I have a question to pose: What is wrong with America today? Why have we suddenly become weak of spirit and frail of mind? Why is the future so uncertain? Why are we afraid?

The greatest problem America faces today is not terrorism, crime, politicians, war, guns, hatred or famine; those are but mere trials and tribulations America must endure. I say it now and I say it loud that the greatest threat the American people face today is the American people themselves. They are their own worst enemies. The American people will be the death of all that they hold dear in their hearts. The people of this great nation will be the doom of the world.

The American people have lost something. They have lost what defines us as Americans. They lost what sets us apart from the rest of the world; they lost the American Dream. They have bastardized it, butchered it, and outright replaced it. The American Dream is no longer what it once was. We have lost something along the way.

We have lost the very thing that defines us as a nation. We have lost the American Dream. We lost what embodies us, defines us, and guides us. We lost the very thing that wills us to go on, to strive for greatness, to accept defeat, and to strive once again.

The dream is the very defining factor of our great nation. As long as the dream exists then the nation will strive. As long as the dream lies in the hearts of young and old, rich and poor, the nation will continue. The two great promises made to the people over 200 years ago was driven by a dream. That dream forged a great nation. That same dream divided and ultimately unified the same great nation.

It was not too long ago when the American Dream meant freedom, equality, promise (not only for the future but also the here and the now). Today that same dream that Washington, Lincoln, and Lee fought for means to have the biggest TV, the big Mercedes, and the big chair. The once proud dream that Martin Luther King Jr. had is no longer about the promises made, but the money made. Today the dream is about greed, corruption, bigotry, fear, and hopelessness. The dream that once defined the greatest country of all nations is now the destruction and ruin of that very same nation.

Somewhere along the way we dropped the torch that was passed to us. John F. Kennedy stated that “The torch had been passed to a new generation.” That generation the new torchbearers did not want, could not accept it, and inevitably left it behind. It was dropped, forgotten, and ignored. The burden was too great, in fact, for them. The “torch bearers” could not stand the heat or the light. The brightness blinded

the people, so they grew lazy and conveniences grew to the point where they felt the torch no longer needed to be carried.

The people of America grew greedy, replacing the dreams of yesterday with the dreams of wealth and power. No longer were the men of conviction (unless of course it brought them more power and money). No longer did we have true heroes.

For years people held war heroes, explorers, men and women with great conviction who served their country with great pride with no question of what was in it for them. Now we regard people as heroes who don’t even deserve to shine the shoes of the ones before. People regard the ability to throw a ball sixty or so yards, put one in a basket, or hit one out of a park as heroic feats. They are regarded as heroes, placed up on mantles, and revered as deities, all the while asking what’s in it for them.

America is afraid, Americans are anxious. We are scared, and pessimistic of the great unknown. The future is dark and murky. The future has perils and dangers unknown, terrors that are so inconceivable that I shudder at the mere thought of them. The darkness looms around us all, the future is waiting.

I, too, have an American Dream. My dream is the future. Not that it will come; it is inevitable that it will, but that I, along with all of America, will welcome it. That we will embrace it with our all, “with malice toward none,” and have a newfound dream. That dream will once again define the nation. The new dream will embody all that the heroes of the past fought and died for. The American spirit will soar higher than the heavens and encompass all the world.

The torch has been dropped, darkness surrounds it, and the bright burning flame it once had is now no brighter than a match. However, there sits the light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel. The passed torch waits in the darkness. It waits for me, it waits for you, and it waits for all of us. It waits to be found, picked up, and it waits for when it truly can light all the world. It waits for when we all as Americans can say that this “great experiment” called America is beyond any shadow of doubt the city upon a hill.