at a real problem. Not only was there a shortage of whale oil that year, but leading “whaleologists” the world over maintained that those dirty whales were not turning out the same quality whale oil they had in the past. The prophets of doom assured one and all the lamps would go dim, our children would grow up in an era of darkness, and education would be destroyed. Then someone discovered petroleum.
Between now and the time you read these words there could well be a dozen national emergencies and numbers of crises in your personal life. However, as Dr. Norman Vincent Peale often said, “The only people who do not have problems are those in the cemeteries.” (Then with a twinkle in his eye he would add, “and some of them really have problems.”) If you have problems, it simply means you are alive and the more problems you have the more alive you are. He even jokingly suggests that if you don’t have man-sized problems you should get on your knees and ask God to “trust” you with a few.
We also need to remember that some good comes out of every problem. Eleven thousand highway deaths were avoided because of the fuel shortage in 1974. Americans cut back on needless trips and drove more sensibly to maximize gas mileage. In addition, America got busy toward self-sufficiency in energy and produced more fuel efficient automobiles, which dramatically increased the miles per gallon. Incidentally, the character for crisis in Japanese is a combination of the characters for “disaster and opportunity.” The opportunities of America’s crises far outweigh the “disasters” caused by them, and America historically takes its “lemons” and makes “lemonade.”
RESOURCES VS. RESOURCEFULNESS
National dedication will enable us to utilize our greatest natural resource—our people—who will then develop our other resources, which America has in abundance. This includes the discovered and the undiscovered, the known and the unknown. I agree with Dr. Billy Ray Cox of Harding College, who says our major problem is not a lack of resources but lack of resourcefulness.
Our oil and gas reserves might be running low, but our hidden resources will more than take up the slack. Dr. Cox points out that just 300 years ago people were using coal as rocks. A century ago people viewed oil as the black curse, and eighty-five years ago there was no known use for uranium.
Unfortunately, we are not utilizing many of our known natural resources. One county in Wyoming has enough coal reserves to supply more energy than all the known oil and gas reserves in the entire country.
Yes, it does have a high sulphur content, but American technology is on the threshold of removing and utilizing that sulphur.
Solar heat and energy is being developed daily, and some experts feel that with a concerted effort this could provide a major part of our home and office heating supply in the near future. Tremendous potential also exists in the development of offshore drilling. The list of undeveloped resources is endless. I’m confident that American ingenuity will solve the energy problem as well as any other problem we are positive about solving.
WAVE THE FLAG—PROUDLY— WITHOUT APOLOGY
As Americans we must demand that our heroes and moral teaching be put back into the history books. According to the Thomas Jefferson Research Center, when America won its independence, religion, morals, values, and character development accounted for more than 90% of our educational thrust. By 1926 the figure was only 6% and today it is almost immeasurable. History proves that if we give our children heroes and moral principles to live up to, they will. We need to teach our children from early childhood about our heroes of yesteryear. We need to tell them the stories of America—its greatness and its goodness, because the spirit of America is caught as it�
��s taught.
We need to listen—and make certain the young people listen—to the immortal words of Patrick Henry. They come ringing down through the pages of history as he shook his fist in the face of King George III and spoke these immortal words, “Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains or slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” A feeling of pride and patriotism and a lump in the throat is the result. Corny. Sure is. But it is also love, and love of America breeds a willingness to build an even better America.
We need to hear John Paul Jones, with his ship listing and some of his guns out of order, as he answered the pride of the English Navy’s call to surrender. Outmanned, outgunned, and outmaneuvered, his indomitable spirit rose to the occasion as he answered, “I have not yet begun to fight.” He obviously hadn’t, because the battle immediately turned, an important victory was won, and America had a new and much-needed hero.
We need to put the words of Nathan Hale, the 21-year-old American patriot who was captured as a spy, back into the history books. Offered a life of luxury with a position of power and prestige if he would capitulate, Nathan Hale, without hesitation, stood tall and helped all of us stand taller as he wrote an important page in American history with his calm response, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”
We need to identify more closely with our national emblem, the bald eagle. The eagle is truly the symbol of America. Hatched on the lofty peaks amid the wind and the elements, the young eagle is taught to fend for itself at an early age. When the time comes for him to try his wings, mama eagle literally pushes him off the cliffside and he is compelled to fly.