In September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a History teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten.  

On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks in her classroom. 


When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.  'Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?'

She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.'

    They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.'  'No,' she said.

    'Maybe it's our behavior.' She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior.'

 And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom. Kids called their parents to tell them what was happening and by early afternoon television news crews had started gathering at the school to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the desk-less classroom. Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he or she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.'

 At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven U.S. Veterans, all in uniform, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand along the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. They went halfway around the world, giving up their education and interrupting their careers and families so you could have the freedom you have.  Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'

By the way, this is a true story. And this teacher was awarded Veterans of Foreign Wars Teacher of the Year for the State of Arkansas in 2006. She is the daughter of a WWII POW.

Let us always remember the men and women of our military and the rights they have won for us.

This touching music video shows a courageous young woman's struggle, and her decision to choose life.

The music is from former "Kansas" lead singer John Elefante's newest single "This Time."  It shares the story of his adopted daughter's birth.

"I can't imagine life without my daughter, Sami, and it just breaks my heart that pregnant young women much like her birth mother, instead of choosing life for their babies, are denying them the chance to be born.  

"If our song can in any way bring attention to this issue and encourage those who are considering abortion to choose life through options such as adoption, then we couldn't be happier."

John Elefante is working to bring attention to Online for Life, a non-profit organization that helps connect babies with caring families.  

The OFL site explains, "The core focus of Online for Life is to reach at-risk women and men in their deepest time of need and introduce them to local life-affirming organizations where love and information can be shared in a compassionate, non-judgmental way."


Note:  If you know of someone who is looking for a wonderful adoptive family, my cousin and her husband have waited patiently for years for a child to adopt.

"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." ~Preamble of the Constitution


"The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.”  ~George Washington


"A constitution founded on these principles introduces knowledge among the people, and inspires them with a conscious dignity becoming freemen; a general emulation takes place, which causes good humor, sociability, good manners, and good morals to be general. That elevation of sentiment inspired by such a government, makes the common people brave and enterprising. That ambition which is inspired by it makes them sober, industrious, and frugal."  ~John Adams


"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  ~John Adams


"It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty Hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the Revolution."  ~James Madison


"Whatever may be the judgement pronounced on the competency of the architects of the Constitution, or whatever may be the destiny of the edifice prepared by them, I feel it a duty to express my profound and solemn conviction ... that there never was an assembly of men, charged with a great and arduous trust, who were more pure in their motives, or more exclusively or anxiously devoted to the object committed to them."  ~James Madison


"The example of changing a constitution by assembling the wise men of the state, instead of assembling armies, will be worth as much to the world as the former examples we had give them. The constitution, too, which was the result of our deliberation, is unquestionably the wisest ever yet presented to men."  ~Thomas Jefferson


In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.  ~Thomas Jefferson


"I beg I may not be understood to infer that our general Convention was Divinely inspired when it formed the new federal Constitution . . . yet I must [admit] I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance . . . should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler in Whom all inferior spirits “live and move and have their being” [Acts 17:28]."  ~Benjamin Franklin


“In the formation of our constitution the wisdom of all ages is collected--the legislators of antiquity are consulted, as well as the opinions and interests of the millions who are concerned. In short, it is an empire of reason.”  ~Noah Webster


‎"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again.  Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world."  ~Daniel Webster


"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.  We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors.  They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood.  It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation -- enlightened as it is -- if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men.”  ~Samuel Adams


"The Constitution...must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties."  ~Abraham Lincoln


"All of us have an obligation to study the Constitution and participate actively in the system of self-government it establishes."  ~Ronald Reagan


"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.  That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.  That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, its is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..."  ~Declaration of Independence

Benjamin Franklin was amazing!  Scientist, inventor, author, printer, postmaster, musician, diplomat, and leader --  he was important in many ways in early America.

But perhaps his most influential role was as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.  

By the time of the convention, Franklin was frail and elderly, and required assistance to participate.  

Anyone would have excused him from making the effort.  The weather was insufferably hot.  The debates were long and often arduous, tedious, or contentious.  

Franklin had already distinguished himself in patriotic service.  

What more could he be expected to contribute?

Well, in spite of personal hardships, Benjamin Franklin was part of a great miracle that took place.  Thank goodness he was a man of faith!  Thank goodness he persevered when it was difficult!  

What an example for Patriotic Moms, and our children, as we face the challenges of our day.

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?   ~Benjamin Franklin



Text of the Full Speech

Mr. President:

The small progress we have made after 4 or 5 weeks close attendance & continual reasonings with each other – our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ayes, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding.

We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which, having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.

In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding?

In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for Divine protection. – Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. 

And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest. I therefore beg leave to move – that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.

Constitution Day is coming up on September 17, the day the members of the Constitution Convention signed the United States Constitution in 1787.  

Constitution Day is a unique opportunity to celebrate the Constitution and  the unprecedented liberty, peace, and prosperity its principles have protected for millions of Americans.  

This is a great time of year for patriotic parents to learn, and teach our children, more about what the United States Constitution says and reflect on how we can protect and preserve it.  

Here is a wonderful collection of resources to help:

The United States Constitution   

Timeline of the Constitution   

Inspirational Quotes About the Constitution   

The Preamble Set to Music   (three minute video)

A More Perfect Union   (two hour video)
The events surrounding the birth of the United States Constitution.  Beginning with James Madison studying and writing at his desk, this inspiring movie follows Madison as he shepherds the creation and ratification of the Constitution. 

The History of the Constitutional Convention   (31 podcast episodes of varying lengths)
A remarkable history of the miraculous, and tumultuous, Constitutional Convention.

Founding Brothers   (90 minute video)
The inspiring story of the birth of our constitutional republic.

We the People  (one minute video)
One minute video honoring the Constitution.

We Still Hold These Truths   (20 minute video)
The principles that make America great.

We Still Hold These Truths   (leaders' study guide to go with the book by the same name)
The principles that make America great.  

The Patriot’s Guide: What You Can Do for Your Country   (PDF from the Heritage Foundation)


Hillsdale College: Introduction to the Constitution

• The Declaration and the Constitution  (33:12)
  
• Representative Government  (32:11)
  
• Separation of Powers and Limited Gov't.  (29:45)
  
• Bureaucratic versus Constitutional Gov't.  (29:54)
  
• Conclusion  (48:15)

Freedom Project: Principles of the Constitution

• Preamble  (9:41)
  
• Limited Government  (8:02)
  
• Legislative Powers and Limitations  (7:23)
  
• Executive Powers and Limitations  (9:43)
  
• Judicial Powers and Limitations  (10:18)
  
• Bill of Rights, Part 1  (9:30)
  
• Bill of Rights, Part 2  (8:35)
  
• Amendments 11-18  (6:57)
  
• Amendments  19-27  (7:30)

This week in The New York Times—on September 11, no less—Russian President Vladimir Putin took issue with the idea of American exceptionalism. He wrote:

"It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal."

Yes, all humans are created equal—but not all nations are created equal. Heritage President Jim DeMint sent a letter to President Putin today explaining this idea.

See the booklet DeMint enclosed for Putin: Why Is America Exceptional?

To learn more about the history of American exceptionalism—and President Obama’s stance on the issue--check out Rich Tucker’s post here.

Each September 11th Americans take time to remember the 2,977 people killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks and the many people who responded to the attacks with courage, heroism, and patriotism.

On this day Americans fly the flag at half-staff and pause for a moment of silence at 8:46 AM Eastern time, the time the first plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Here are some resources to observe 9/11.

Video Remembrance: "The Prayer of the Children"

A Story for Children:  "The Little Chapel That Stood"

Looking for a meaningful story to share with your family on 9/11?  Here is one on video.  

The message of "The Little Chapel That Stood" is that America is a great nation.  Terror is temporary and does not stay, but the freedom and courage of the American people are extraordinary and abiding.       
   
The actual story begins at 7:43.  To skip to that point,  move your cursor to 7:43 on the time bar and click on it. 

Links to Other Resources

*  9/11 Tribute: There She Stands
* Sights and Sounds of 9/11 Anniversary

*  The Hero Who Predicted 9/11  (Very inspirational!)

*  Boatlift - A September 11 Story



A Poem to Memorialize the Terrorist Attack

Jenny Scoville Walsh wrote this poignant remembrance on the night of September 11, 2001. 
She couldn't sleep until she wrote everything she was thinking and feeling on that horrible day.  Thank you Jenny!


"New York: September 11, 20011"

By: Jenny Scoville Walsh
Copyright 2001


We watched the screen, horrified:
Though we’d seen the collapse
A hundred times
From ten points of view;
It couldn’t be true.

No warning.  No warning at all.
One minute filing papers, meetings,
Presentations, new promotions, interviews,
Potential clients, tours, shopping,
Drinking a Coke, grabbing a Danish,
Then shocked oblivion:
The airplane’s blast an exploding sun--
Evacuation for the lucky ones.

Dutifully, police then come
To serve, protect, direct mass exit.
Firefighters spray the blaze;
Exhausted from walking up flights and flights
And flights of stairs.
Caught unawares
These brave ones crushed by falling death.

Thousands of tapers
Blown out by heaving sigh,
Groaning under steel and cement
Dropped from blue sky.

Thousands of papers
Covered with soot,
Once carefully filed,
Now scattered for miles.
Rescuers trudge over them,
Searching for valuables under the rubble.

New Yorkers don’t push, don’t yell, don’t loot.
Instead offer hands, offer time, offer blood.
And we decry the evil, embrace the mourning,
Send supplies and inundate the Red Cross with volunteers.
Our humanity combats the terror.

Still we watch . . . and count.
Number each loss of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.
The children never again picked up from day care by parents.
Weddings which will never be.
Ball games with Dad indefinitely delayed.
Vacations ending in triage or morgues.
Dry cleaning with missing owners.
Lifetimes of unfinished business.
A thousand stings of reality.

Then ponder our own drive to work,
Of last words spoken before leaving,
And the warmth of the embrace we gave once home
As we touched them like it was our first . . . or last time.

The living—shall we yet live?
Those of us more lightly touched
Feel haunted by our lost security.
We’ll hold each other longer at airports,
Leave everyone with a kinder goodbye,
And greet strangers, now siblings in this dreadful birth.

Those whose grief more deeply lies
Will feel the grip of this day on their hearts,
Though loosen slightly over years,
Never really disappear.

Each day, to wonder and decide:
Is life a curse, from which to hide?
A nightmare that the morning’s wake
But continues barren ache?
Or life a gift—first sullenly received,
But later loved more fully for its fragility?

Did you catch Senator Rand Paul's response to President Obama's speech on military intervention in Syria?

With his usual eloquence and focus on Constitutional principles, Senator Paul addressed the issues raised by Obama and laid out essential criteria  we must consider before pursuing military intervention: 

1)  The American people must be united in their support.
2)  Our objective must be to win and further compelling American interests.
3)  We should first consider diplomatic solutions and proceed with caution.

The president did not make a compelling case for war and Senator Paul will vote "no" and encouraged his colleagues to vote "no" on military intervention in Syria.

Read More

• Rand Paul on Premier of CNN's Crossfire
• Senator Rand Paul: Why I'm Voting No on Syria
  
• Rand Paul: No Explanation for Questionable Intervention
  
• Obama Will Not Get Away with a Syria Strike on My Watch

What a beautiful lesson about the power of kindness, in the life of the giver and the receiver. 

Both are blessed and the echoes resound in many directions.  No kind deed is every wasted.  

Hope you enjoy! 

The history of the United States of America has been shaped by people of character and faith.  Our Founders were men of goodness and virtue who were guided by their Christian faith.  Here is how American revivals were a key to shaping early U.S. history. 

The Obama Administration’s behavior during the first week of the shutdown has been the best argument against Obamacare anyone has ever made.    

The American people do not want Obamacare, and they are demanding that Washington act to protect them from the harmful effects of this unfortunate law.  The president’s response has been to ignore them, allow the government to shutdown, and then use his power to close national parks and monuments, stop paying veterans’ benefits, and cut off cancer research.

This is exactly why we should not expand the government’s power over our health care choices.  What power the government has, it will use – and misuse – to advance its own interests, even if that means punishing the American people along the way.

The message behind the Administration’s shutdown bullying is the same message sent by his IRS’s abuses of political opponents: do what I say, or else. This is the abusive, partisan, unaccountable bureaucracy that, under Obamacare, will soon be running America’s health care system.

President Obama is not just using the vast powers of his office as leverage against Republicans – he is abusing his powers as leverage against the American people.

The scenes of World War II veterans being shut out of a monument built in their honor should be a bright red flag warning the American people what an out-of-control federal government is capable of.  Each day brings a new and more vivid example of why it is critical that we not allow Washington to reach even further into our most personal and intimate decisions.

We now see how determined the president is to expand the power of the federal government and his willingness to use that power to harm the country to get what he wants.  Congress cannot allow this to stand and should continue to work to end the shutdown and protect the American people from Obamacare.

Add your voice to the effort to defund Obamacare, and share this with your friends:  

One of our most far-reaching jobs as Patriotic Moms is to teach our children how to learn important skills.  

The skills themselves are important (sometimes even vital) for happy, successful lives.  

But perhaps the most powerful skill we can teach our kids may be the transformational ability to effectively teach themselves significant skills.  

If so, this TED talk is a gold mine!  Josh Kaufman specializes in teaching people from all walks of life how to master practical knowledge and skills.

 In his talk, he tells how his first child inspired him to approach learning in a whole new way.

Josh believes that if you put 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice into learning a skill, you will be astounded.  You just need to:

1. Deconstruct the skill.  Break it down into its smallest component parts.  Determine the essential parts to achieve your goal and practice them first.  That will allow you to improve your performance in the least amount of time possible.

2. Learn enough to self-correct.  Get 3 to 5 resources about what you are trying to learn.  Learn just enough that you can actually practice and self correct as you practice.  Get better at recognizing when you are making a mistake and then do something a little different.

3. Remove practice barriers, including distractions like TV and the internet.  

4. Practice at least 20 hours.  Committing to 20 hours helps you overcome the initial frustration barrier we all face and stick with your project long enough to experience the rewards.  

You can use these four simple steps to learn anything.  Start by gathering the necessary tools and skills to get started.

The major barrier to skill acquisition isn't intellectual...it's emotional.  We all feel stupid at the beginning of learning a new skill, and feeling stupid isn't fun.  But it's worth it.  

All it take is 20 hours.

"Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom." ~ John Adams


"Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country." ~ Noah Webster


“A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government.  In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important?  And what duty more pressing…than…communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?”
 ~ George Washington


“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people…They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” ~ Thomas Jefferson


“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”
 ~ James Madison


"A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that  tyranny begins." 
~ Benjamin Franklin


“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. ~ Thomas Jefferson


"It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail." ~ Samuel Adams


“…a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” ~ James Madison


"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." ~ Thomas Jefferson


“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.” ~  Abraham Lincoln

Dr. Benjamin Carson, who recently retired as the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, appeared on The Glenn Beck Program Tuesday with guest host Kirk Cameron to discuss the importance of education in shaping culture, and what individuals can do to make a difference.

Having grown up in a single parent home in dire poverty, Carson specifically revealed one childhood hobby that he partially credits with shaping him into the inspirational and influential man he is today, by way of the confidence it gave him.

“One of the things that I used to do is, I used to love to memorize things. I memorized poems, memorized Bible verses,” he said.  “And other people didn’t know those things, and it began to make me feel that there was something special about me, and that I could learn things.”

He continued: “Even though I [probably] couldn’t learn them better than anybody else, I thought I could.  And it makes a very big difference, what you actually think you can do.”

Of course, that was only one of many factors that contributed to Dr. Carson’s success.  The neurosurgeon also praised his mother, who only had a third grade education, for never becoming a “victim.”  He said she was always asking “What can I do?  Is there something I can do to change this situation, or to make it better?”

One of the steps Carson’s mother took was regularly taking her children to the library, having recognized that people who read a lot “had the ability to change the direction of their lives,” Carson said.

In Carson’s estimation, the importance of knowledge and education cannot be underestimated both in terms of preserving our liberties, and as a factor in shaping the course of one’s life.

The average person lives to be about 80 years old, he said, and they can either spend the first 20-25 years of it preparing, or choosing not to.

“If you prepare yourself, you have sixty years to reap the benefits.  If you fail to prepare yourself, you have sixty years to suffer the consequences,” he said.  “You get to make that choice. Each person gets to make that choice, how they want to program that incredible computer, the brain that God gave us.”

Learn More  

• Kirk Cameron on the Importance of World View 
  
• The Founders on the Importance of Education 
  

• 7 Fascinating Facts About Dr. Carson  
  
• Ben Carson: An Extraordinary Life  (hour interview)
  
• Dr. Carson at The Academy of Achievement  (ten minute interview)
  
• Dr. Carson's Liberty University Convocation Address  (half hour speech)
• Dr. Carson on Hannity  (four minute interview)
• Ben Carson Books on Amazon

“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”
 ~James Madison

It's not safe to text and drive.  Even for a second.

Please warn your loved ones.  You may save a life.

Hello America,

There are some things I want to talk to you about today, and some things I really, really don’t want to talk to you about today. I don’t want to talk about politics. I don’t want to talk about the President. I don’t really even want to talk about Washington. What matters most right now is what you are doing with your life in your own community.

Over the past few years, I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to travel all over the country and halfway around the world. I’ve met amazing people and seen some of the most beautiful places on earth. But in recent months, I’ve chosen to spend my free time with my family at our ranch in the Mountain West. Why? Because I know now, as a man and as a dad, how important it is to teach my kids the value of hard work; to teach them about the values that our parents and our grandparents grew up with - it didn’t have anything to do with video games or smart phones.

Just a few weeks ago, TheBlaze published its biggest story of all time with 4.3 million views. It wasn’t about a national scandal, a terrorist attack, or an election. It was Ashton Kutcher, of all people, standing in front of a bunch of teenagers at the Teen Choice Awards talking about the importance of hard work:

“When I was 13, I had my first job with my dad carrying shingles up to the roof, and then I got a job washing dishes at a restaurant, and then I got a job in a grocery store deli, and then I got a job at a factory sweeping Cheerio dust off the ground,” Kutcher said. “And I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. And every job I had was a stepping stone to my next job, and I never quit my job until I had my next job. And so opportunities look a lot like work.” 

I’ve thought a lot about why this message resonated so much with our audience, and here’s what I’ve concluded: Human beings are wired to understand the value of hard work, but millions of Americans have been seduced by a ‘free stuff’ society. People are desperate for someone, anyone, to speak the truth – especially to our youngsters. The ‘leaders’ in Washington, D.C. have grown accustomed to merely offering more free candy than the other guy. For example, does anyone think two years of unemployment benefits is a good idea? Will opportunity really find you after 99 weeks on the couch? Of course not. But not many people are willing to say it. That’s why Ashton’s message went viral – it was truth. A truth society desperately needs.

As parents, we have to understand the culture around us. The things we grew up understanding – hard work, diligence, persistence – are not what America’s current crop of youngsters are being taught. Equal stuff, ‘fairness’, trophies-for-all, and political correctness are, sadly, the new standard bearers. As parents, we have to understand this cultural change and lead the charge against it. I know this isn’t easy. Our kids are growing up learning about the ‘free (and equal) stuff’ society, while simultaneously living with so many conveniences we went without. It sometimes feels impossible to get them to understand that these things didn’t just appear out of thin air. Someone’s blood, sweat, tears, failures – and HARD WORK – made it happen.

I grew up working in my dad’s bakery and, in the summers, on my grandfather’s farm. They taught me the value of hard work, honesty, and decency. My dad worked his tail to the bone. And because I saw him working so hard every day, I strove to share that work ethic. And because of that work ethic, my family changed. My family has more opportunities. Because of my father’s work ethic, I have opportunities that he didn’t have. Because of my work ethic, my children have opportunities that I didn’t have.   

Read the Best Part:  Special Labor Day Message from Glenn...

Looking for some fun Labor Day activities?  

Here are a few ideas.  

Simple activities can be meaningful, and become pleasant traditions for your family to share and remember.


Enjoy a Red, White, and Blue Meal Together

Our family celebrates Labor Day (and other patriotic holidays) with a red, white and blue breakfast.  Our favorite is waffles topped with cream, strawberries and blueberries.  

We have enjoyed red, white, and blue waffles for lunch and dinner too.  Or, vanilla ice cream and berries make a tasty red, white, and blue desert.  


Talk with Your Family

Take a few minutes to talk about Labor Day and how America was built by the work and sacrifice of many great men and women.  Remind your children that their labor can add to the legacy of liberty in America.

You might want to share some quotes about work, and talk about what they mean.

Tell any stories you know about hard-working grandparents and other ancestors.  Some families call grandparents to thank them for all they’ve done for the family and to ask them to tell about their work.  This is a great time to ask grandparents to tell stories about their experiences and to give any advice they might have for their grandkids.

You could also talk about your work and how you prepared to provide for your family.

Explore Professions

Help your children learn about different professions as they think about the work they want to do.  Invite them to consider what they would enjoy doing.  Make a list of their ideas.  Keep it in a folder or notebook and add to it as they think of new possibilities.

Introduce your kids to a variety of professions.  Interview friends, family, neighbors, and other professionals about their work, what they enjoy about what they do, what the challenges are, how they prepared, etc.  Take notes (and pictures if you want) and add them to your notebook.

Work Together as a Family

Labor Day is a good time to clean up a family garden and get your yard ready for winter.  Or you could clean out the garage, work on projects inside your home, or help a neighbor.  

You can take pictures and keep a record of what you accomplish during your special family work projects.  It will be fun to see progress over the years.

Some of our happiest memories can be of working together as a family.  Our family plays loud, lively music and we do a little singing and dancing, and a lot of laughing, as we work together.


Serve Others

An important part of teaching children to work is to prepare them to be self sufficient.  Equally important is to prepare them to love and serve their fellow men.  Labor Day is a good time to find someone you can help.  Look for someone who needs you and can't pay you back.  

Some families serve at a local homeless shelter.  Others do yard work for a military family whose Dad is gone.  Others visit the elderly.  Older folks may just need to know you care, or you could invite them to dinner, or do a work project that may be hard for them to do.  

There are so many ways we can lighten the burdens of those around us!

Enjoy a Fun Family Activity

After working and serving together, it might be nice to get out and enjoy a fun afternoon at the park.  Or you might enjoy a family bike ride, hike, or water sports.  Somehow the fun is even better after you’ve accomplished something together as a family.

In the evening you could invite family and friends for a BBQ or potluck dinner.  Or you could invite them over after dinner and serve something simple, like ice cream sundaes.  

You could play games together and even have a talent show (planned or spontaneous) afterwards for the kids to share the fruits of their labors.

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.  ~Abraham Lincoln


Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.  ~Abraham Lincoln


“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”  
~Martin Luther King, Jr.


“Every noble work is at first impossible.”  ~Thomas Carlyle


“When I was 13, I had my first job with my dad carrying shingles up to the roof, and then I got a job washing dishes at a restaurant, and then I got a job in a grocery store deli, and then I got a job at a factory sweeping Cheerio dust off the ground.

“And I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than.  I was always just lucky to have a job. And every job I had was a stepping stone to my next job, and I never quit my job until I had my next job. And so opportunities look a lot like work.”   ~Ashton Kutcher


"The United States has long boasted a nation of hardworking citizens that strive daily towards achieving the American Dream. Today, we take a moment to recognize the amount of sacrifice and energy that our workforce has exerted over the years, and I pray Congress will pursue policies that champion our hardworking taxpayers. May we use this day to remember what a gift work is, and to steward it well, employers and employees alike."  ~Representative Matt Salmon


“There is joy in work.  There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.”  ~Henry Ford 


“Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.”  ~Buddha


“Pray as though everything depended on God.  Work as though everything depended on you.”  ~Saint Augustine


“Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.”  
~Booker T. Washington


“Nothing will work unless you do.”   ~Maya Angelou


“Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.”  ~Voltaire


“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.”  ~Mahatma Gandhi 


“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”  ~Thomas A. Edison


“There is no substitute for hard work.”  ~Thomas A. Edison


“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”  ~John Wesley  


"A man's right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property...they are the essence of a free economy.  And on that freedom all our other freedoms depend.  ~Margaret Thatcher


“I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves.  I want them to have the rewards of their own industry.  This is the Chief meaning of freedom.”  ~Calvin Coolidge


“The taxpayer - that’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.”  ~Ronald Reagan


“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.”   ~Thomas Jefferson 


“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”   ~Thomas Jefferson 


"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." ~Benjamin Franklin