America is a nation built for those who dare to forge their destiny
The following is an editorial by Armstrong Williams.
The curtain rises on New Year.
The drama that unfolds is in your hands. In America, you are captain of your fate, master of your soul. Here, success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.
Do not scapegoat. Do not fault-find. Do not point your finger at eons of history. Deal with life as it is in all its vicissitudes and coups de theatre. Do not be a summer soldier or sunshine patriot in pursuing a cause. Do not look on the government as your benefactor.
Put things in proper perspective. Our greatest challenge is diminishing injustice and making our actions and words respect every benevolent instinct of the human heart. Look on every day as an exciting opportunity to display kindness, acquire wisdom, and bring joy to others. Egotism and narcissism should be eschewed like the plague.
Horatio Alger stories are fact, not fiction. Anyone can reach the commanding heights in any walk of life. The playbook has been known from the beginning of time. Discipline. Reading, Writing. Teaching. Conversing. Modesty. Abstinence. That means repudiating juvenile drivels like TikTok, X, Facebook, or video games. That means scorning vices like promiscuity, drinking, smoking, vulgarities, fashion, gambling, card games, or night clubs.
Cerebral pleasures are in. Hormonal gratifications are out. An impoverished mind is the greatest poverty, the greatest handicap.
The metric that counts is not how much money you have. It is not how many fine clothes you wear. It is not how many fancy cars you drive. It is not how many bejeweled houses you own. On Judgment Day, all that will matter is whether you honored the Sermon on the Mount without exception.
Do not whine that you are being asked to sacrifice too much. Reflect on the greater sacrifices of our ancestors to enable us to live in relative luxury and freedom. The 56 signatories to the American Declaration of Independence signed their own death warrants. They knew if the revolution of 2.5 million colonists against the limitless resources of the British Empire failed, they would be hung as traitors. Would you have risked the same?
“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5.
America is a meritocracy. Immigrants from all over the world head for the United States to climb the latter to riches through skill, foresight, and industry. Half of Silicon Valley's startups have at least one foreign-born founder, and immigrants are twice as likely as native-born Americans to start new businesses. Elon Musk arrived in the United States with very little. His wealth has soared past a storybook $450 billion.
Never forget that the most sacred sepulcher is not where your bones are buried. It is, by example, dwelling in the hearts and minds of the living and those yet to be born to inspire them on great occasions to great achievements. Who remembers the ancient pharaohs and their opulent tombs?
As an American establishing a New Year's resolution and setting personal objectives, you may not appreciate your propitious circumstances. Do not squander that opportunity by idling on the couch or on the phone. You have only yourself to blame for failure.
___
Mr. Williams is Manager/Sole Owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the year.
www.armstrongwilliams.com | www.howardstirkholdings.com
Follow me on X: @arightside
Editor's Note: Sinclair Broadcast Group has a business relationship with Armstrong Williams, who is a political commentator and the owner of Howard Stirk Holdings.
