Holding onto Hope

For two days and two nights Nick Schuyler clung onto the engine of an overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico. He had witnessed two friends and fellow football players drift away into the open ocean to never be seen again. He had also struggled to pull William Bleakly onto the boat with him as the relentless ocean waves crashed upon them. Bleakly, who had been Schuyler's best friend since sixth grade had given Schuyler one of three life vests that he had rescued from underneath the capsized boat, the other two he gave to the two others. The only item he clung to was a cushion. In the midst of Nick lapsing in and out of consciousness, Will too eventually succumbed to the water and disappeared.

Drifting alone on a savage ocean 35 miles away from the shore, Nick's thoughts turned to his Mother as he defiantly exclaimed, "I will not let you go to my funeral!" He clung not only onto that ship's engine in that moment but he also held strongly onto hope.

One of the underlying reasons why many conservatives don't hang their heads and bemoan the fate of the recent election is that we too are holding strongly onto our hope for a brighter future. That hope has always been a part of who we are as a nation, as a people, and as brothers and sisters fighting for a common cause. Our core beliefs are not a simplified mantra of hope and change born of the desire for great upheaval and revolution. Ours is the bedrock of our very being.

Much like the man clinging onto his boat's engine, we too may be encompassed by tragedy and turmoil but we do not despair. Our will for survival only grows stronger.

History bears witness to the failures of government when they reach for greater control. When the empowered elite suppose they know best how to govern the very lives of their citizens they so often see the work of their hands fall apart in short order. Men and women will always yearn to be free and to cast off anything and anyone standing in their way. With our current situation in this country our will is growing stronger; stronger to cast aside those who impose their will upon us, stronger to meet the challenges of the day of our own accord and stronger to hold tightly onto the hope we have for ourselves, our children, and our nation.

In this country there are many excited voices to uplift and encourage you to see that our best days are ahead of us. It is because we have the hope of economic prosperity, the re-strengthening of our families and military, and a return to the principles that guided our country in the days of Ronald Reagan. Ours is a bright future.

JD
Mitt Romney for President