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They say that John Glenn, from right down the road from me, is "The last Great American Hero". I usually don't agree with what 'they' say, but in this case I agree.Admittedly, I am somewhat biased, having grown up in an age when he as literally a 'Living Legend'. But the title fits this time.
It's the meaning of that term that is really a statement.I think people see John Glenn as a symbol of the time when America was a nation of 'go getters'. A lot of people say that we are now a nation of 'slackers'. I wouldn't go that far, because this country is still great! The meaning of saying it that way says this:
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country"!-JFK
Has now been inverted, turned around to mean 'I expect my country to do everything for me'.
Yes, The government should do a lot, but the courage to become a hero has been lost (except for valiant soldiers in the military and all). Somewhere between the time I was born-1963, which is also the year JFK was assassinated-and now, things have changed a lot.
I once had an elderly lady, probably born in the 1920's , tell me "Each generation gets weaker and wiser". Don't know who originally said that-maybe her-but it makes sense.
So whether it's technology, us ourselves not being as disciplined and committed, or whatever it is, we do seem both weaker and wiser. And you look at something like the Debt Clock, you look at things like our crumbling infrastructure, you look at how people are barely surviving, how most of the current generation won't make as much as their parents did, how automation is slowly replacing human labor, and how we are becoming a nation divided, and it seems gloomy.
Until you realize the USA is the greatest country in the history of Mankind, because we can fix and solve about anything!If we put our effort and will into it, everyone could be like John Glenn! Everyone can be an American hero!
So Godspeed John Glenn, and Godspeed to America.
