Are We Boiling in Our Own Grease?

By Jerry Stewart
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If a person wants to achieve true success in all areas of life, there is one key ingredient he must have. Personal integrity. Quite frankly, of all the things I see in America today that are so good, I believe it's sad but true. Little by little, as a nation, America is losing its integrity. We've lost sight of the moral ideals and principles our country was founded upon. And this moral decay is so gradual, so subtle, most people don't even see it.

The story is told of scientists who performed an experiment to test the reflexes of a normal frog. They heated up grease in a pan, and when it was boiling, they dropped the frog into the grease. The moment that frog touched the scolding hot grease he jumped out. But, in the second part of the test, they turned the flame on under the pan and began to heat the grease ever so slightly. And as the temperature of that grease increased, only by the smallest degree, guess what happened? The frog never noticed, until finally, the frog was boiled to death in the scolding hot grease.

That's a perfect example of what's happening in America today. Our nation's morals and ideals are changing so slightly, so subtly, that, little by little, we're boiling in our own grease...and we don't even notice. If you doubt this, look back in history. Even as recently as fifty years ago, and listen to what was being said and taught. In 1946 Francis Cardinal Spellman wrote what he called "An American Creed." It starts off like this, "I believe in America. In her high destiny under God to stand before the people of this world as a shining example of unselfish devotion to the ideals that have made us a great nation." It went on to say that, "The future of America depends simply on our being ourselves... and standing by the ideals that have made us great."

This is one of the many stories found in our special audio program "Made in America." If you would like your own copy of the full-length program on CD or cassette, Order Here.