After the attack on 9-11 we oft heard the urging of our leaders to just return to our “way of life” as a means of foiling the effect of terrorism. Essentially this may be sound wisdom but in particular it is not, if our way of life is excessive partying, blatant immorality and indulgent concupiscence. OK, I’ll use a more common vernacular. How does goofing off fight terrorism?

Whether angry American workers who go on killing rampages in the workplace have gone “ballistic” or “postal”, isn’t it terrorism by any other name? While we fear the idea of someone poisoning our water or using lethal chemicals in our public places has anyone been on a college campus lately? There our youth are blending academic pursuits with the kind of alcohol abuse that would make all the combined pubs of Ireland and brew houses of Germany glow with a blush. A good number of these students have lost their lives to their binges, why doesn’t this qualify as a chemical attack on our youth? Or should we think of this as only just another facet of our ‘way of life?’ Is successfully keeping prayer out of our schools while miserably failing to keep guns and drugs out of them, our ‘way of life’? If the answer to any of these questions is no, shouldn’t we be looking for some definition for the phrase that might give it some vindication?

Although it is just a personal observation, I would challenge other Americans to make note of the fact that most people can’t be faulted for asking the wrong questions, but rather they are not asking any questions at all. When is the last time you heard people asking serious questions about life in a roaring party? If the adage that “Americans play as hard as they work” is true then consider this. No one has time at work to ask life’s serious questions and no one at a party has an inclination too ask.

I live in one of America’s premiere party cities, New Orleans. The hub for most of the partying in New Orleans is the French Quarter and within that space is another hub called, Bourbon Street. Anyone who has lived in this city and more specifically in the Quarter has learned one thing. Eventually if you expect to accomplish anything at all or even think about accomplishing something you must move away from the hub. There is an obvious analogy here for all of America.

Perhaps the single best source to find a definition for “the American Way of Life” would come from the mouths of those who are putting their lives on the line to preserve that way of life, American soldiers. They would all gladly give you a clear definition if asked, even though they may not be aware they were doing just that. If you were to ask any soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan what he or she planned to do when they returned home again you would have your definition. Yes, the first thing they would say would be something like; I’m going to have the biggest party of my life. No one would question that; in fact most of us would lend a hand to get that party going. But no soldier would say that was all he wanted to do. As Paul Harvey would say, “and now here is the rest of the story”. Depending on each individual soldier you may hear, I’m going home to marry my sweetheart and start a family, or I’m going to start my own business or finish school. Some might say they were going back to help their families or become builders, preachers, scientists, or politicians. The list is endless but it is this list that defines what we know as “the American way of Life”.

The mindless pursuit of power, fame or fortune are all thought to be at the top of the list under the heading of “The American Way of Life” But let’s take another look based on the answers of our own fighting men and a stern warning from the pages of the Bible. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end therof are the ways of death. Proverbs 16:25 KJV