To the Mattresses!!

I recently set a goal for myself to watch all of the Academy Award winners for Best Picture. My most recent view was "The Godfather." Please don't think me ill for never having seen the entire movie...it was just one of those things. I really enjoyed the film and can see what all the hype is about [smile]. The term "go to the mattresses" was used in the movie when Vito wanted the Corleone family to fight against the other mob families.

This really caused me to stop and reflect. I was editing some articles for my dad, who had escaped his homeland of then Czechoslovakia in order to have freedom which was not found under Communism. He has very strong feelings about events that occur even in this country that head in the "Communistic" direction. He speaks out for those things in the opinion columns of my hometown newspaper. I admit that I cannot fully understand from his point of view because I have grown accustomed to the freedoms that we have. Yet I am reminded that many have "gone to the mattresses" before me for freedom and justice when I haven't had to lift a finger.

There are things that I strongly believe in, yet I don't think that I necessarily "fight" for those things when push comes to shove. I feel like I am complacent and careless about issues just because I don't want to rock the boat. So what will it take for me to fight? I wonder if it would take me losing my liberties and my rights for me to dig in.

Have we become a society that no longer fights for what they believe? Have we stopped "going to the mattresses"?