Letter to the Editor: America’s less fortunate not cause of national problems

I grew up believing in the idea of America. I did not know at the time but now I think I understand. My views were shaped by the optimism of post World War II, the cold war anxieties, the struggle of civil rights, and the idea of the American dream. 

I remember Sputnik while in grammar school and how the adults seemed very worried that we could possibly be destroyed by evil people. This led to the space race with the Soviet Union. I remember the Cuban Missile crisis, blinking, and the assassination of President Kennedy. 

I volunteered to serve in Vietnam because I believed it was my duty as an American. I remember the evening Martin Luther King was killed and a prophet died. I remember experiencing the consequences of Presidential decisions that killed by buddies and questioning why our President would make a decision that would harm us. 

I remember hot pants and almost breaking my neck looking when a young girl walked up the ramp, in hot pants, at the terminal in Atlanta in 1969. 

As I look back, America still is a land of opportunity, but it is also filled with many contradictions. I have witnessed the ideas of freedom, innovation, and prosperity. I have also witnessed our national struggles with war, inequality and political corruption. I can understand the differing views of the idea of American greatness and our corruption. 

We are a good people. All people can at times be enticed by evil. Let us be vigilant and guard against those that would have us believe those less fortunate are the cause of our anxiety. The idea of America is too precious to the dignity and respect of the individual to sacrifice to the whims of another person.

Rick Neighbors
Phil Campbell, Ala.