The American Dream

CNN: What are you hoping Barack Obama does for this country? What do you think is his most important task?

Chris Rock: You know, if you're the president you only have two jobs: peace and money. That's it. I mean, it's like, what did Clinton do? We were at peace and we had a budget surplus. That's it. That's the gig. The closer you get us to those two goals, you know, that's pretty much the gig. Is that too much to ask for?
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/01/19/chris.rock.kill.the.messenger/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

The American Dream: peace and money.
I think our problem is we're trying so hard to create heaven on earth. Which was never something Christ commanded or even alluded to. No, He said "in this world you will have trouble." He promised hard times. And we fight so hard to make Him a liar.
And I think this goes all the way back to our founding father and the pilgrims. In grade school we're taught that they were brave for coming all the way to the new world for religious freedom. That this was a huge accomplishment and we're eternally grateful for their sacrifices.
But if you think about it, they were really just running away. Their country was cracking down on them, they were being persecuted for their faith, and instead of banding together, winning their neighbors and changing their country from the inside out they ran away.
They ran and ran and ran until they came to a country without those laws. I might cut them a little slack if they had seen the Natives and immediately tried to win them to Christ but instead they cheated them, lied to them, took advantage of them, and ultimately killed them.
These are American heroes?
The Pilgrims should have been willing to die to reach their neighbors for Christ and instead they killed the Native Americans so they wouldn't have to (And/or stood by while others killed them).
The Apostles ran too. They ran toward persecution. Every single one of them were murdered for their faith except for John (and they tried to kill him too, but it didn't work).

"What’s the difference between a hero and a coward? Both are ordinary people, both are scared, and both are running. But the hero is running in the right direction." -- Brother Andrew, The Calling

And we are still trying to avoid dying for others: We're building walls and bombing our enemies to keep them out.
We're still letting others die to improve our own lives: We're ignoring poverty and crimes against humanity so we can spend the money on space research and public parks.

We're still running. But not in the race we're supposed to be.