This week marked the 70th anniversary of the allied liberation of the infamous Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. We like to think that society has moved on; that the Holocaust was an atrocity of the past, one that could never be repeated in today’s society. Unfortunately, those who profess this belief are only blinding themselves to the reality of the world around us. Things aren’t all nicey-nice as some of our liberal friends would have us believe. The world is anything but happy. We stand poised on the edge of a cliff that only leads to another great war. There is vast potential for Holocaust style massacres to occur in this world. On this somber anniversary, we should reflect upon history and vow to make real changes to society, to confront evil head on, and above all to make our stand here and now to prevent these atrocities from ever occurring again against Jews, Christians, Muslims, or any other religion or race.

There was a time when America took the fight to evil head on. We sacrificed. Americans gave their lives so that others could be free. An entire generation of Americans answered the call. They took up arms, they died, they killed, and they won. We saw what the world had become, and we stopped it from becoming any worse. After WWII was over, America made the choice to stay involved in world affairs, to end forever such monstrosities. We took on communism, and freed millions. We stood up for those who couldn’t stand by themselves. We helped those who needed help. We took risks. America was imperfect, but at least we tried. We made the world a better, safer place.

Unfortunately, nowadays we don’t bother to stand for anything we believe in, and that’s assuming many Americans believe in anything at all. We prefer to sit in our chairs at home, hash-tagging about world tragedies. We are quick to condemn those who are bold enough to take a stand as being “politically incorrect”. We used to stand up to tyrants, now our citizens tolerate them and our leader coddles them. This has got to stop. We can’t just sit back anymore. The forces of evil are once again marching. We must act.

The 21st Century is once again witnessing the sheer brutality of evil. There are no words that can accurately describe the atrocities going on in the Middle East and elsewhere. Thousands upon thousands of innocents have been butchered simply because of what they believe in. Christians, Jews, and yes, even some Muslims are being killed in the most brutal ways simply because they don’t accept Islamic terrorists’ beliefs. The images coming out of Iraq and Syria might as well have come out of Nazi Germany: Crucifixions, decapitations, and brutal torture. This is not freedom fighters getting a little violent. This is a military accident during a war. This is pure evil that hides behind a warped version of religion. Can we really just sit back and do nothing? Is Michelle Obama holding a cardboard sign with a stupid hashtag really our official response? Wake up America. We can stop the slaughter; all we have to do is act.

It’s very easy to say we should act. Actually accomplishing anything is quite another can of worms. Nowadays, Americans can barely tolerate each other; much less agree on doing even the simplest things. It seems today that those with the most ridiculous political views and policies are the ones speaking loudest; the ones who told us 2 years ago that Iraq was stable and would no longer be a launching ground for terror. Many who know differently are afraid to stand up and tell the truth for fear of becoming political outcasts. Silence might be tolerable in a time of peace, when all that’s on the line is philosophy. Unfortunately, this is anything but peacetime. Terrorism is everywhere. Innocent people die while America wavers. We can longer afford to be silent. We must stand up for our beliefs. We must stand up for the ideals that created this great nation. Americans aren’t supposed to agree about everything, but we are supposed to get the job done when we need to. “Join or die” is still relevant today.

It is often said that history repeats itself. Not if we refuse to let it! We have the potential to learn from our history, to fix mistakes, and prevent new ones from being made. America made a mistake before WWII. We convinced ourselves that nothing really bad was happening over in Germany. We were content to let the world fall to pieces, so long as it didn’t interrupt our evening radio program. That attitude cost millions of innocent lives. We have a chance now to do what we did not do before and prevent another holocaust. We have the resources, we have the potential. We are Americans, damn it! It’s about time we started to act like it.

Like Timothy Davis on Facebook