Common Sense

Maybe some of you can relate to this story I heard recently.

I called an old friend - his state doesn’t matter - and in the course of talking asked about Y (his name doesn’t matter), an active shooter, a heck of a rifle shot.

Only to be told Y is no longer coming to rifle matches, because “he’s gone into hiding”, and doesn’t want anyone to see him with a rifle/gun. He doesn’t associate with any of his friends. He’s gone hermit, for the duration.

Now, I know Y. He’s an ex-serviceman, a veteran of one of the Gulf Wars, as brave as anyone.

Yet he seems to believe things have already gone to H in a handbasket - or will soon - so hence the going underground, and pulling the welcome mat in behind him.

Bottom line: He’s already given up. He’s not willing to fight to protect his country, the Constitution, or, seemingly, anything else. Hiding is his answer.

It’s possible you know people like him - or at least people who talk about ‘retreating’ - maybe you are one of them.

But this man took an oath, long ago, to protect and defend the Constitution - and that oath had no expiration date.

(For an interesting new development about this on the ‘net, check out oath-keepers.blogspot.com)

Now, I can’t say for sure, but believe Y was in the Marines.

Yet now, when his country needs him, he’s off to hide.

Let’s see, AWOL in the face of danger?

It would clearly be cowardly to run in the face of the enemy - right?

Would it be cowardly to run - before the enemy even shows up? (Actually, I bet Y believes the enemy has shown up - or is about to - which is why he took the action he did - you don’t hide unless you think danger is imminent.)

Y is not stupid.

As I said before, he’s not a coward - he’s as brave as you or I - maybe braver. He’s proved it, on active service in a theater of war.

Yet his action is - let’s face it - cowardly. What other word would you choose for running and hiding?

Focusing on saving his own skin, and to devil with the rest. (Let’s be generous, and allow he has taken his family to what he thinks is shelter, by hiding.)

If we were all on the deck of the sinking Titanic, and he pushed his way into a lifeboat, women and children be d-mned, would that be a cowardly act?

If he pushed his way onto a life boat, while others are trying to save the ship, would that be a cowardly act?

I suspect a brave man would do something different. Would prob seize any opportunity to try and save the ship - since there are not enough lifeboats.

Maybe “brave” is the wrong word to use. Maybe “determined” would be a better word.

A determined man would ‘fight the good fight’, would buy time for the women and children to board the lifeboats, if nothing else.

But a determined man would give his utmost to save the ship - because he doesn’t give up in advance.

He may even give his life.

What is “manly” about giving up without a fight?

Where is it written that it’s the “cool” thing to do - to hide?

Where would we be today if people better than us had not refused to run and hide on April 19th, 1775?

A brave man, an intelligent man, but a cowardly act.

Were I to penetrate his retreat and say that to him, no doubt he’d be insulted - angry, even.

What do you think? Would he be right to be angry?

What would you feel if you turned out way back on Battle Day, April 19th, 1775 - and your neighbor refused to turn out - instead, went off and hid to save his hide? Or, gathered his family, and fled to the woods? Would you think more of him? Would your respect for him be increased, or decreased?

There’s lots of Americans willing to travel this same road - to not fight, but to hide. To run for the woods. To push their way onto a lifeboat, rather than fight to save the ship.

Enough of them do it, and the ship WILL sink.

It takes the efforts of a lot of people to save the ship. Every set of hands not bailing, every person who chooses to run for the lifeboats is one more lead weight making the ship sink faster.

What kind of craziness is going around?

What makes people who are normal, mostly, give up the essence of what it means to be an American, and choose to hide?

What’s happened to our fellow Americans?

Maybe 21st-century “me-ism”? The “arrogance of ignorance”? The “me-first” attitude?

Maybe no hope?

But ‘no hope’ is not an excuse to hide. “Hiding” is simply living your life in a self-made prison.

We have these words, from the American half of British-American Winston Churchill:

…if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival.

There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

If you will not fight.

If you will not fight for the right.

If you will not fight, if you will not lend your efforts to those of your fellow Americans, you aid in bringing on the very future you fear. You increase the odds of defeat, of losing something won over 200 years ago on many battlefields by men and women who are clearly your betters.

And since you will not fight, you have made a decision that’s contrary to everything being American stands for: You are saying - with action, not with words - and action is far more emphatic than words, it is better to be a slave, than risk your life fighting for liberty.

John Paul Jones knew and understood what Americans were about. And what they stood for. So did George Washington - and so did Benedict Arnold.

But do you?

Clearly not.

After the Rev War, patriots, the ones who fought, ran the ‘traitors’ - the Tories - out of the country. You can hardly blame them. Why let the ones who were against you enjoy the benefits of all you fought for?

If there’s one iron rule on this planet, ever since this country was born, in all the generations since: If you’re born on this planet, and you want a happy, safe life, get to America.

But no longer.

The last ship of freedom is about to sink. And brave men are running and hiding, unwilling to save it.

T’is a shame…

If you care, if you don’t want that ship to sink, join with us in Project Appleseed (www.appleseedinfo.org) and help us save a sinking ship.

Brave men, cowardly acts? The Founders must be shaking their heads…

Fred,

A while back I listened to an audio file of a March 30, 2006 interview of you by Aaron Zelman. (below is the link to the MP3 file)

http://www.jpfo.org/media-sound/TTA20060330.mp3

I thought it was a good interview and it was VERY helpful in helping to provide me good information on what to expect at and how Appleseed Shoots are run and proceed. I believe you made it pretty clear that Appleseed is NOT a gun or 2nd Amendment/pro-gun organization.

There was a link on the JFPO website to a video

http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/movieplay-2atoday-wmv-full.htm

Although the video starts off a bit off track, it provides a VERY good historic background on the history of the citizens militia, and relationship to the very first rifleman who ultimately came to form these militia’s.

I thought the video also illustrated a realistic portrayal of the thinking process, mind set, and intentions of the founders when they wrote the bill of rights. Or at least I thought. Yes, the video does have the gun and 2A element in it but the point I was trying to share when I posted this link on the forum was the history this video outlines and communicates (at least in my opinion) the reasons for the extistence, and the importance of the Appleseed Project in how its mission to educate others, train in the practice or riflemanship, and preserve this valuable history connected the dots of the militia, the rifleman, and the historic importance or why and where these things came from and how they relate to what the Appleseed Project is trying to achieve.

Anyhow, [a moderator] almost immediately deletes my post and sends me a PM. I am pretty sure you have access to all of the PM sent on the forum. You can read it.

I was a bit taken back by [the moderator's] actions and PM at first but then I thought, “I am new here and perhaps I misunderstood what is suitable to post on the forum”, and I just chalked it up to my inexperience on the forum and perhaps not yet having a good understanding of the Appleseed Forum theme message and intent.

A short while latter I noticed a couple of threads posted on the Appleseed Forum that were very political and pro-gun/2A in nature and in no way history related that a number of moderators and intructors were participating in. At first I bit my tongue and figured the thread would soon be deleted like mine. It wasn’t. The replies in this thread continued and this just smacked of a double standard and integrity issue. Shortly after I sent [the same moderator]a PM expressing my views about this, these threads were deleted.

I am sure when you review the PM I sent to [the moderator], you will have a good feel for what I was thinking.

For a number of days I looked around and read several posts on the Appleseed Forum and noted that almost exclusively, the posts are primarily from instructors and moderators. I also went back and read posts from MANY new members on the forum. I came across a VERY disturbing trend. New members to the forum would make a small number posts and then become “inactive” and silent. Just like I am now.

Fred, I joined RWVA and registered to participate on the Appleseed Forum in VERY large part because of my neighor who is an Appleseed instructor asked me to and has been after me and kids to come a register for a shoot. Steve is a good guy and I find there is NOT much we don’t agree on. He invited my daughters and I up to his place and demostrated the riflemanship training to my youngest daughter and I which we both enjoyed and we became interested and motivated to join.

My experience on this forum has been one of confusion as to just exactly what is the message and intent of Appleseed. I hear and read the philosophy and polices but the conversations and actions on the Appleseed Forum do not always support them. My perception of the new members who go silent is one of they were either banned or turned off by their experience there. I am also left wondering if I threw away my $80 to join and support the RWVA.

Hence my initial PM to you about this.

I realize drawing conclusions from exchanges read in type is never the same as when face to face. I don’t want to be prejudgemental of go off half cocked either. I plan to take my wife and 3 daughters to an Appleseed shoot in the near future. Perhaps a hands on experience and an open mind may produce much better results with respect to our understanding of the Appleseed project.

Randy

Randy: Get ready for some blunt talk, because you complain about your post being deleted, and then seeing another thread just like - and when you point it out to the moderator, it gets deleted (actually, in both cases, I bet it was ‘locked’ rather than ‘deleted’) - if so, what’s your complaint?

Then, you notice - surprise, suprise! - most posts are made by ‘instructors and moderators’ - who by definition are the most active people on this ‘working site’ - this site is not for tourists or talkers; it’s a site for those ‘laboring in the vineyard.’ No wonder you won’t find many non-workers posting - in this outfit to be a poster is to be a worker - and to be a worker IS to be an instructor…

Now, for the rest of it: First let me say that I do not have access to any PMs on the site except my own.

Second, let me suggest you are experiencing the “first pangs” of being on a very unusual site - a site that we call a “working site”. Many people first signing on to the site ignore that - or don’t understand that, Appleseed being about saving our country, we tend to focus on doing things, rather than talking about them.

Third, which means posts that get too far from “the mission” have a high probability of being locked. SOMSOM is something you hear and see frequently on our site - Stay on Message, Stay on Mission - don’t get distracted, don’t spin your wheels on things that don’t advance the program, things that don’t matter to the Mission.

Fourth, we call such wheel-spinning “iceberg counting” - like being on the deck of the sinking Titanic, and counting the icebergs on the horizon - while the ship is sinking. What do you do? Well, most of us would say “Quit worrying about those icebergs and let’s get to bailing!” Most people today have trouble with that concept of actually doing something to save the ship.

Fifth, you’ll also see on our site “Check your ego at the door.” That means you put The Mission first, and if something irritates you, doesn’t happen like you think it should happen, you simply ignore it - The Mission comes first.

There’s no doubt this is not popular with modern Americans, most of whom are ego-driven.

The ego-driven “it’s all about me” turns them into “it’s my way or the highway” - and most of them move on to other places on the internet where they don’t have to be bothered with any “Mission” and can strut their egoes.

Sixth, I don’t worry about it, being entirely focused on The Mission. If you come on the site, and are willing to check your ego at the door, and buckle down and get to working to accomplish The Mission - which is to save the sinking ship - then the welcome mat is out. Otherwise, it’s not.

Seventh, I might not personally have locked your thread. My tolerance for a little variation from the path is slightly higher than others. Yet I respect the dedication of other volunteer Americans working hard on this site, and would not criticize a slight over-indulgence on their part in snipping off non-productive shoots that spring up on the site.

Eighth, active workers on our site are motivated by one thing - the need to stop the ship from sinking. Ideally, that, and nothing else. Locking a thread is not done for reasons of ego, but simply to keep the website and the people on it on course to accomplishing the Great Task before us. I would be disappointed if people let something like a locked thread disjoint their noses - it’s more a learning opportunity than a reason to get insulted - and you would be too, if you take the Mission seriously. Who cares about a locked thread, when the nation is sinking - and we can save it?

Randy, when you get down to it, your evident posture is to equate locking your posts to the Mission. In the 18th century, a man wrote some poetry about “Raping the Lock” - wherein snipping a lock of hair was related as an epic event in the history of mankind - tongue in cheek. I don’t claim you’re elevating locking your post THAT high, but to reconsider your support for RWVA and its Mission because of a minor event in the history of mankind like locking your posts is not getting too far from it.

Hmmm, let’s see: “locking my post, so now I’m rethinking whether I want to save the sinking ship? Gee, that’s a tough one. Let me think it over…”

Ninth, I don’t worry about newbies getting “turned off” - it’s part of the educational process which turns into a screening process. Nothing disturbing about it at all. It’s entirely normal and natural. Those who “get the drift” will make it thru the screening and become productive members. Those thousands who don’t, who insist on staying modern Americans, who put ego before saving their country, the ones who don’t even amount to Sunshine Patriots and Summer Soldiers? Sorry, you’ll think I’m kinda “cold” here, but there’s so many hundreds of millions of them in this country it’s a pleasure to have a site where they are not allowed. (You are prob familiar with the complaint about escaping citydwellers who move to the country, looking for relief from heavy taxation and overbearing government - and then immediately vote for county zoning, and increasing taxes? In other words, they bring the problems they’re trying to escape, with them? In other words, there’s no escape for them, because THEY ARE THE PROBLEM. If we didn’t keep those people off our site, we’d soon be just another internet site of talkers and complainers, and find it very hard to get any work done…)

As you will find, if you survive your “baptism” and become one of the “believers”.

Tenth, sure, we hope that all of the “new people” on our site make it thru the screening process. But it is a dead certainty that most of them won’t. A simple fact of life. A symptom of what ails this country today. The entire reason and rationale of Project Appleseed. I hope you will be one of the exceptions. That you will understand that what seems to you to be “exclusivity” on our site is a simple priority - not only elevating “workers in the Cause” to the front ranks, but of elevating “action” over “talk”, and Mission over Ego.

Eleventh, we are all volunteers on this site. Every last one of us. We welcome new volunteers willing to put their shoulders to the wheel. If you are one of them, you are indeed welcome on the site, and we’ll be grateful for the addition of your shoulder to the task.

Twelfth, personally, having been doing this for years - after decades of being the “iceberg-counting do-nothing complainer” - I’m pretty sensitive about the issue. And pretty blunt about both the problem and the solution. The recent election was not an issue for me - “elections are like weather, whereas Appleseed is about climate” is a statement seen more than once on our site.

It doesn’t matter what the question/threat/problem is, Appleseed is the solution.

And let me tell you why: It’s because the founders told us liberty is dependent on an alert, educated American people - and Appleseed is a program designed to wake them up and educate them about their heritage and history, so that liberty will be guarded by people who appreciate it and are willing to protect it.

Get the American people to that level of energy, and our problems are pretty much over. The ship is no longer sinking. The nation is no longer in danger. The threat of terrorism is nothing compared to the internal imploding the nation is currently undergoing, as it spins out of control, faster and faster.

Guess you can begin to understand why we appear so single-minded. (At least, I hope you do.)

There’s lots about this program that irritates me. People being top on the list. Yet I put up with it because my irritation doesn’t matter - it’s accomplishing the Mission that matters.

I put up with the bad because there’s so much “Good” in this program. Note the capital “G”. George Washington said it well, when he said, “Let us rely upon the Goodness of the cause…”

When you go to an Appleseed, I think you will be surprised. Shaken even, maybe. Awakened to a new level of awareness of what we in this country are pissing away, every day.

I know at Appleseed you will discover fellow Americans like yourself and more, fellow Americans who are the cream of the crop - it’s the “cream” that are motivated to not see the traditions of this country die.

You’ll be surprised, I think, to find people at Appleseed are instant friends, the kind of people you don’t see in everyday life - but wish you did.

I hope you will be motivated to come on board, and help us make this country what it once was, a land that treasures liberty.

And, like me, put up with the “slings and arrows” of any imperfect human endeavor in order to advance a noble Cause…

The nice thing about this program is it allows you to reach inside yourself and see what you are made of. And more - as in the process you’ll find you are a better person than you thought, as you “step up to the plate” to show your fellow Americans what they should “be about”. Hint: It’s not plasma TVs…

Show this PM to your neighbor Steve, the RWVA instructor. I don’t think he’ll have any problems with it. And if he does, I bet he’ll say to you, “The Mission comes first - even if I don’t agree with some parts.”

Nothing is perfect. Nobody is perfect. We all do the best we can.

If you believe the ship is sinking, simple logic tells you, if you don’t want you or your kids to wind up in the water (I bet it’s cold…), to get bailin’!

And when you do, you’ll find a new reduced tolerance on your part for those still relaxing in the deck chairs.

Meaning you’ll come to the belief that they need to be woken up, hauled out of the deck chairs, and put to bailing, too.

That, my friend, is what Appleseed is about. And doing…

Thank you for a very productive PM. It clarified some of my own thoughts about the program.

Like you (I hope), I am continually learning. This program has improved me (as a person) tremendously.

Come to an Appleseed. Then keep at it, until you become a Rifleman. Then help us and your country by becoming an Instructor.

I think you’ll find a new Mission in life…

It’s pretty prevalent, goofballitis is.

Maybe we should define it first. Checking Webster’s, we find:

Goofballitis - n. [gouf bal I' tes] - 1. a common malady of 21st-century Americans. Symptoms are: wandering around life, not knowing what you’re doing; wandering around life, not knowing what to do
2. general goofiness
3. sometimes a cluster of symtoms - laziness, ignorance, and apathy (see def of “Public Education”) which interrelate so as to magnify each other.

Gee, that pretty well explains what we mean when we use the term “goofballitis”, right?

And you should know what it means, as it’s all around you. In about everyone you see.

Of course, people know enough to “get by” - where to find stuff to eat, where the bathroom is, and (for most of them) who the opposite sex is, and how to “associate” with one of them.

And they also know about time: They all want to be first to eat - and last to die. That you can pretty much count on.

Yet, despite all these attainments, about eveyone you know - whether you know it or not - are victims of mass “goofballitis”.

In other words, they’re goofs.

Now, you might want to think Fred, AKA Mr. Wonderful, takes pleasure in being so superior to the rest of his fellow Americans.

I can tell you with certainty: he does not.

In fact, just the reverse. It’s painful, it’s shameful, and it’s depressing.

A one-eyed man in the land of the blind is not a good thing to be - espec if you ’see’ what the future likely holds - yet can’t get any of the ‘blind’ to ’see’ in time to do anything to prevent it.

On top of that, Fred has his own past history to keep him humble.

Decades of a severe case of “goofballitis” does not tend to make one feel proud - all that wasted time, all those opportunities missed.

If you were to write a book on Fred’s life, you could title it “Missed Opportunites” and catch the central theme quite well. (Guess a good subtitle might be “Adventures in a Goofball’s Life”? )

So, you won’t find Fred taking pleasure or preening himself about any of this.

No sir, the issues are too important, the water gonna be just as cold for Fred as it will be for everyone else, once the ship goes under.

So Fred is not better or worse than anyone else - simply ’sees’ a little better.

And doesn’t like what he sees.

Which why we do Appleseeds.

Many reasons to do them. Some personal, like as an antidote to depression.

Some Mission-oriented, as we try to save the ship.

Maybe you’d like to try Appleseed - teaching your fellow Americans about history and heritage - with a little marksmanship thrown in?

But first, maybe you’d like to come to an Appleseed, and learn some history and heritage - and a little marksmanship?

And heck - who knows, you could emerge with one or both eyes open, no longer one of the blind…

It’s not easy in modern, dumbed-down America, to know “what’s what”.

A firm grasp on reality is not easy, unless you start with some real facts that are undisputed, some anchors you can use to keep you straight up and on course.

Some things you know are true…

Of course, when it comes to your fellow humans, there’s always the old truth-summing expression - albeit cynical as H - that “everyone wants to be first in line to eat, and last in line to die…”

Another saying that rings true is “we get what we want” - if we really want it, we get it. If we only complain we don’t have it, it is likely that we don’t have it because we don’t really want it - or really want to go to the trouble it would take to get it.

Now, reality is a multi-faceted thing.

So that reality for some is the need to curb hunger, and to house the homeless.

Reality for others is saving souls - their own, or others.

A still different reality is raising a family while trying to “get ahead” in life - prob the most common “reality” for most Americans.

Reality for Fred is living in a country that is like a sinking ship, and wondering how long it’s gonna stay afloat before it finally sinks.

Reality for Fred is how we save that country, a country which has a heritage second to none, and a tradition of liberty that would be hard to see go.

Yet, if you have these two concerns - about the ignorance of their heritage and history of modern Americans, and the fading of liberty in the face of more and more laws (not only does everyone get a number at birth, but the Supreme Court recently ruled you have to produce ID papers when asked by police) - you can’t be happy with the way things are, and where things are headed.

Concerned about liberty? There’s two iron-clad, 100% true facts you need to deal with.

Only two.

And here they are:

1. The ship is sinking.

2. You’re not lifting a finger to bail. (If you are, you’re not quite off the hook - I have some more questions for you, later.)

The ship that represents your country is going under.

You know it, and you’ve known it for years.

And for all those years, you’ve been on the couch. Not getting off. Nay, refusing to get off (at least, since Appleseed appeared on the scene, and offered the solution).

Look, if you don’t understand any of this, understand one thing: Ignorance is not going to protect you.

That’s important enough, it needs to be said again.

“Ignorance is not gonna protect you.”

The only thing that will protect you is to get off the couch, pick up a bucket, and start bailing - and while you’re doing it, pass the word on to your worthless, couch-bound friends, relatives and co-workers: “better get up and help bail - cause ignorance is not gonna protect you, either…”

Long experience on the Appleseed Trail has demonstrated conclusively that 40% of Americans can barely hit a man-sized target at 100 yards.

And that 40% more can’t do that.

Maybe you can do it.

Maybe you can do better.

Maybe you can hit at 300, or 400 yards.

Great! Now, what are you doing about it?

Are you showing someone else how to do it?

Or, are you keeping it a secret, sitting on info that your fellow Americans could use?

Yes, you can shoot, but if you aren’t showing someone else how to shoot, thereby “passing the tradition on”, all your shooting ability becomes pretty unimportant - it dies when you die…

I’d like to suggest Appleseed as a solution. You know, that all-volunteer program which takes rifle marksmanship around the country - there are nearly 300 events on the sched for this year, as of right now - and teaches men, women, and kids not only how to accurately shoot a rifle, but the importance of the tradition of marksmanship to the history and heritage of this country.

Yes sir, already know how to shoot?

That does not excuse you from Appleseed. In fact, it is even more important that you get into the program, so you help revitalize the tradition - and your fellow Americans.

What do you say?

Ready to save the sinking ship?

Yes sir, if you want to give meaning to your life, make it useful and worthwhile, my prescription - nay, my command! - is “pull the plug!”

Before we go further, I’ll give you a minute to brace yourself, to buck up, to straighten your shoulders, so you can face the next sentence like a man, and whatever flinching will (hopefully) be kept under control.

Because I am gonna seek to have you pull the plug - on your TV set.

See? Didn’t know you could still flinch like that. And I sure didn’t expect that high-pitched scream, even if it was the most sincere sound you’ve uttered in days.

Heck, I’d say half of you, once you read that, have already quit reading, and maybe even logged off the ‘net - and headed to embrace your TV - to make sure “it’s OK”…

“Pull the plug - you won’t miss anything.”

Because there’s nothing to miss on your TV.

Meantime, while you spend the nearly 40 hrs a week that the average American spends in front of the tube, you are missing a little something called “life”.

Something real, not imaginary.

Something not interrupted every 10 minutes by a commercial.

Something that can, one day, become ugly - and that day is approaching soon - maybe even sooner.

And when that day comes, you’ll be asking “why didn’t someone tell me?”

“Why didn’t someone warn me?”

“Why didn’t someone stop it?”

Guess the answer is, everyone else was watching the tube, right along with you.

While the forces of darkness were surrounding, enveloping, and sweeping over this great land - with you there, on the couch, Defender of the American Way…totally oblivious.

Or worse, knowing it was happening, and doing nothing but complaining, before turning back to the tube…

Yes sir, unplug the set.

Show yourself someone different from the herd.

Show you can live without TV.

It’s the tough thing, but the manly thing, to do.

While you’re at it, pull the plug on your kids’ TVs too.

And all of you hike down to the library, and check out a book on the American Revolution - I suggest one on the very first day of that Revolution, and read what really happened.

I guarantee you, it’s more interesting than anything you find on the tube.

And I’ll be willing to bet you, it will motivate you to work on saving this country, so all the pain, sacrifice and blood put into the Revolution will not go to waste.

Join your fellow Americans in the Appleseed Project. You’ll not find a better group of Americans anywhere.

Because there’s no better people than Americans when they are suffused with the spirit of liberty, and strong in the ideals of the Revolution.

First step is come to an Appleseed. Not only you, but your wife, your kids, your relatives, your in-laws, your neighbors, your co-workers, your friends - why should you be the only enthusiastic American in your neighborhood?

But take heed: Many, prob most, of them will be resistant. They all have TVs, you know.

You’ll have to be stubborn, you’ll have to be persistent, you’ll have to be smooth and persuasive.

You’ll have to sell them on the notion of becoming patriotic Americans again.

Awful as that notion is - that you’d have to sell Americans on being Americans - and even explain to them what Americans are about - liberty and minor things like that - take encouragement that if you don’t do it, no one else will.

Meaning you will be a Very Important Person. To your country. In your country.

You’ll be one of The Few. The few trying to make a difference, trying to stop the ship from sinking, trying to save a once-great nation.

Appleseed is an endeavor to see if there’s still enough Americans who care about their country to make the effort needed to save it.

If there’s enough of us who care enough to want to save her, we will.

If there’s not enough of us, we won’t.

The beauty of it? The choice is yours to make, my friend.

See that plug over there, in the wall?

See that hand, right there on the end of your arm?

See if you can make that hand slowly - ever so slowly - reach over to that plug, grab it, and yank it out of the wall.

Such a minor thing to do.

Such a major step to take.

Hey, both you and I can hear the kids squalling, even before you do it.

And your wife, saying “why don’t you leave the kids alone - let ‘em watch what they want to watch!” This from the lady who has a lot invested in these kids - carrying them nine months and then birthing them, only to sit idly by as they grow up mind-numbed robots?

Good Grief! Is it possible, just possible, that you will be the one “wearing the pants” in your family, again?

Is it possible that “ol Dad” will become a real person again to your wife and kids, someone to talk to and not ignore?

Is it possible you will become a saviour of your country?

All that, just from pulling a plug out of the wall?

Man, it’d be the best thing you ever did!

Check www.appleseedinfo.org to find the nearest Appleseed to you and your family, your neighbors, your relatives, your co-workers, your friends…

We’ve all heard it: “Suppose they gave a war, and nobody came…”

Just the thought of it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside…

Strangely enough, none of us has seen a war where that has happened.

Someone always shows up. Usually because they have no choice.

When you’re attacked, you generally fight back.

Unless you are an American gun-owner. Then you don’t.

So, if war is declared on the gun-owners in America, have no fear.

None of ‘em will show up.

At least, not enough.

The silence among the gun-owning world is shameful.

I don’t care if you send in $35 to the NRA.

Heck, if $35 would relieve me of my duty and obligation to protect our rights - all of them, not just the 2nd - and relieve me of that debt I owe the founders, I’d jubilantly send an extra 35 to the NRA.

Jubilantly.

Because it’s a burden, no doubt about it.

A heavy one.

But light as a feather, if you are ignorant, lazy, and apathetic.

But: where’s the thrill in being ignorant, lazy, and apathetic?

Where, the glory?

How can you, personally elevating ignorance over liberty, and laziness over liberty, and apathy over liberty - how can you be a hero?

Particularly when it means you don’t show up for the fight (we usually choose our heroes from among the people who fight).

So, suppose they gave a war, and nobody came.

It’s happening, right here, right now, right before your eyes, and you’re doing nothing.

Does that make you feel proud?

To stand idly by, as the ship sinks?

In April, we’ll be having over 50 Appleseeds, nationwide. Are you signed up for one - or are you gonna ignore them, too?

Hope not, as it’s a great way to wake up Americans to their history and heritage.

And a good deal for you.

Maybe you’ll finally realize everything you do creates ripples.

People see you, and what you do - or don’t do. You’re more important than you think.

If you’re out there, bailing, trying to save the sinking ship, others will be stirred to doing likewise. So, bail!

Yet there’ll always be those seemingly impervious to all persuasion.

All those sleeping Americans you’re having trouble making understand the ship is sinking?

Get ‘em to an Appleseed: let the program do its wake-up job on them.

Take a load off yourself, and let AS pick up the burden.

To make it easier, make A List.

A list of every friend, every co-worker, every neighbor, every relative, everyone you know - and make sure they know about an event 234 years in the making: the upcoming April 18/19 Coast-to-Coast “April 19th, 1775” Appleseeds.

Get any and all of ‘em to an Appleseed, and we’ll wake ‘em up, for you!