6-12-2023 4:27pm

The Great Awakening

Beth Callahan Editor

Springboro's Guy Pasvogel, published author, shares his thoughts

Warren County Resident Guy Pasvogel shares his take on life in today's world.

Does anyone remember the story of Rip Van Winkle? He is the title character of the short story written by Washington Irving in 1819. I must admit that the only recollection I had before researching this story was that he had fallen asleep for 20 years.

I decided to read a synopsis of Irving’s short story and realized that this 200 year old story could easily be applied to modern day times.

Rip Van Winkle was a Dutch American settler living at the foot of the Catskill Mountains of New York in pre-Revolutionary War days. One day Rip, a man used to avoiding useful work, decides to go squirrel hunting with his loyal dog named Wolf to get away from his nagging wife. He encounters another Dutchman with a keg of liquor and drinks to oblivion, thus falling asleep.

Twenty years later, Rip wakes up at the very same spot. He has a long graying beard, his dog Wolf is gone and his musket is rusty. He wanders back to the village and finds it much larger with people he does not recognize. He meets a young man of the same name (his son) and a young lady who astonishingly resembles him (his daughter).

Rip is asked by a townsman, “Who did you vote for in the last election?”

He replies, “King George III,” unaware that the American Revolution has happened and that the 13 colonies are now the United States. The story concludes with Rip being taken in by his daughter and resuming his idleness of twenty years ago, unconcerned by the many political changes that occurred during his sleep.

Fast forward to the modern-day twenty-first century. America has come a long way from the English rule of King George III.

In the year 2000, America elected another George (Bush), not a king but a President. If I had fallen asleep in the year 2003 and awakened today twenty years later like Rip Van Winkle… would I have missed much?

You bet I would have!

The twenty years missed would have included the war in Afghanistan, the Wall Street bailout of 2008, Russian fake collusion, voter fraud in two presidential elections, skyrocketing inflation, Covid 19, vaccines and illegal immigration.

I would have liked to have slept through all of it (except the fall of 2016 when the Cubs won the World Series).

If I came out of my slumber today with the same laissez faire attitude about the political climate that Rip Van Winkle had 200 years ago, would anything ever change? Probably not.

What we are experiencing today is a Great Awakening where truth bombs are being dropped all over the place. More and more people are demanding more accountability from our elected officials. Whistleblowers are coming out of the woodwork exposing the lies that have been told to us while we were fast asleep.

Inflation is running rampant. Illegal immigration is out of control. January 6th patriots are being held prisoner in Washington, D.C. for exercising their constitutional right to protest. Justice is not being served. Fair elections are a thing of the past. Many of us are fed up... and we are truly don't know where to turn or who to believe.

The last three years have not been deep sleep…they've been more like a nightmare.

Or, could it be that we have been asleep all of our lives and are just now waking up?

Wake up, America! Now is the time that WE THE PEOPLE not be a Rip Van Winkle and sleep. We need to stay awake... stay alert...stay informed and participate in our community decisions.