The Individual

“It matters not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”  - Patrick Henry

I will admit it.  I am more than a little pessimistic right now about our nation's future.  High unemployment rates, the value of the dollar being so low, high gas and food prices, liberties being taken every day, radical judges making activist type votes.  It all seems so unreal and, at times, can be depressing.

So what are we to do?  What can a single person do?  After all, we are just the average Joe that is experiencing the daily grind while the elitists rule over us.  I believe Patrick Henry understood something about life that few of us will ever grasp, and it is one of the most important lessons one will ever learn.  Beneath the surface of his famous words is a truth that the forces of darkness and the ones who seek your servitude never want you to grasp.  What is this great truth?  It is the individual who changes the world, not the masses.  Patrick Henry did not fall into the “we” trap, but recognized that it has always been and will always be individuals who change the world.

And I don't think that is just a lofty ideology.  If you think back over history, life-changing, history-changing, events always are started and/or finished by an individual.  In the bible, think about the stories tied to individuals like Moses, David, Joseph, Peter, Paul, Jesus, and the like.  They didn’t wait for the “we” to come along, but rather recognized that when giants showed up in the valleys of life; God was more than capable of killing them through courageous individuals who were willing to go where others trembled.

And if the bible isnt your thing, look at history and note people like Martin Luther King, Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, Ronald Reagan, and others.  Those men are men who helped shape this nation and give us the liberties we presently enjoy.  Those men didn’t wait for someone else to take the reins of life, but rather they stood up in a time where men of courage have to stand or die.  Some did die for the cause they deemed worthy of their lives, but in so doing, they inspired their generation into believing there are things in life bigger than self-preservation.

I think Patrick Henry’s words still have relevance today.  The only thing remaining at this point is what the individuals of our nation will do.  An individual is a lot like a match.  By itself, the match does very little.  But if the match allows itself to burn, the match (individual) can build into a small kindling fire, that lights the bigger branches on fire, that eventually can turn a forest into a roaring mass of energy that can be almost impossible to quench. 

Will you be that match? Do you believe in the power of the individual?