Patriotism, Transparency, and the need for a shared belief system in our society 175

On episode 175 of Share the Struggle podcast. We thank all of our veterans. As yet another Veterans Day passes, I reflect on the opinion and philosophy of the most patriotic person and veteran that I have ever known, my grandfather. What would he say today? How would he feel about what's going on today? All that and a flip of the script as we take some life advice from a felon. If that doesn't scream share the struggle, I don't know what does. Let me tell you something Everybody struggles. The difference is some people choose to go through it and some choose to grow through it. The choice is completely yours. Which one you choose will have a very profound effect on the way you live your life. If you find strength in the struggle, then this podcast is for you. You have a relationship that is comfortable with uncomfortable conversations. Uncomfortable conversations challenge you, humble you and they build you. When you sprinkle a little time and distance on it, it all makes sense. Most disagreements, they stem from our own insecurities. You are right where you need to be Back on time really good.

Bad world takes and gone from the heart. Take on running behind Too fast.

We are waiting. Ooh, ooh, ooh. What it do, what it do, hot digger, today Am I so excited to be back with you. How do you do y'all 175, mm, mm, mm. You believe that? 175 consecutive weeks to share the struggle podcast? Ah no, I truly know there's some of y'all listening right now that be rollin' around just listenin', glistenin', lovin' the commitment that we've made and you're realizing right now that 175 episodes, that's a commitment, y'all. That is nearly three and a half years of information, that is nearly three and a half years of inspiration. You feel me and I wanna drill in on y'all drivin' around on my peeps and your Cherokee jeeps out there ridin' around, that ain't been in a committed relationship longer than three and a half years. You feel me? Hot damn, we're over three years. I think it's like oh, shoot, what's 175,? I'll carry the one and the two, divide it by 12,. How do you do? I don't know? Like what's that? Three years and five months or somethin', I don't know. I could be wrong. I'm publicly educated, okay, and government regulated right, aren't we all? We're ahead of there today, trust me. So, yeah, man, over three years of you and me. Damn, I can't believe it. Hey, listen, right now, y'all you listenin' talkin' to you, mm-hmm, if you're a day one, put your ones up, come on y'all. Put that point of finger up, put your ones up and thank you. Give yourself a little pat on the back. Yeah, okay, yeah, oh, let's applaud. Yeah, oh, clap, clap, clap, clap. My hope y'all ain't got the clap mm, yeah. I'm gonna be proud of you and I wanna say thank you. Thank you for being a day one, thank you for being a loyal one. Mm-hmm, I appreciate you. If you've been here for 175 episodes, I owe you something. Man like a I don't know man, like a sticker or a card in a balloon, or something. I owe you something. Okay, if this is the first one, then we just begun and I welcome you and I encourage you to keep on coming back and I encourage you to head on over to wwwsharethestalkalpodcastcom. Leave a review, say, how do you do? I would love to hear from you. But yeah, man, it just kinda hit me. 175, it just sounded like a big number, right, and you think about it all over three years, bro, man, yeah, there's a lot of you that ain't been in relationships that have lasted more than three years. That's. That says something about our relationship and our commitment. I know there's a lot of you that have been listening, for you know, like, let's say, a year, and you take a year off and then you come on back and that's okay, baby, that's okay. Yeah, boo, I can be the inspirational booty call for you. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Well, 175 shows. We've covered a lot of things, we've crossed a lot of bridges, we've had a lot of uncomfortable conversations, a lot of positive conversations, and today's kind of a mix of the two right, today's gonna be a mix because, as I'm recording this episode of the podcast, we just put another Veteran's Day behind us 11-11, behind us again and help all y'all celebrate a Veteran's Day by saying thank you to a Veteran. I encourage you to say thank you to Veterans at every opportunity you get. Some of them are gonna tell you to F off, but some of them are gonna really just come alive and appreciate that gesture. And, speaking of that gesture, I wanna throw something out there. I don't think I've shared this with y'all previously. I know we talked about some of the positive things that came out of the Freiburg Fair, and the most positive thing that happened for me is this little interaction I wanna share with you and I'm just reminded of it as we're having this conversation on the importance of saying thank you to a Veteran, and I mean some of them are gonna dismiss you. I've had some Veteran say like please don't thank me. I've had some get upset about it, which is, in my opinion, if you're gonna be that upset about it, then don't wear the hat saying that you're served. You know what I mean. So just being respectful when you say thanks. And I just wanna share this little story with y'all. I don't remember if I've already shared it with you, but it was my favorite thing that happened at the fair and it's been a few weeks now, so I actually, after it happened, I wrote it down like some of the exact verbiage and I'm not sure where that is. This is gonna be in one of my business books and so, if I've already shared it, it's probably more accurate the first time than it is this time. But the point I'm making is that this older gentleman came in. He was looking around the tent and we just had this great conversation about American manufacturing and getting back to what's right in this country and we started chatting and he pulled a sticker out just an American flag sticker and said how much for the sticker? And I said for you it's free, thank you for your service. And because I had noticed he had a hat on that signified he had served in the military and he looked at me and said thank you, but that's okay, you're in business and it cost you something to be in business? And I said you're absolutely right, it does, but it cost you something for me to be in business. And I said to him you put a lot on the line. You sacrificed your freedom and served in the military for me to have the ability to run this business. So, yeah, it cost me something to be in business, but it cost you something for me to be in business. You take that and he looked at me and he started tearing up and he started shaking and he said that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. And at that time I had to look back at my mom and try to distract myself. We're all getting emotional and we're all tearing up. And it's a sticker, man, it's a sticker, it doesn't cost you that much, right? But I can only imagine how proud he was to put that on his vehicle and I can only imagine how much he appreciates the conversation when someone asks the meeting behind the sticker or where you got the sticker. And it's true, all these veterans paid a cost for me and you. They sacrificed. They sacrificed time from their families, time from their lives and for many they sacrificed the hopes and dreams that they had for themselves, set those aside for you and me. So, as this Veterans Day comes and passes, I truly hope everybody took time to thank a veteran and I hope you don't just have that one time a year that you do. I think it's great that veterans get recognized and that I think it gives them a day to celebrate each other and to be recognized, and I think all those things agree about it. I think that tradition and that philosophy needs to carry out throughout the year. But as this Veterans Day is happening, I can't help but look at the world around us and what's happening to us, what's happening for us, what's happening because of us, and I often find myself and mostly on this Veterans Day as I turn the TV on and I see the news and all the craziness. As much as I try not to prescribe to the news, you still see it still in your face as you flip open your phone and you're cruising your timeline. Sometimes it's hard to not be roped into something. Sometimes it's hard to not be sucked into something and it's discouraging to realize that every day is full of hate and despair. We live in a divided America and an absolutely polarizing world and it's sad. It's sad. As I'm cruising through my timeline and I see all of these things, I see I couldn't stop to read all of it. But there's actual footage of a group of teenagers I don't even know what city, what state it was in, but a bunch of teenagers beat up a classmate or something like a. You know, I could look it up, I could look it up. I don't really want to look it up. I probably should have looked it up or done some research for this. But I'm just really shooting off the cuff here and reading from the heart, right, not from a script. And I saw a video and I just had to keep scrolling. It was a bunch of group of teenagers that beat and killed a teenager right on the street and man, it's hard to imagine, right, that's hard to think about. But what's crazy is everybody's timeline is full of those things. There's big time tragedy in small time city that doesn't make mainstream media and there's so many things that there seems to be an agenda to, so we're not privy to. You understand what I'm saying. There's so many things that doesn't fit the narrative, doesn't fit the philosophy, so they're not gonna share it with you and me, and that's unfortunate, because I feel like if there was transparency, we might be a little more united, and I feel like if there was transparency, we might find some common values, we might find some common beliefs that could fix this country and this world. Because there seems to be three stories to every, or three sides of every story, to anything that's reported on right, the right, the wrong and the truth, and maybe there's six stories. Right, there's six versions, because it's what you deem to be right, what they deem to be right, what they deem to be wrong, what you deem to be wrong, and then somewhere's in the middle, and then maybe the accurate truth. So I think I did a good job of guessing on six. I think that added up to six. But it's true, man, it depends on what you're watching, where you're watching it, from what you're reading, and it's scary, it's absolutely scary. I will say that, no matter what you're watching, no matter what you're reading, there should be common sense. There should be common beliefs, common values, and if we stick to those, I think it makes a lot more common sense. Right, but it's crazy as we talk about kids killing themselves, right, you have all this bullying going on where there's suicides from kids. There's all these pressures, all the unemployment, all the homelessness, all the drug use, all those things. And then, if we think about, what's taking up the bulk of the news and rightfully so the bulk of the attention in this world is what's going on in Israel and this Israeli Hamas Palestinian battle that is brewing into a world war, and the riots and the protests all over the world. It's crazy that there's pro-Palestinian protests at these big universities like Harvard. None of these things are being stopped. There's Jewish students being walked in a room for their safety because these Palestinian rallies are trying to kill the students. This is happening in America, people. This is happening. This is happening all over the world. Europe is headed towards a world war right now and it feels like we are as well. And I can't help but think. As I'm sitting here and I'm trying to reflect and I go back and think about all these things, I think about myself as a kid, I think about myself as a student, and we dealt with shit. Right, we all dealt with shit. And I remember those just common words of advice from everybody that says hey, man, enjoy it, and enjoy it while it lasts, because this time's gonna fly by and you're having the time of your life and, as a kid, all you can think about is it's not the time of my life. I have all these rules, man. I've got all these regulations. Man, I've gotta be up at a certain time. I'm being told what to do. I gotta be waiting for the school bus at this time. I've got fucking math at this time. I have all this structure, all this bullshit, all this responsibility. I've got practice, I've got this, I've got that. But we all know now, however, many years later, it's been for all of us. We all know now that those were great times, because, as much as responsibility you thought you had, it pales in comparison to the responsibility that you do have. Right, those bills are stacking up, the mortgages do. The rent does do, everything else is due, right? I don't need to spell it all out for you. And the obligations are a heck of a lot higher and the repercussions are a heck of a lot higher. And you stop and think about it and say, shit, they were right, y'all Cause I'd go back and do it again. I had a blast as a kid. I'd go up back and do it again and I fucked up. I fucked up a lot and you know, ultimately I appreciate the opportunity to right some of my wrongs. But I'm thankful for those wrongs cause they put me on the path that I'm on and those mistakes I made gave me an education to share with all y'all on some things to do and how to learn from some of those things to do right. So you know, I'm blessed. I'm blessed. I'm not gonna deny any of that right. But you think about how much easier those times were, and it's not that hard to imagine now how much more difficult those times would be. Imagine being a student right now. Can you imagine being a kid right now, back in school, social media, all the bullshit Can you imagine if, like a film crew, followed you around as a kid? A lot of people probably wouldn't even talk to me right now. Right, if they put videos of me as a kid, as a high school kid, up on TV, they'd be like that's motherfucker. He should be locked up, right, he should be stoned in the street here. And I don't mean like by, like you know, drugs, I mean, like you know, I'm talking about third world country shit like they're gonna bear me up to my neck and throw stones at me, because if they videoed all the shit that we did as kids and then put it out there. What would the opinion of you be from your peers? Think about it If you had to relive all the mistakes you made as an adolescent, would you still have all the things you have today? If the choices you made were reminded to you by video and shown to the world every single day? Would you have what you have today? Would you be where you are today? Would you be able to put behind you those mistakes that you made if they were always reminded to you, because they were forever immortalized on YouTube, on X, twitter, instagram, snapchat, tiktok, facebook, whatever? Could you put those things behind you if they were always reminded to you? Think about that. And then all the peer pressure, all the bullshit, every. Think about how many times when you're a kid you said something stupid but you had to pay the consequence for like a week or two until everybody forgot about it, right? Or you did something stupid. You know you shit your pants, right? I know some kids who shit their pants and you know, unfortunately, I might have reminded them of it eight or 10 years later, from time to time, but ultimately their memory fades. But if they had a video of you shitting your pants and that was constantly shown to you or played on your graduation day, played on your fucking wedding day, you don't know right. Think about all these stupid, endless scenarios and you can put your own imagination and spin on it. So how about this? How about, for a minute? You think back to what's the dumbest thing you said, what's one of the most embarrassing things you said in a public setting, and then also ask yourself what's one of the most embarrassing things that's ever happened to you that you've ever done and what's one of the biggest mistakes that you've ever made? Now imagine all those three instances were recorded by several different people from several different angles. You could never find all those people or all those angles and get all that footage removed. It just lives on forever, reminding you forever. That's some of the pressure that these kids live with today. That's scary, that's crazy. I couldn't imagine it. Yeah, we're not perfect, right, and it's hard to overcome our mistakes and our memories if we're constantly reminded of them. So I just think about kids these days and all that pressure and you say, do you really wanna go back now? It makes that question a little more tougher. But you think about all the pressure that these kids are under. And then you take all that same video surveillance and all those things and you project that onto everyday life and all the things that happen and all the consequences that happen and it just kind of magnifies, right. But as I'm on that subject of being in school, and I imagine myself as a kid and I think about US history, I think about social studies and I think about just learning the lessons of life and you think about all the classes you took and you think about those classes that you learned about things that you never thought were imaginable, like world wars, like, let's say, the Holocaust. Do you remember what it was like as a kid learning about the Holocaust? Do you remember maybe you watched Schindler's List? You think about those things and so many of those things were unimaginable. Right, it's something that you never thought was possible. It took almost like convincing and research to realize this should actually happen. Like, this isn't made up, this isn't just fiction, this is. This happened. This is nonfiction. This happened. The Holocaust happened. All these Jews died. All these horrific things happened. It was hard to fathom and as a kid I knew the safety of my school, which is a crazy thing to say these days, right, safety of my school that's not even a thing anymore. Right? Parents are living in fear when they drop their kids off. Kids are going to school in fear. It used to be a safe place, america. It was a safe place. It was also a place to explore your thoughts and to ask questions, and in those times I felt safe and realized and understood and believed that a Holocaust would never happen again, that these vicious things would never happen again, because as a society, as a community, as a world, we're better than that and we're aware of that and we know where we've been, so we know where we're going. So as a kid, I never imagined it would happen again. Y'all listening, it's happening again. It's happening. Kids are being murdered, women being murdered, savagely murdered, elderly parents, brothers, mothers, sisters you name it right. We all know about what happened, how these kids were beheaded, all these crazy things that had happened. And it's to sit back right now and to think about what's happening with Israel and Hamas and Palestine and think about there's still a war going on with Ukraine and Russia, and to think about all these things and it's like it's all coming undone. It's all coming undone the things that I took for granted as a kid that I thought would never happen again it's happening. It's crazy to think that politicians, they worry more about voter reaction than they do common sense action. Let that sink in for a minute. Our elected officials, our politicians, worry more about voter reaction than common sense action. That's scary y'all. And it doesn't matter who you voted for, it doesn't matter what party you believe in, it's all corrupt, man. Because it's crazy to think how many are just in it for themselves, right? That are just in it for financial gain. Big businesses has a bigger concern over sales than values. Think about it how many of these big businesses, these big box stores, they really care so much more about their sales than the values? Because some of them are afraid to say what they wanna say for fear of what will happen when they say it. So you just play it, even you just sit in the middle. Because so many of them decide we're gonna go woke, y'all, we're going woke, we're preaching all this, we're going woke and they reap the benefits of going woke and all these increased sales numbers and all these things. And then, eventually, some of these big box stores that went woke. They went broke because they've been rioted and looted and fleeced from all their items and all their profits. And the people that wanna stand up for what they believe in, the businesses that wanna stand for right and wrong, that want to support the military and first responders, and they want to tote the line of core values and beliefs and what makes America America, they get scrutinized, they get called conspiracy theorists, they get labeled as this right wing activist and they get blackballed by many. It's crazy. So all these businesses are just like well, do I pick the side of the street that's gonna pay me the most or do I play it down the middle, as opposed to just playing it? Based off of their values, big businesses are more concerned over sales than values. There's zero common ground anymore. With zero common ground, there's zero chance for compromise. If you look at all these scenarios, whatever it is, if you think about it, the examples we're talking about with kids, the examples on business, the examples on politics, on war, all these things zero common ground. Without common ground, there is no chance for compromise. I never felt like a world war was imminent, but I do now. I do now. It's scary, it is absolutely scary. I can't help but think and ask myself how much money is enough money? What is the cost of humanity? You with me on this how much money is enough money? What is the cost of humanity? Because all these politicians they seem to be bargaining deals that affect your life by benefits, their family. I don't care who you voted for y'all. There's too many examples of these politicians just making decisions that affect our way of life for the remainder of our life to benefit financially for themselves. It's crazy. It is crazy. Think about this border crisis that's going on. Think about this massive border crisis 300,000 fucking immigrants come in in a day and with all the things that are going on, all the war that's happening. If you think about what's happening in Israel, do you think about what's happening in Ukraine? How many criminals are crossing the border where they're making America vulnerable to those things happening here? Think about that. And then, just last night, they had a vote on impeaching whatever this jackass is in charge of immigration, and all the Republicans had to do was to stand and vote in favor of impeachment, which this is a border crisis? Y'all I don't know. It doesn't matter who you voted for, what you believe in. We need to change here. Eight Republicans voted with the Democrats, and I'm not saying that we can't have compromise, because I'm talking about compromise here. But what are we doing? Because your voters voted for you to protect their rights. They voted for you to uphold their beliefs and you didn't do that. So where's the common ground in that right? Where's the compensation in? That is what I wanna know. And when we think about how much money is enough money? What is the cost of humanity? Right now, there is proof. There's printed proof. There is evidence of Joe Biden, your presidential puppet, depositing funds from other countries. Just there's a check written to him being deposited. What's the price on you and me? What does it cost to sell out you and me? I just wanted to know how much money is enough. All these billionaires keep making all these deals. What's the end game here? What are you gonna do with all that money when there's nothing left to do, right? If a nuclear war breaks out, what's that money gonna do for you? Unless you've had enough money to build your underground city and maybe that's what you're playing as I don't know, all the violence, all the corruption, all the hate, all as a paper trail and when I say paper trail, I'm talking about green paper, because it's all about the money. You know, for years growing up, it was always that little fun little game called Six Degrees of Bacon. Remember that. If you're not old enough, maybe you're thinking it's a breakfast joke, and it's not. But Kevin Bacon the actor, there was always this game called Six Degrees of Bacon that you could connect any actor in the world to Kevin Bacon with six different movies. Right In this country, in this world, there's two degrees of corruption, because I feel like we can connect all this hate, all this violence, but two degrees of corruption, and it all leads to that green paper trail. If you go against the machine, you get run over by the machine. I'll be honest, man. We're here talking about three years, three years of episodes, and how blessed we are we don't have this massive following. I'm thankful for the following that we have, but what's crazy is I record these podcasts, often right next to my Alexa device, right? And you just wonder how much gets recorded and how long before I get a knock on the door that says you're saying too much because it's not too far from the realm of possibility, y'all. There was a kid recently that criticized Hillary Clinton for something and then, within hours, was being raided by the FBI. There's crazy things happening that it just opens your eyes to fear over standing up for what's right, fear over utilizing your rights, your rights for free speech, because it doesn't seem all that free for you and me anymore. It's crazy. It's crazy. We can haul Trump to court for all these crazy things, right, all these gag orders to prevent him from speaking his mind for running for president, but we don't know the Epstein client list, we don't know the flight list. All these things that are actually there, that we actually have the proof on, can't be shared. But we can go on witch hunts for the things that we believe to be there. Why is Donald J Trump being wrongfully charged for the crimes that Joe Biden has committed? And here's the thing, y'all. This isn't me on my soapbox praising Trump and praying for all y'all to vote for Trump. That's not what this is about. I'm talking about dollars and cents, common sense and factual evidence. There's evidence, y'all. It is factual. Y'all can see the copies of the checks deposited. Y'all can trace the paper trail on Biden's funding, on all the phone calls he was on, on all the shaky, shady arrangements he made with his son. There was fucking Coke in the White House. Y'all. Think about all these things. There's video proof of him saying racial fucked up things. All these things, all this corruption. There's paper trails to it. Trump's being charged for things they can't prove. But we have proof for things we can't charge. Yeah, and we're funding bull sides of this war. Right now we're sending money to Israel. We've already sent billions to Iran. Y'all know that recently, iran came out and vowed to assassinate US leaders. They actually came out. Iran has you know whoever these leaders are, have a video or recording that they vowed to assassinate Trump. And last night I was reading that Biden is about to release another what? $10 billion to Iran. Can you connect that y'all? Hey, yeah, we vowed to kill President Trump, all right, yeah, here's some money, here's some money. Yeah, we can't lock his ass up. So if y'all can kill him, that's good with us. So, yeah, here's your check. Can we post that, cause we're in some debt. Y'all, we're good for it. You know what I mean? It's an IOU. That's as good as money. Right, that's what they said in Dumb and Dumber. It's an IOU, that's as good as money. So it's crazy, man. You think about some of the money that's going to Ukraine to rebuild, but in actuality, the Clintons are in charge of the rebuild fund. They're gonna allocate the money. Come on, guys, come on. There's a paper trail here. How much is enough, man? How much money is enough money? What is the cost of humanity? I don't get it. I never thought there was a price on you and me. It's scary. It is scary. All the shooting, all the looting, all the rioting. We are losing what we fought for and we call into question what we continue to fight for. Think about that. I started this conversation about Veteran's Day and I said to you that I find myself thinking about my grandfather, the most patriotic person I have ever met, an, a dedicated veteran. He spent his life serving. I said life serving because even after he left the Marine Corps, he joined the American Legion. He was a commander of the American Legion for many, many years. He never quit service until the day he died. Never quit his service. I never served, but I was raised by a man who served his entire life. Those values, those beliefs are the reason why I have this business and the reason why so many people come in and ask me what branch did you serve? Because it's clear to me that you did. Well, I didn't. I served Leonard Roderick Sanborn, my grandfather, you understand. He raised me a certain way and if I asked him how he felt today, I know he would say we are losing what we fought for. We are losing what we fought for. We are losing the freedoms we fought for. We are losing those freedoms we fought for. What was the reason for the sacrifices? All the lives are lost. Why did we lose those lives? Why did so many Americans serve this country to be sold out by this country? For one minute, I want you to think about something, because this is something that's been happening far too common in this country, and I've heard some stories from women in these military communities, on these military bases, where they're having a normal day. Say, it's a normal, normal Wednesday, and the procession rolls up and an official, a general, whatever it might be gets out of the car and walks to the door. All those women living in fear, not wanting that official to knock on their neighbor's door, but praying it's not their door. You know what that knock is for. That knock is to tell you that your husband, that your loved one, that your son, your sister, your daughter, your brother, your mother, they're not coming home. That knock on the door is to tell you they're not here no more. Think about all those families that live through that, that have lived and continue to live through those fears, that have experienced that this country has put a dollar amount on that. You understand, we are losing what we fought for and we are calling into question what we continue to fight for, because if we continue to be sold up the river, if we continue to be sold for dollars and cents, why do we fight? My grandfather would be screaming that we are losing what we fought for. I gave up so much for all of you to be sold out by so many of you. You understand, you don't have any veterans are saying that right now, you don't have any veterans are embarrassed. Right now, it's hard. Y'all. You don't have any veterans are embarrassed. You don't have any veterans are embarrassed. It's hard y'all. But I'm gonna tell you this A few days after Veterans Day, as I'm recording this episode, I'm pleading to each and every one of you that we owe it to them to fight for what has been fought for. You understand, we owe it to them to fight for what has been fought for. We owe it to them to honor those sacrifices. We owe it to them to continue our freedoms. I don't know the best ways to do this and I'm not calling to incite violence here. That's not the point. The left is already doing that. I'm just asking to do what is right. We need to stand up for our beliefs, for our values. We need to continue to honor our military. We owe it to them to fight for what they have been fighting for. We are losing what we fought for. We need to stand and fight. I say all that to say this it has never been more important in the history of this country to be a loud, proud American than it is right now. This is not a plea for me to you to buy my merchandise. This is not a plea for me to you to sell some hats and t-shirts. It's not what it's about. This is about values. This is about beliefs, the message, the meaning, the morals behind being a loud, proud American. You understand what I'm saying. It has never been more important to be proud of this country. As I'm traveling around launching this brand, talking to people, I have many people that come in and say well, yeah, you know I'm a proud American, but I'm not loud. My answer to them is well, if you wanna continue to be a proud American. You better start being loud, because it takes you being bold enough to admit and bold enough to commit to being a proud American. You need to be loud about it. You need to stand for something. You need to believe in something. Because we are here, because we stood for something, you understand what I'm saying. It's time to be loud about what you believe in. The more voices that are out, the more shouts that we put out, the louder it rings, the more we roar. You understand what I'm saying. We need to not be afraid to say what we want to say. There are people out there that wanna be proud Americans, that are proud Americans, that they're living in fear. They're not comfortable expressing the fact that they are proud Americans. I'm making of you to be one of the confident few to say I am willing to be loud, because if you are loud, you give confidence and safety to those around you that want to be loud too. You understand. So when people live in fear because they feel like they are alone, they feel like they shouldn't be proud because nobody else is. When we overcome that with our own actions, with our own voices, you must be loud. You understand. I have people that come in and say maybe the opposite of that. Well, I'm loud and I am American, but I certainly ain't proud. Okay, I can understand that you're not proud of our actions in this country. I can understand that you are not proud of the direction of this country. I can be pretty disappointed in the direction of this country. I can be pretty disappointed in what's happening right now in this country, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. You understand, I'm proud to be American because I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I wouldn't want to raise a family anywhere else, I wouldn't want to adopt the philosophies and lack of freedoms from anywhere else. I am proud to be American because I am proud of what my grandfather did, what your grandfather did, what our ancestors did. I am proud of the accomplishments. I am proud of so many of the positive things in this country. You can be disappointed, you could be worried, all those things but you still need to be proud of where you're from. You can live in a fucking shithole, but you can be proud of where you came from you understand what I'm saying Because it taught you something, it raised you on something and it gave you the opportunity for something In this country. It gives you the fucking opportunity. If it wasn't about opportunity, if it wasn't about freedoms, it wouldn't have an immigration problem. People wouldn't be risking their lives to come here if they didn't want to be here. You understand what I'm saying. You should be proud to be here, and if you ain't, then get the fuck out. I know that said before, but it can continue to be said some more. And what's ironic to me, what's bullshit to me, is it's the privileged ones that often say to me I ain't proud to be here. How many times have you seen a celebrity on TV say well, you know, if this happens, I'm moving. If Trump's elected, I'm moving. Remember that whole scenario when Trump was elected? Oh, if he's president, I'm moving. Did any of them move? No, no, they didn't. And they're saying that shit all over again. And how many people are now saying I'm ashamed to be American and I just I can't live anymore? Then fucking go. And if you drill that down to not even being celebrities, just drill it down to people in your community, drill it down to people on your friends list, on your timeline, on your social gatherings y'all probably know somebody that said I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed to be American and I'm disappointed and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. How many of those people that are saying that are beyond privileged? How many of those people that are saying that to you might have a very healthy bank account, might have a beautiful house, might have that, the picket fence, the great job, multiple vehicles, kids in college what are you not proud of? Asshole? Take your fucking money and go to some other country and have them take it from you. Take those opportunities with you to another country and watch them be stolen from you. Try to get that kid to succeed in another country. You understand what I'm saying? Go, fucking go, because I find it hard to find. I find it hard to connect with somebody in this country that's working their ass off, that ain't got much, but is fucking thankful for what they have. I know a lot of people that have worked their ass off to earn something, that are thankful for what they earned. They're proud to be an American and they're proud of what they earned. If it's that single-wide, if it's a double-wide, don't give a fuck what it is. Y'all earned it and you appreciate it. When the high on the hill members of society wanna tell you they're disappointed, I can tell them to get the fuck out. You understand what I'm saying. It's crazy to me that we still can't be proud of you and me. We've accomplished a lot in this country and you've accomplished a lot as a person. It has never been more important to be proud of where you're from, be proud of your country, y'all. It's time to stand up. It's time to take back this country and the first way to take that back is to express that you are actually proud to be here, to not be ashamed to say we made bad choices, but in life you're allowed to make bad choices. It's about how you respond, and we're about to respond and America's about to respond and we're gonna take it back. So this is not a plea for merchandising. This is a plea for me to you, begging you to be a loud, proud American. Don't be ashamed of what you believe. Don't be ashamed of where you come from or where you're going. You understand, it has never been more important to be a loud, proud American. We are losing what we fought for and we owe it to them to fight for what has been fought for. You understand, stand up. Stand up and be a loud, proud American. American Gotcha, my name is Lou. Loud Proud American is a lifestyle brand dedicated and determined to represent the American spirit, with an unrelenting commitment to provide made in the USA products. If you would like to join the 2% of Americans that buy American and support American, head on over to wwwloudproudamericanshop. Together we can bring back American manufacturing. All right, all right, all right, my aunt, what a powerful beginning of the show, and before we go, I'm gonna try to end the show in a positive way, but y'all already know. So we started things off the opening of the show today, I said we're gonna hand out some life advice from a felon, and that was a setup, that was a teaser, y'all, because I was setting up Jelly Roll, and if y'all are listeners of the show, if you're loyal ones, if you're a day one, y'all know how much I love me some Jelly Roll and if you know me personally, you already know that and I've had many conversations with many of you about Jelly Roll and the fact that I personally think he's one of the most authentic people on the planet. And it was just a year ago it was a year ago, veterans Day that I was in Nashville, tennessee, with my beautiful wife and a couple of great friends of mine, kevin and Amy and Dirk, and we were sitting in those church pews at the Rhyman Auditorium in Nashville, tennessee, on Veterans Day listening to Craig Morgan and he brought out Jelly Roll and Jelly, shared his story with all of us and everybody was in tears, everybody was crying as he was sharing his story about being a felon and getting the opportunity to start his life over and you can see somebody genuinely living their dream and it was beautiful. It was, thank you, one of the best memories I'll ever have. It was the greatest musical moment of my life and, beyond the music, it's a touching, powerful, motivational thing to see and to witness, to ultimately feel somebody truly living their dream. And when I say this I wanna kinda like slow down a little bit and say I'm a music snob. I've seen so many artists and I've met some highly successful, amazing, inspirational people in my life and I'm not downplaying any of those experiences of those people, but what I'm saying is some people just they've been doing something, they've been achieving something for so long that I don't wanna downplay it and say they take it for granted, cause I'm sure that they don't right and I know that they appreciate it, but to truly witness somebody achieving those things and experiencing those things for the first time, like seeing them real hand, like they're not someone that's been on tour forever, like this was like Jellies first time at the Ryman and him experiencing that and to be a part of that, to be in the room for somebody's first, is special. And when that person is someone that says I never believed this to be possible and it's possible, that power, that energy is something that's unexplainable and that's one of the things that just has set with me for forever. And it just drew me to jelly where I mean, I'll be honest, I don't love all of his music, but I love some of his music, you understand, and I'm inspired by some of his music, but I'm inspired by his message and his success and the fact that as he continues to achieve, he continues to share those blessings. I just saw a video of Jellie and his wife in a Walmart just taking care of people, just giving back, just filling shopping carts full of things for people, just sharing those blessings, because he feels like it's a responsibility to give back. And I could spend a long time just going off on my obsession with Jellie Roll and we can start the campaign any day now to get Jellie on the show. But I think it's so fitting that a year ago, a year ago on Veterans Day, I was in Nashville, tennessee, sitting in the crowd at the Ryman and Jellie came out. And a year ago I was in Nashville Tennessee, for the CMAs. The CMAs just happened last week. So one year ago the wife and I were standing outside the red carpet for the CMAs. Fast forward a year later and Jellie Roll is opening the show, performing at the CMAs, and during that show Jellie Roll wins new artist of the year, the CMA new artist of the year. And I don't often play audio just right from the get Red. I don't just play audio, somebody else's audio but I can't capture his emotion and many of you probably watched the show or, if you didn't, you probably already know. But if you did or you didn't, I want you to hear and feel this man's. Hopefully this sounds okay, but let's get to it.

And the CMA award for new artist of the year goes to Jellie Roll AND H.

I only got a second and I'm gonna say a lot. I'm sorry, but the quickest I can say it is thank you to the labels, tony Creek management, john Lowe. But Joe, jamie, you saved my life. Country radio what's up. I got a thousand people to thank you, most importantly, my Lord and my wife. I love you so much. You changed my life. Megan Parker Haley I love all y'all. We're friends. And Zach Bryant I think you were one of the hottest things on earth, not just country music. You deserve this as much as anybody else. I love you. I'm glad we're sitting there party in the rest of the night, baby. But most importantly, there is something poetic about a 39 year old man winning new artist of the year. I don't know where you're at in your life or what you're going through, but I want to tell you to keep going, baby. I want to tell you success is on the other side of it. I want to tell you it's gonna be okay.

I want to tell you that the win stand is bigger than the win blue near. A third reason Because what's in front of you is so much more important than what's behind you. Next party NASMIL.

I don't give a fuck who you are, where you are. That's one of the most powerful speeches and messages in 20 seconds that you will ever receive. And to see that big ass man on that stage living his dream full of tears, just like I am right now Preaching preaching because if you feel that, you felt that that came from the diaphragm, y'all that was preaching. He gave us a sermon right there. You understand, he gave us an absolute sermon. I've been in the crowd for jelly roll when he has conveyed that energy and that emotion. That's an unbelievable fucking message for each and every one of us. There is something poetic about a 39 year old man winning a new hardest of the year. I don't know where you're at in life or where you're going through, but I want to tell you to keep going. Maybe. I want to tell you, success is on the other side. I want to tell you it's going to be okay. I want to tell you that the windshield is bigger than the rear view mirror for a reason because what's in front of you is much more important than what's behind you. We all need to know that those mistakes that we talked about today, those things that we regret, they're behind us. That opportunity is in front of us. I've spent all day talking to you about being a loud, proud American and the fact that there's a lot of things we regret. There's a lot of mistakes in this world. There's a lot of despair in this world. There's a lot of hate in this world, but we can put that all behind us. We can save this world. What's in front of us is bigger than what's behind us. You understand, we look on the world view, on the global view, on what's happening in this fucking country. If we get back to what's right for you and me, we realize there's a price on you and me. Put that shit behind us, make a choice, make a change. Be the loud, proud American that you know to be, that you want to be, that you deserve to be, that. There's enough of you and me. We can change this country. My grandfather didn't serve for no reason. Your family didn't serve for no reason. We don't waste that reason. There's a goddamn reason. You understand. There's a reason for you and me. There ain't no price on you and me If you stand up and be a loud, proud American. That front windshields a hell of a lot bigger than the rear view, this is a dark time in this country, but this time in this country can be behind you and me, and when we drill down onto what's important and we drill in on who we are and we control what we can control, that's all the fuck we can control. We can't go to sleep at night Worrying about everything that is wrong and right. You can only control what you can control, and what you can control is yourself and your actions. You can stand up and be proud of who you are and you can realize that maybe you don't have all the things in life that you wanted. Maybe you've made mistakes, maybe you've fucked up and you failed, but there's an opportunity for you and there's an opportunity for me. And if you focus on you and you take advantage of those opportunities for you and you better you, if all of us all of us continue to better us ourselves individually, control what you can control, take advantage of your situation. If you better you and I better me, that's a better you and me and that's a better society. You just got a message from a felon. You just got the most powerful message I could possibly deliver it does not matter how old you are, it does not matter where you are, it does not matter if you are a felon, it does not matter what the situation is. There's an opportunity for you and me, and because we live in this great country, because all of those who serve, there are freedoms and there are opportunities for each and every one of us. I am not where I want to be, but I know what's in front of me and if you all take the time to know what's in front of you and that opportunity is bigger and bolder and beautiful in front of you, then what's behind you, that what you've been through prepares you for what you're going to go through. What you have done prepares you for what has begun. Because you are on the road to success, take care of your shit. Do what you believe in, because I believe in you.

There is something poetic about a 39 year old man winning new artist of the year. I don't know where you're at in your life or what you're going through, but I want to tell you to keep going, baby. I want to tell you success is on the other side of it. I want to tell you it's going to be okay.

I want to tell you that the win stand is bigger than the ramp. Who gave a third reason? Because what's in front of you is so much more important than what's behind you. Next party NASBEN.

Damn. I want to thank you for supporting Jelly Rolls American Dream. Now go wash your fucking hands. You felt the savage. That's it and that's all. Biggie Smiles. If you found value in today's show, please return the favor and leave a positive review. Share it with someone that is important to you. Hit, subscribe and help us grow our tribe. Are you interested in sponsoring the show? Maybe you're looking to be a guest on the show? Find all that you need to know about the show at sharethestrugglepodcastcom. Subscribe to Grow Our Tribe on Apple Podcasts, spotify, google Podcasts, amazon Music, iheart Radio and all other major platforms. And don't forget to like and share our official Facebook page at Share the Struggle Podcast. If you're a loud, proud American and you find yourself just wanting more, you can find me on YouTube, on Facebook or the Face Page, as my mama calls it, just search Loud, proud American. If you're a fan of the Graham Cracker, the Instagram or the Tickety Tuck with the kids, be a Tickety Tuckin' the Tick Tuck. You can search Loud, underscore, proud, underscore American. If you want to join the 2% of Americans that support American manufacturing, head on over to wwwloudproudamericanshop and get your hands on some of that made in USA. Apparel and join the mission Mission 2%. Together we can bring back American manufacturing. A big old thank you to the boys from the Gut Truckers for the background beats and the theme song that shared the struggle podcast. You can find the Gut Truckers on Facebook. Just search Gut Truckers and show your support to those Mother Truckers. I truly thank you for supporting my American dream. Now go wash your fucking hands you filthy savage.