There’s a line in the movie Seven that has haunted me ever since I watched it this past week. Kevin Spacey’s character, the twisted mastermind John Doe, admits his sin was envy. He envied Detective David Mills, his life, his family, his hope.
That envy consumed John Doe until it drove him to destroy the very thing he couldn’t have. And in doing so, he set the stage for Detective Mills, played by Brad Pitt, to fall headlong into the sin of wrath. One sin feeding the next. One man’s weakness pulling another into ruin.
The ending of that movie was incredibly brutal, and not just because of what happened on screen. It was brutal because it wasn’t just about John Doe and Detective Mills, it was about all of us. In that moment, it was like the curtain lifted and I saw our country written into that ending, clear as day.
Let me ask you, if you held a mirror up to America, what would you see? Personally, I see envy everywhere. Envy in the illusion of lives of ease that don’t exist. Envy in security that can’t be promised. Envy in distractions that numb but never heal. We envy stability so much that we settle for comfort instead of freedom. And in that envy, we’ve handed power away. As Franklin warned, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Worse, we’ve let envy rot into apathy, because if you believe someone else already has what you never will, why bother trying? That’s the poison. That’s the setup. That’s how a whole people slide into the final deadly sin: wrath.
Just like Detective Mills did...
You see, wrath doesn’t start as fire. It starts as silence. As nothingness. As people shrugging their shoulders while debt climbs, freedoms shrink, and Washington bloats itself fat at the table we built. Wrath begins as stillness, as indifference, until one day the silence shatters and the rage explodes all at once. Look at history, nations don’t crumble peacefully; they fracture violently when the apathy finally boils over. And that, my friends, is where we as a country are headed if nothing changes.
But I don’t want that ending. Not for me. Not for you. Not for this republic that I still believe is worth saving. I demand a new ending to our movie! And here’s the truth I’ve come to after staring into that nothingness: there is a steadiness available on the other side of despair. It’s the steadiness of knowing this matters, and I can do something, today, tomorrow, and every day after. The Founders understood this. They didn’t wait for perfect conditions. They acted in their moment, with what they had, and built something greater than themselves. They left us not just the greatest government evert conceived, but tools, tools we are supposed to pick up daily.
So where does that leave us? Personally, it leaves me waking up each morning “choosing to matter”. I can speak when silence feels easier. I can show up to the smallest local meeting, because that’s where power hides when no one’s watching. I can write, not because words alone change the world, but because they change hearts, and hearts change nations. I can join others in the Article V effort by Convention of States to remind Washington that the states still have teeth. I can live as though liberty is fragile, because it is so very very fragile.
And when I’m saying, “choosing to matter,” I mean it in the most physical sense. I can feel the weight of it in my chest, heavy as a boulder when I don’t act, light as a feather when I do. I can hear the clock ticking in the silence of my own house, reminding me that every minute I waste in this quest is a gift I’ll never get back. I see the eyes of the next generation watching, waiting, facing a future we shape with every act of courage, or every shrug of apathy. I can taste the bitterness of regret when I think about all the days I looked away, and I can smell the acrid smoke of a nation slowly burning while we scroll along on our phones. These aren’t metaphors to me, they are real. They drive me. And they should damn well drive you too.
Because my personal steadiness is not enough. The apathy of millions can only be answered by the courage of that many millions more. If every single one of us picked one thing each day—just one—to push back against the nothingness, the tide would turn before the next generation inherits that awful silence.
Call your Senator and Representative(s). Register a neighbor to vote. Read the Constitution with your loved ones. Pray for wisdom and courage. Write a letter. Show up. Act like it matters, because my friends it truly does.
If you do, if I do, if we all do, the deadly sin waiting for America—the wrath that will come when silence breaks—can be transformed into something else entirely: a righteous resolve.
I don’t want to live in a country where envy and apathy script the next page. I want to live in a country where ordinary citizens, with extraordinary faith and grit, take hold of the tools our Founders left us and write the next great page of the American experiment. That next page doesn’t start in Washington but in your living room, your town, your state. It starts with one steady step out of nothingness into purpose.
Do you feel that? The pounding in your chest, the urgency in your gut, the shiver down your spine that says, “This Matters”? I know I feel it. And I’m telling you, today is the day to do something with that feeling...
Today’s one steady step should be to Convention of States, sign the petition and volunteer!
If you appreciate Restore First Principles posts, please consider giving them a like. It’s a simple gesture that costs you nothing but goes a long way in promoting this Stack, pushing back against censorship, and standing up to the truth we must defend.
Each day, offer yourself to God first, to further his kingdom, and to your country second, to be a citizen, not merely a resident. Do something each day as you are given the opportunity.
You've given us a lot to think about. I'm heartbroken that a young lady was stabbed on public transit and a young man was silenced this week. It feels as though we've reached a point of no return if we don't speak up and act now. I hope others will be motivated by your words also!