Keep on Keepin' On...

...Keep on Truckin', Keep the faith, Stand by your man, etc.
It's all about resilience.
The ability to withstand adversity to overcome the curveballs life throws at you.
We did that just last week.  For that reason, there was no column.
We observed the ten-year anniversary of a deliberate and unprovoked planned attack on the United States, and how forty people on board a hijacked jet airliner, in a display of unswerving patriotism, turned the tables on their captors and gave their lives so that others may be saved.
We now call it Patriot Day.
We don't close school.  It's not a national holiday.  To even request it to be designated as such would be just plain tacky.
Our forefathers put it on paper in Philadelphia.  It would be paid for in blood in many places over the years.  Especially in Pennsylvania.  Valley Forge, Brandywine, Germantown.  A couple centuries later, Shanksville would be added to the list.
Despite the root word, it's never been 'free'.  Nor will it ever be.
Americans have been called many things...fat, lazy, entitled, pick your own adjective.
Threaten our freedom and our way of life, and we'll show you just how fat, lazy and entitled we are...as we pick up our guns and fire a couple rounds of lead, tin and antimony into your sorry backside.
And despite how much we complain about the younger generation, many women and men still answer the call of our country.  They take the oath to 'preserve, protect and defend' the constitution of the United States.
Those who are willing to fight for those who can't. 
Usually when I hear about a young person's desire to enter into the armed forces, I often have a sit-down with them to find out why.
And I usually leave with a smile on my face.
Because while the benefits they offer these young people nowadays, it's more of an afterthought to them.
It's about a cause greater than they ever imagined.  One that requires discipline, duty, honor and courage to be successful.  The willingness to lay down one's life for someone you may not even care for.
Remember what Patriot Day is.
It celebrates the American Patriot.  Not just the ones who led the Revolutionary War, but countered the so-called 'revolutionaries' in 2001 who believed that their acts would bring America to its knees.
To paraphrase an Elton John song from the early 80s, "we're still standing".
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

NEXT WEEK:  Ain't it the Fall