 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
|
Newspaper: Saturday Evening Post Date: September '79 Page 38 Headline: The Good Things: Duke on America Subtitle: The man whose patriotism never faltered found it easy to laud the nation he loved, and which loved him in return. Photography by David Sutton By John Wayne It's no real chore for me to write about "The Good Things" of America, although I wondered by quite a while as to why it was so hard to start. Then, it came to me loud and clear. There are so many good things about America, I found myself trying to eliminate hundreds of them that I might at least not write a book on the subject. It was then that I decided to dwell upon facets of America that in each case cover a sea of individual "Good Things." Therefore, I suppose that my number one topic should be my job. It's the one thing that takes up most of my time. It's something I'm grateful for because it's a job I love to do. If any youngster should ask me for advice on that subject, I'd have to tell him that he must find out what he really wants to do with his life. Take a long hard look and make darn sure that it's what you really, really want. Then jump in feet first and give it all you have. The chances are you'll succeed, for success is not measured in your wealth but in your worth. A person who is eager to go to his job every day is a happy man, and that's success. The major factor is our free-enterprise system. Under that system you are free to pursue whatever career suits you and you have 50 states to find it in. Yes, a "Good Thing" in our country is that right to decide what you want to do with your life and where you want to do it. Free enterprise means "do your own thing." and if you really put your heart and soul in it, you'll have a pretty fair shot at the good life. In many parts of the world, even though you may be a national of a particular country, you have to have visas to travel in your own nation. One of our "Good Things" lies in the fact that although we solidly back states' rights in America, every citizen can be as much at home in one state as he can be in any other. A Texan can't get by pretending that he's from New York but he can live there with the same total right any New Yorker has. A Minnesotan doesn't speak with a Mississippi drawl, be he can move to Tupelo and not create a single wave. Our country thrives on change. In nature nothing is permanent. So it stands to reason that as laws change, ideologies and mores change so that society changes and that is good. When America moves slowly to a change of long duration, that change has to be for the good of the majority. It is isn't we just rare up and next time Election Day rolls around and we want to alter that situation, our representatives start paying attention. No guns or bombs or Army coups. Just the biggest and best weapon of them all, our right to vote. X's on paper. The ballot box, a "Good Thing." Let's take a look at our religious beliefs. While the majority of American embrace Christianity, every religion of the word has found its way to our shores. Certainly we have out share of fanatics but the preponderance of Americans have a deep-rooted respect for the beliefs of their fellow man. After, was not one of our Founding Fathers' prime considerations freedom from persecution and freedom of religion? Here all the world's religions have gathered under the vast canopy of America's skies to live and to let live in harmony. In my opinion that's a might "Good Thing." Under the umbrella of all these "Good Things" an American can live an exciting and full life. You may vote for whom you want, pray to whatever deity pleases you, work at whatever trade or profession you really desire and live in a country that afford you every type of terrain in the world. Day after Day in America, people enjoy the good life. It's solid and it's real. There's so much her it's easy to take it for granted and to become alarmed at the headlines that shout our disasters in bold print. Just remember that the bad news makes up less than 2 percent of our nation's activities. The 98 percent-a man towing a stranger's car to a garage, a neighbor caring for a sick child or a minister making a call to a dying parishioner in a driving rain-doesn't make the headlines because it won't help sell papers. But "Good Things," we have them, here in America. |
|
| Duke's Corner | John's Scrapbook | Dear John Letters | Homepage |