Over the course of my life, I have run 12 marathons. Each was different, hard, and good. Each required training. Each made me walk backward up staircases for a week, calves on fire, from a different planet. But I was glad for each. They taught me to enjoy what is hard and never give up.
Some days, I awake, look at the world, and it seems like another marathon. Happy as I am that our national leaders are taking steps in the right direction, and on pace for change, we have miles to go.
Internationally, we have wars to end and potential wars to avert. We have new, technically savvy adversaries, and allies who do not seem to appreciate history, deterrence, and our role in both.
Nationally, we have – where do we begin? – a desperate need to restore trust in government, after so much miscarriage, misuse, and abuse of power, misapplication of laws for political gain, public corruption, attempts to suppress rights from speech, worship, and self-defense to the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendment guarantees of safety in our own homes, due process, equal protection, fair trial.
In the realm of public safety, we have suffered so much disinformation one wonders if we can ever feel confident again, safe in a world where illegal aliens, felons, and drug traffickers poured over our borders like spring flood waters over the local dam.
Where things get personal, in towns and families, we have witnessed betrayal, an unthinkable rise in drug trafficking, addiction, and overdoses, all creating radiating circles of pain. Sitting with families who have lost children, there are no words. With kids fighting fentanyl, the climb out is steep.
On basic day-to-day issues, the costs of housing, heat if you own a home, prescriptions, food, the commute, interest on credit cards, and even the cost of eggs have leaped so high it is hard to imagine.
We have seen abuse at the top of government agencies, Justice, FBI and FISA, State, USAID, Defense, Treasury, IRS, HHS, EPA … and closer to home in state government. It is hard to find an agency free of abuse. Even FBI statistics were gamed by Democrat states to help politicians.
On cultural distortion, we have seen avowed Marxists and class warfare pushers grab causes and run, spinning up the young, getting in our schools, justifying hate, jealousy, envy, abandonment of learning, science, and faith in favor of blame, excuse, entitlement, and irresponsibility.
We see culture warriors pushing nonsense better described as evil, catering to kids’ worst instincts, pretending they can redefine their own sex, and even taking kids away from parents to operate on them.
We see truth boldly presented untrue, untruth as true, life’s value disparaged, young spirits broken and demoralized, as we watched our leaders lie, take money from foreign countries, trade stocks on inside knowledge, then give pardons to friends and family for crimes without limit.
We have seen our Constitution misunderstood, and intentionally undermined, and the Supreme Court, respect for the law’s limits, law enforcement officers, religious leaders, and families kicked to the side.
All this we have endured – and more. Instead of teaching kids to focus, set goals, achieve, and feel accomplishment based on knowing skills, how to think critically, separate assumptions from facts, and use their moral compass – which reinforces self-respect – those in charge have done the reverse.
As a result, we watch kids struggle, their focus slips and distractions grow until swallowing their ability to concentrate and learn what needs learning. Rather than confidence and calm learned by doing hard things, and problem-solving, they are racked – especially girls – by anxiety, and hysteria created by adults.
Rather than teaching logic, rational thinking, and hard skills, the trades, math, science, reading, writing, and patience to run life’s marathon with heart, grownups often default to irresponsibility. They model fear, overemotionalism, excuses, crazy spending, taxing, blaming, and hysteria.
That is not leadership, not how you train kids to run life’s marathon, and not how we run it well. We need to teach them – ourselves again – that what is hard is good. Work is good, service is good, faith is good, and learning is good. America and our American Dream are good, not an accident. Marathons can be hard, but they are also good. They teach us to enjoy what is hard, and never give up.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).
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