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Trying Times Peter Leonard

hese are the times which test the governance, while many still hold on to the heart. Our country is facing many overriding will of Providence and the desire evils. From civil unrest of unique for over security, that Tproportions with motivations that confuse should be but a referee, and not a player— many, to a virus that has revealed, as the an enforcer of , not outcome. As a removal of moss which uncloaks rotting 20-year-old, I was born shortly before one wood, the divisions that our country has of our greatest national tragedies, 9/11, been subject to. These divisions go to the and reached adolescence during the 2008 depths of human motivation, and they show financial crises and Great Recession. Now, clearly that some Americans now profess the on the verge of adulthood, I see throughout tenets of and its consequences for the country the effects of COVID-19 upon The JOURNAL of The INSTITUTE

our health, our government, and the souls down, forcing literally millions out of work of the people. These can be scary and many into poverty and unemployment. times. They have forced me to seriously The Federal government, out of thin air, consider my future and my role as an adult then produced trillions of dollars in relief American in our local and national politics. for businesses and individuals, expanding I have had to come to grips with the nature our collective dependence on DC, and of life on this planet, realizing now that, as further borrowing from my future. Already General MacArthur once said, “There is no more than $21 trillion in debt, two or three security on this earth, only opportunity.” trillion more seemed a pittance. At first glance, and rightly so, the Many local , disregarding future may seem bleak. There are whispers any trust in individuals to take care of about the growing movement of neo- themselves, even issued curfews at the start Marxism and “democratic” in the of the pandemic. Like wielding a chainsaw country—philosophies that affirm values when a scalpel was needed, government contrary to the principles of the Founders. responded to a legitimate emergency by Far Left Progressives, motivated by the curtailing the of the people. central idea of humanism, deny even the The events that have occurred over the idea of God, thereby debasing the entire last several months have proven confusing system of government which we possess— and frustrating. In many ways, I have been the affirmation that our rights are Creator- disappointed by my government and by my endowed. This creates a landscape for a fellow citizens, and I think we all feel this more general and confrontational push way for different . In particular, for the economic system of socialism and the virus has exposed our minds and the equal sharing of misery and, inevitably, motivations, and we must now find a way the even greater expansion of a national forward. government that will, as it always has, lead Processing this new environment to the continued degradation of individual has been challenging. Forced from the and state rights. comfortable illusion of security, I now I see the scenario of versus the understand that the world in which we live false promise of security playing out in the can quickly be thrown into total confusion COVID response. There is the ongoing bordering on chaos. Accepting this, the of mask mandates and whether they in-fighting, and the turmoil, I have come are efficient in preventing the spread of the to develop my own perspectives that I fall virus. It seems that government, before back onto when the pressures of the world empirical evidence of efficacy, quickly issued start to close in, and the future seems to rules governing personal conduct regardless have little hope. I recall certain figures in of the circumstances, health implications history who exemplified the qualities that on individuals, or the wishes of private see people through even the most terrifying citizens and businesses. At the outset of the realities of human existence—qualities like pandemic, businesses were unilaterally shut courage, integrity, and bravery. The JOURNAL of The

We must always remember that the countrymen—but because certain men future has always looked bleak to those who and women, despite their circumstances, are living in the present. I look to George despite their misfortune, have struggled , the man who held the cause onward, seeking excellence and service in of our founding together, and the agony of all that they did. They prepared themselves, the defeats he endured at the hands of the sometimes without knowing, for the future British Empire. With his rag-tag group of service to which they were called. Ulysses colonist soldiers, the future seemed always Grant never knew that he would go from to be balanced on the edge of a razor. The commanding a regiment to commanding Union cause in the Civil War was darkened the entire Union Army. by numerous defeats at the hand of General and his were perpetually on the Lee and his Army of Northern . verge of defeat but they stuck it out, they Until General Grant took command of fought bitterly, and they never gave in. Union forces, securing the western theatre, To my generation, to those who are victory for the must have seemed likeminded, I say this: we must possess that to be a hopeful dream. When American same mindset. We must hold the truths that marines, in flat-bottom boats, bounced are self-evident in our hearts, even when through the waters of the English Channel everyone else says that they are antiquated; approaching certain death, charged through we must keep the wise words of our air hazy with bullets, climbed the bluffs Founding Fathers alive in our hearts, even of Normandy, and began the invasion of when they are decried for their faults; we France, their victory against must must maintain in our actions and aspirations have seemed a long way off. the American Dream because one day, in a Throughout the storms of history, year, five years, or 25, we may be called to each individual--not just those who service. If we are not discouraged, if we are have risen to the heights of -- not beaten down, if we look forward with mustered the moral courage to endure and strength, if we strive onward with courage, succeed. Even when the future seemed its we will be prepared to serve our nation—a most bleak, courageous men and women cause greater than ourselves. These trying throughout our history accepted the hand times are a classroom, they are a knocking they were dealt, did the best they could on the door, a warning that we must heed. with what they had, and persevered. Our Our hearts are being tested, and we must Republic has endured tragedies, disasters, not let ourselves be broken. We must and wars, yet we have consistently strived become stronger. for a better tomorrow. We persevere, not Peter Leonard is a student at State because we have always been united under University, where he is majoring in German one cause—after all, only three percent of and Russian. He serves as a policy intern at colonists fought the British, and the Civil the James Madison Institute. War was fought by countrymen against