Rene Torres is a retired assistant professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. He has a long history in the Rio Grande Valley as an educator, sports historian, and humanitarian, marked by extensive community service.
In 1918, Arthur Train wrote the novel, “The Earthquake.” A Wall Street trader and writer who traveled worldwide, he returned to the United States with a life-altering realization: America needed an “Awakening.”
Today, our political leaders disagree on what America should look like. This country is experiencing an “Earthquake,” not a physical disaster, but a massive social, political, and personal disruption caused by politicians and war.
The conflict, then, asked American Society to shake off its complacency, reorder its priorities, and upend its daily routine. “For the sake of unity.” It is a message from the past we certainly should listen to today.
The novel was telling us what we should be saying today: “Wake up, America,” making an emotional appeal to the public to rally behind and join the national call to find common ground without protest.
The plea today is to use a commonsense approach to solve our problems. But no one-size-fits-all definition of common sense exists, and that’s the problem.
Arthur Train did not want to “Make America Great Again.” Instead, he wrote, “What we call democracy or the American way is more important than any one man or political party.”
But some in this country believe the “government” should provide for all your needs in life. This is not the time or the place for freebies, especially when our debt is approximately $40 trillion and counting.
On a side note, the “U.S. Government Free Cheese Program” officially began in 1981 under President Ronald Reagan. Today, socialists are promising to give you more than cheese. Is this what this country wants, “Free Cheese?” As the commercial says, “You must earn it!”
“Despite all its flaws, America is still the greatest country in the world,” said Train.
