A concerning but very real and widespread phenomenon among Americans today, most especially among young people, is the idea that we are owed success and happiness no matter what. Modern psychology, woke ideology, and Communist propaganda all assure young people that they have no responsibility for their actions and should be praised whether they have earned it or not.
The Founding Fathers knew better, which is why they said that every human has the right to “the pursuit of happiness,” not happiness itself. And Jesse Owens, the great Olympic athlete who died on this day (March 31) more than four decades ago, also knew better. He warned that dreams do not come for free, one has to work for them. And he knew that very well, not only because he worked his way to the Olympics — a major feat for anyone — but also because he did so at a time when there was significant racism, both in America and abroad, against black men.
He reflected on the hypocrisy of Americans who condemned Hitler’s reported snub of gold medalist Owens only to practice racial discrimination in true Nazi style here at home: “When I came back, after all those stories about Hitler and his snub, I came back to my native country, and I could not ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. Now what's the difference?” Fellow black American athlete and Olympic medalist Mack Robinson was only able to get a job as a street sweeper and then lost that when the racist Pasadena mayor fired all black city workers. They won great honors for America in Germany, but came home to discrimination and hatred.
But Jesse Owens did not allow that racism to ruin his life. After all, he had found a close friend in one of the Nazis’ star athletes at the Olympics and there were many Americans who saw how harmful racism was, and were looking to stamp it out. There was good in people of every race and background. “Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing in it,” Owens advised. Ultimately, Jessie Owens became not only an international celebrity, but one of the most honored American athletes in history. And he understood that no success is owed, and no dream is handed to one on a silver platter — or a silver medal.
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“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort,” Owens emphasized. And again, “The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself – the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us – that’s where it’s at.”
Freud and modern psychology have been ruining people‘s lives for years, but it is particularly noticeable now that young people have no sense of responsibility for their mistakes or their dreams. That is not all their fault; they have been taught very badly in most cases. Even perfectly normal behavior, like a young boy being distracted in class, a teen struggling in math, or a lack of focus when tired, is always treated as some sort of psychosis. Your six-year-old boy doesn’t sit perfectly still eight hours a day? Put him on medication for the rest of his life!
Nor is there enough encouragement toward great achievement. Grades are dumbed down, standards are lowered, awards are based on sex and race, and horrible work is praised, from the military to the local public school. This is no way to ensure a generation of well-adjusted, smart, capable, responsible citizens. Like Jesse Owens, we should focus on fighting the internal battles with our own faults and failings, look for the good everywhere, and remember that dreams require “an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.”
