If you’ve only known freedom, can you know the necessity of war? If you’ve lived with nothing but opportunities and refused to take them, can you know the horror of no job, no food, no home, and no possibility of anything changing? If you have education available all around you, can you know its importance? If you can attend your church, synagogue or mosque of choice, do you - can you appreciate the freedom of religion? Knowing none of these things, can you teach your children to love this country enough to be willing to die for it?

No, you can’t. No amount of reading, watching television or reading computer blogs can give a person the deep, heart-rending, soul-shaking love and responsibility for their country.

Today, even having a major attack on our own soil has not been enough to raise the pride and love of America above the bile of hatred taught to our children. The most vicious assaults on our country come from within her own borders by the very people who have suckled at her breast, who have reveled in her riches and who have derived the most worldly pleasures from her generous nature.

The wealthy revile her and work for her downfall. The masses listen to the vile words spewing from every source and applaud the filth heaped on America’s head and they repeat all they’ve learned to their children and grandchildren.

If sanity tries to prevail from any source, the speaker is labeled and effectively tossed aside unheard and unheeded.

Until Americans can no longer buy a loaf of bread, afford a luxury home, or even a bicycle to transport them; until they can no longer buy the latest technical toy; until they must be satisfied to own even one set of clothing, the pride will not return.

Until Americans get out of their comfort area and visit the real horror spots of the world, they will never appreciate what they have in this greatest of countries.

Until they look around themselves and see the massive number of opportunities instead of whining because they don’t have the willingness to work, they will never know how fortunate they are.

Sadly, until Americans are cast into a war on American soil, they will not appreciate the job our military does when they keep it off our shores.

Learning to appreciate anew what America stands for and then sharing it with our children should become a full-time job for every citizen of this country.