As we closed up the July 3^rd event yesterday in Orange Park, I had to sit down and think about what I had observed. This is a tough blog to write as I know I may actually insult some people who read this. If I do, please forgive me and know that I am sharing my heart and do so with the best of intentions.

My observation: Those who attended the event yesterday are scared. A solider from WWII stood next to me, looked me in the eye and cried for his country. I felt him look deep into my soul and I will never forget his eyes rimmed with tears. Here stood a grown man, a man who carried a gun for this country and a man now afraid of what is happening around him.

I owe him this blog.

As a woman in my fifties, I have watched our nation change and the change has not been for good. As a young child we started every day in school saying the Pledge of Allegiance and we had a prayer with our teacher. Our teacher would pray that the day would be filled with good things, we would learn a lot and we would respect each other. It started our day off on a good note and our classrooms were filled with peace. Occasionally a bully would start something and an immediate “Go to the principal’s office” could be heard from our teacher. Disrespect was not allowed in the classroom and when the bully returned, he did so with remorse and sometimes a sore rump.

In elementary school, we found ourselves worried about Cuba and we practiced drills hiding under our desk. Even at that young age, I wondered… “Will this desk really protect me?” All children lived in fear of a war and being in our school when it broke out.

War did become a normal part of our life. The Vietnam war was brought into our homes by the first journalists who sent pictures and videos back from the fields of death. The images were too tough for kids to see and my Dad would keep us out of the living room when the news was on. I could hear the sounds however and that was bad enough.

In high school, the biggest change in our country descended upon one of my classmates. She was not an outgoing person and some would describe her as very shy. One day a rumor circulated that she was heading to New York with her parents where she was going to have an abortion. We were stunned. You would never have thought she would “have sex” and we did not even know she had a boyfriend. When she came back from New York, no one talked about it but we did whisper behind her back. Surely she felt that because she almost became invisible and disappeared from our student radar.

At that time, New York was the only place you could go to have an abortion. Today, every city in America has an abortion clinic that is free or nearly free for young girls to go to and get rid of a big problem in their life. That big problem is known as ... a baby.

I grew up as a hippie in high school where Peace and Love and Drugs started showing up on our high school campus. The first to hit our school was marijuana (or pot as we called it) and it was not uncommon for even the “good girls and guys” to be out on a Friday night and take a puff from a friend. We watched film strips in school about pot leading to other drugs and we laughed. We are not laughing today as we watch our unsecured borders used by drug lords in other parts of the world bringing drugs to our homeland. As Americans and Governors implore our Federal Government to help us with this attack, they laugh as we did in high school those many years ago.

As a teenager, I watched as an American walked on the moon and told the rest of the world – we did it! We took the American flag and placed our mark on the moon with great pride as American people. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” began the mantra for all who tried to do something difficult in their life.

Women’s lib was a big deal and the typical moms from Leave it to Beaver and Happy Days were replaced with Married with Children and Roseanne. The ridicule of the family unit began to take place on the television and while we laughed at the shows, we also began to ridicule a “normal family unit.”

In my early adult years, same sex marriages were deemed okay and adoptions by two women or two men were beginning to take place.

When I became a mom, I wanted to raise my children so they would be great American adults. It was hard work and some of our friends took up the new way of parenting. They let their children be “free” to explore and experience things on their own. We were different – we became “our parents” and we felt it was important for them to have boundaries and controls in their life.

Angry kids in schools were beginning to show up. Teachers were under assault and kids were killing kids on high school campuses. Parents sued schools if they tried to discipline their children. Parents sued schools for saying the pledge. Parents sued schools for singing God bless America at PTA meetings. Parents abandoned teachers and held teachers accountable to raising their children…then sued the teachers for trying to do so.

Terrorists shot down planes, attacked buildings and then the big one hit. 9/11: The attack on our country. We were attacked because Americans are hated for who they are and what they stand for. Simple as that – they want us gone. They hate us.

I remember a conversation with a young man from England the day after. I said, “America will never be the same. We will never forget this.” He told me “Yes you will. We have bombs in England and they are forgotten after a while. You will forget to.”

He was right. To my dismay, a mosque will be built across the street from the Twin Towers and Americans are letting them. When Extremist in the Islam society build a mosque, it is a symbol of conquering that city. When we landed on the moon, we placed our flag as a symbol of superiority and greatness. They are placing their mark on New York and because of political correctness and fear from saying anything, they are conquering New York.

We are letting our government ridicule us, mock us, tax us, reduce our liberties and enslave us once again. And what are you doing about it?

Americans are wonderful people. Sometimes we are too wonderful. We are too understanding. Too forgiving. Too quiet. Too conservative. Too nice.

As I walked through this timeline of my own life, I understand what has been going on. The quiet Americans have stood by and let prayer be taken from school, abortion clinics allowed in our neighborhoods, drug lords given access to our children, wars fought with no exit strategy, liberals shoving their ideology down our throats, parents not held responsible for parenting, teachers not allowed to teach the truth, governments not upholding our Constitution and the greatness of our country and its heritage squashed by terrorists and political rightness.

This takes me back to where I started with our WWII vet from yesterday. His eyes cannot believe what he is seeing today in our country. He is frightened, scared and unsure what the future holds for himself and for his family. He carried a gun to protect our freedoms and now I’m asking you do one simple thing. You will not have to sign your name to a document, carry a gun or let others know what you are doing. It’s simple and it works.

“Make a stand for freedom by falling on your knees

and asking God to forgive us,

change the heart of our leaders

and protect us from those who hate us.”

If you are uncomfortable with this request, please forgive me. I’m sharing my heart and hope you will understand.

If you want to stand up and fall on your knees with me, please place a comment here and say “I’ll join you.” Forward this request and keep it going as we ask millions to pray together to heal our land.

Keep in mind this wonderful news from Psalm 33:12 -- Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

Please also check out www.LibertyCentral.org today. The First Coast Tea Party’s event from yesterday is posted on their site along with a special message from Ginni Thomas, Liberty Central’s founder. There are many who are standing up and falling on their knees for liberty. It's something our Founding Fathers did and it's something we must keep doing or surely we will lose America forever.

May God Save the USA