“Ambition is the lifeblood of a great nation. And right now, our nation is more ambitious than any other. There's no nation like our nation. Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers. The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts. The call of the next great adventure resounds from within our souls.”-President Donald J. Trump.
What makes a great American? What, for that matter, are the qualifications for being hailed a hero? We, as Americans, love to take notice of exceptionalism. I lived in China for several years, and the Chinese have their heroes the same as Americans do and, for that matter, all other nations. However, there is something different about American heroes that transcends all others. American heroism is largely based on our values and ideas. American heroism is rooted in individualism vs collectivism. Collectivism is when we will all work together and contribute so that the team as a whole is successful. Collectivism is largely based on Marxism, and the inherent result is that the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the government gets more powerful. Collectivism has heroes, but the heroes reflect the society as a whole, which seems altruistic at first but, upon closer inspection, starts to crumble.
Individualism states that though I might need some help, I can pull myself up by my bootstraps and be successful, and I can be successful in multiple areas and not just one specialized area. This brand of heroism straps on and adheres to qualities of courage, independence, know-how, confidence, and the expectation that, though times might be bad, we expect tomorrow to be better than today.
However, more than these qualities, American exceptionalism is grounded in the even deeper, more ardent truths of the Christian faith, freedom, and value of our families. These are the three braided cords that make the American hero so beloved and admired. The American hero often stands tall, though alone against tremendous adversity, and says to the mountain, “No, you move.”
Americans love our heroes. American heroes are larger than life. Sports heroes like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey Jr, Tom Brady, Emmitt Smith, and many more make us stand up and cheer as they triumphed in so many clutch plays and big games. We love to admire them. Everyone wished they could play like them. We love music and entertainment heroes such as Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington, Elvis Presley, Carrie Underwood, Mariah Carrey, and so many more. We love heroes such as Neil Armstrong, who first stood on the Lunar surface and declared, “That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.” We love Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who had a dream of equality for all. We love the inventors and industry leaders who built America, such as Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, John Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison. Our list includes Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington as great leaders who forged and saved the Union. Let us not forget heroes in the ministry who have shown us and taught us about the power and the Word of God. How many have had their lives changed because they listened to a sermon and came to an altar at a crusade by Billy Graham? How many gained an expectation that God is good because Oral Roberts told them? How many were healed and filled with the Spirit because of Kathryn Kuhlman?
Here in lies a simple truth bedded in the groundwork of America and just as real as the red of the stripes. Few nations of the world are founded on the principles of the Word of God. The Honor of God and obedience to His Word will set you apart from all nations of the world just as surely as two plus two will always equal four. The Word of God inspires certain characteristic traits in its observers ( not all; some will be the proverbial bad apple ), such as love, honesty, loyalty, bravery, hard work, patriotism, generosity, family, community, prosperity, and peace. Americans expect that we will be ok and that everything will turn out alright. We believe in our dreams and even more in our children.
When it comes down to it, the real American heroes are our fathers who worked long and hard and loved just the same. It’s the mothers who cared for and held the family together and inspired us to work hard and be kind. It’s the siblings who we laughed, joked, fought, and played with. It was the grandparents who toed the line, set the standards, and forged a legacy. Our heroes are the American soldiers who gave their last full measure of devotion. It’s the police officers and firefighters who have protected and saved our lives. True heroism belongs to the small-town pastors who have taught us the Word, have been there for us in tough times, and married us in good times. American exceptionalism belongs to the immigrants who traveled, suffered, and pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. It’s the first-time college students and the self-made millionaires that inspire us. It’s the farmers who work like no one else in the dead of the freezing winter to feed us. American heroes are the truck drivers who deliver our food and goods and the retail workers who deal with the rotten apples, bad attitudes, and obscene behavior. It’s the ironworkers, the mechanics, the oil driller, the salesman, the chefs, the news reporter, the waitress, and the barista, all who work hard and keep going strong, who make up the American hero.