Bob McCarty Writes

Life in these United States has changed a lot during the last half-century, especially when it comes to the idea of sacrifice and placing service to one’s country ahead of one’s own dreams, wishes and desires. It is my contention that Americans must be willing to change their ways — and I’m not talking about the Barack Obama definition of “change” — soon. Failure to do so is not an option.

I reached the conclusion above while writing two recent posts about food shortages and rationing*. My thoughts soon drifted to passages from my father’s 1992 autobiography, Some Events in One Life: Mine! In that self-published work, he painted an image of what life was like during the years prior to and during our country’s participation in World War II.

About the time before the war, my father wrote:

When I was working at the steel mill in Kansas City, I knew my draft notice would be coming up soon so I quit my job and went home (to Iowa) in early March of 1943.

My parents were still living on the farm. One son from a farm family could be deferred from entering service if he was needed to help on that farm.

Dad asked me, “Ted, do you want me to declare you essential to my farm work and try to get you a deferment?”

My answer was, “No. If my brothers can go into service, then I feel that I should go also. Besides, I want to do my part in the war. Dad, you really don’t need me.”

“No, I guess I can get along without you.”

The idea of possibly losing four boys in the fight must have been weighing on his mind.

About the time during the war, my father wrote this:

…any young man who was not in uniform was thought to be either a coward or an opportunist who wanted to stay home to make money at the expense of his peers who were fighting a war.

And this:

This war was the beginning of one of the greatest changes in the social life of an extremely-large number of Americans. It was especially drastic for young men and women.

Young men were uprooted from their normal lives. Young women joined the work force in order to supply the weapons, ammunition and other materials of war. The older generation was left without help to run their farms and businesses.

From a material standpoint, before this time, you could obtain almost anything you needed if you had the money. Now, nearly all items were severely rationed. Necessities, such as gasoline, tires, meat, sugar, cloth, etc., were hard to obtain. It was the largest war effort that had taken place in the world up to this date.

The war’s end also found emotions and lives deeply changed for the returning veterans. This was especially true for those seriously wounded.

Thankfully, my father and all three of his older brothers who served in uniform during World War II returned alive. More importantly, however, is the fact that the country survived — and it did so only because Americans were, collectively, willing to sacrifice.

If this country is to survive much longer, Americans must take action:

• We must unite against elements of radical Islam and realize that anything less might cost us a victory in the Global War on Terror;

• We must stop allowing what Dr. Arthur Robinson describes in Human Events as “the unprincipled actions of self-interested people in developed countries” to promulgate “the scientifically refuted myth of human-caused global warming.” To do otherwise stands akin to inviting global economic unrest in the form of food shortages, rationing and famines; and, finally,

• We must stop doing what we’ve always done when it comes to electing people to public office or we will continue to get the same sorry results we’ve gotten for decades.

*See recent posts on food shortages and rationing here and here.