If your long-term goal was to destroy a nation or civilization, you could work to constantly grow stronger and more powerful yourself, or you could discreetly contribute to the weakening of the nation you wish to destroy.



America has its enemies, and you could easily argue that we're more vulnerable today than ever before. The rising power of other nations coupled with the weakening of our own puts the United States in a precarious position.



As a nation founded by the people, for the people, it's long past time "the people" take ownership of our country and its culture.



It all starts with a concerted effort to build strength, first as an individual, then as a community, and eventually, as a nation.



Before America becomes great again, it needs to find strength again. Before the country finds strength, it's people must attain it first.



The Soft American



President-elect John F. Kennedy saw the threat of our physical softness in the 1960s. Sports Illustrated published his article, The Soft American, on December 26, 1960.







As he stated in the article:




But the harsh fact of the matter is that there is also an increasingly large number of young Americans who are neglecting their bodies—whose physical fitness is not what it should be—who are getting soft. And such softness on the part of individual citizens can help to strip and destroy the vitality of a nation.



For the physical vigor of our citizens is one of America’s most precious resources. If we waste and neglect this resource, if we allow it to dwindle and grow soft then we will destroy much of our ability to meet the great and vital challenges which confront our people. We will be unable to realize our full potential as a nation.
President-elect John F. Kennedy, Dec 26. 1960



I'm certain that when he wrote about The Soft American, he couldn't have imagined how soft Americans would become in the decades that followed, and how that softness wouldn't describe us only physically, but also mentally and emotionally.



I'm sure he'd be even more alarmed today if he were to see how much the government has contributed to that softness.



As Kennedy reached the conclusion of his article, he wrote the following:




But no matter how vigorous the leadership of government, we can fully restore the physical soundness of our nation only if every American is willing to assume responsibility for his own fitness and the fitness of his children. We do not live in a regimented society where men are forced to live their lives in the interest of the state. We are, all of us, as free to direct the activities of our bodies as we are to pursue the objects of our thought. But if we are to retain this freedom, for ourselves and for generations to come, then we must also be willing to work for the physical toughness on which the courage and intelligence and skill of man so largely depend.




How prophetic! He knew that the government could not and should not control Americans (as they're trying to hard to do today), and that our ability to maintain the freedoms we enjoy was dependent on our willingness to do the work to maintain physical health and fitness.



He also knew, as research has continued to show, that your ability to think and reason depends on your physical fitness.



Though he didn't explicitly say it in his article, he seemed to know that as America grew progressively physically soft, it would become progressively soft emotionally and mentally as well.





Beginning more than 2,500 years ago, from all quarters of the Greek world men thronged every four years to the sacred grove of Olympia, under the shadow of Mount Cronus, to compete in the most famous athletic contests of history—the Olympian games.



During the contest a sacred truce was observed among all the states of Greece as the best athletes of the Western world competed in boxing and foot races, wrestling and chariot races for the wreath of wild olive which was the prize of victory.