How do you respond to a crisis?

One random bit I have been thinking about lately is how different people respond to crisis type events. It seems to me there are a few basic responses. From what I have observed in my life, there are some people that respond to a crisis with panic, some instantly seek shelter, some get angry, some stop and think, and some take action. I'm sure there are different reactions, and also there are most defiantly combinations of these reactions. I was thinking about these courses of response in regards to the current crisis in our nation. What first sparked the idea was reading a quote that Glenn Beck (I know some of you just shut off you brains) cited in his book Common Sense, from Samuel Adams. Yes that is a type of beer, no, that is not what I am referring to. Samuel Adams lived in the 1700's (to early 1800's) and is considered one of our country's founding fathers. Loosely quoted He said: For those of you who prefer the "tranquility of servitude" you must be prepared to "lick the hands which feed you." He followed with a statement of well wishing for the traitors saying; "May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." As you may be able to gather from his words, He was one of the predominate leaders in the movement that became known as the American Revolution. You may be asking yourself what this has to do with how we handle a crisis. Well Samuel Adams made me realize something, there is a large portion of people today, when faced with the crisis of our Nation, who are more than willing to accept the immediate solutions set forth by our officials no matter what the consequence of them may be. Some people are followers and other people are leaders. The followers tend to run to the loudest voice with the most immediate solution that promises comfort and security. There is not a great deal of debate, logic, or thought that goes into this process. Samuel Adams was correct about the danger this causes. We often end up giving away our freedoms in exchange for "security." We will receive life of tranquility so long as our master chooses for it to be that way.

Even the most uneducated people, in regards to our country's history, equate one thing with America: Freedom. So why is it that safety and security cost us freedom? Why can't we be free and secure? Everything in this life has a price. Newton thought he was only speaking of motion when he said "For every action there is a equal and opposite reaction." This third law of motion holds true not only in our physical world, but also in our social world. Our freedom was bought through war and sacrifice. It was not a road of peace, fluffy bunnies, and sing-a-longs. Freedom is a precious thing worthy of being defended to the very apex of what we can give. Individuals through history have sacrificed themselves for the good of their family, and their country. They have gone to war so that we all may live, advance, and prosper under freedom. Adam's understood this sacrifice, he lived and toiled and watched lives extinguished to buy our country, our children their freedom. One cannot blame him for disowning people who chose to turn their backs on this gift. They wanted to take the easy road, but an expensive price had already been paid for their benefit.

The antithesis of freedom is slavery. When one becomes a slave, they have a bed and food provided for them, their basic needs taken care of. Very basic. The master in power determines how good or bad that person's life will be. The master of our country is our government. Yes, I am telling you that wars and revolutions did not only buy our freedom from outside threats, but from our own government. Power will inevitably put shackles on it's followers. Lord Acton was correct when he said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." The more we depend on and, run to the government officials for protection and answers, the more we are relinquishing our power to them. The government was created to be the protector of our rights, but it has all gotten horribly out of control. Our basic rights are being protected at the cost of our freedoms. They tell us if you want this, we must have this, but it's alright! we will not abuse the power we have over you. Can you trust that? Can you trust another person with a bad track record to never abuse their power? Can you hand over everything dear in your life to another person? I don't think people realize anymore how precious and necessary freedom is. Some who have successfully shut off their logic can, when presented with a few temporary comforts, empty promises that cannot possibly be true when they come to fruition. The cost of freedom is struggle, the reward of freedom is life over flowing. The cost of security is slavery, the reward of slavery is a stagnant life.

In a free America many people experienced hardships. People come from all over the world and struggle to make it, struggle to pay their way through colleges, struggle to get their foot in the door, struggle to get their ideas brought to life. When their struggles are over, they all pay off ten fold. It doesn't matter what class you come from, what part of society you were born into, our dearly bought freedom extended to all. Some roads may be long, some may be short, but all have a road to travel. We all are allowed to move forward. We were rewarded for our persistence, for our unique ideas, for solving problems no one else could. As more and more people fall into promises for hand outs, for all our most basic needs being taken on by the government, they are slowly having their freedoms stripped away. What's worse is the very spirit that made America great is being crippled. When you reward people for mediocrity, when you put a cap on how high they can rise, people stop trying. They stop creating new and better ideas. When you take away a person's gains and spread it out across the board, when you say, We will provide all of your basic needs by taking your extravagance, you promote mediocrity and cripple the creative spirit. Motivation is extinguished and complacent people are born. Wait.... isn't that the whole idea? Complacent rats are much easier to rule. I shouldn't need to remind you, but we were not founded to support a big government. We were to have a bare bones government to protect our rights, but not to rule us. We were founded to rule the government.