Recently, I bought a special gift: the music collection called Abbey Road by The Beatles.  Its second side has long been considered one of the best series of tracks in popular music.  It did not disappoint.  I must say, lots of their lyrics were simply off-the-wall crazy, but their music hits the mark.

One song begins as follows:

Once there was a way
To get back homeward.
Once there was a way
To get back home.

Those lines are haunting – beautiful words with a melody stirring the emotions.  Melancholy, wishing for something that was so good in the past, and wanting it to be in the present again.  This was the last time The Beatles would record together.  The song may have a hint of what they shared together and what they wanted to continue with.

For some years, a big question for me has been, how do we put this divided society of ours back together again?  We have been embroiled in a massive cold civil war for decades now.  It's on the verge of hot as the so-called media (Democrats with bylines), the Deep State, and the Democratic Party have tried to nullify an election for over a year.

It was an election that was calling America home.

That's what "Make America Great Again" means.  Make no mistake about it: that's the bottom line of Trump's call.  Let's bring America into the future by using those attributes and principles that made it great in the first place.

It's the way to get back homeward.

We have watched as the left has gone way over the top in shrillness, in deceitfulness, in demagoguery, in simple hatred of their opponents.  These opponents apparently are still the majority of America.  Note that leftists hate us and what we stand for.  America as founded must be "transformed" or obliterated.  That's what they want.  And if you disagree with them, you must be destroyed.  They've shown us that side for years now; the past year, it's simply fully out in the open.  You can hear the insanity daily.  Joy Behar's comment about Christians being mentally ill is the latest salvo in this war the left is ginning up. 

We do need to get back home, and there are multiple constructs needed to get there.  A few:

- The left, its failed and negative ideas, must be defeated and rolled back, replaced with commonsense ideas filled with life that really work to our good. 

- Those on the center-right who are inadvertently blocking the doorway home, such as Jeff Flake, John McCain, and the Bush family, must be held accountable for their collusion with the left's failed negative ideas.

- On the center-right, we need to understand the stakes of this war.  Look at how close the left came to a monopoly on our political and social lives.  Had Hillary won, we would barely recognize home, let alone get back.  She would have removed the door.  If we lose this last glorious chance to come home, we're just a few short steps away from the left putting a stranglehold on all the good things America has to offer.

- Most important, in the sea of turmoil we face, we need to act as if we are home.  We need to display and embody once again the character that made America great.  We cannot allow the left to take away those good things.  In spite of our so-called comedians' and elites' pronouncements, there is nothing more precious than holding goodness and character up as a beacon for what we are striving for.  It's the way back home.

A wonderful story was quietly broadcast this past Sunday, resounding before and after because it is not new.  It's a story about character that should be shared over and over.  An example of faithfulness and grit, by people involved in the world of sports, this saga has been one of the finer stories this year.  After reading about and watching this story, I realized it's a tale of greatness, a landmark of who and what we can be. 

Sunday's addition to the story was the last home basketball game for the senior known as Austin Hatch.  At the game, the seniors of the home team were honored, Austin among them.

Austin was once a blue-chip recruit out of an Indiana high school.  He had committed to a scholarship offer at his mom's alma mater and hoped to be a college star, perhaps on his way to the NBA.  He had that much talent.

Just one week after his commitment, Austin Hatch was traveling with his family in their small plane.  It crashed, and his dad and his beloved step-mom both died in that tragedy.  Austin was in a coma for eight weeks, going from weighing well over two hundred pounds to one hundred forty.

He could no longer walk or even talk.  It took him a long time to regain just the capacity to exist, let alone regain the basis for a real life again.

John Belein is a fairly famous basketball coach.  He has a record of making his players and teams better, providing an environment for their character development.  He is known for it.  His story is remarkable.  He is one of the few you can say has dealt with the divisiveness, cheating, and corruption so prevalent in some college sports programs yet has remained squeaky-clean. Jiminy Cricket was barely this good.

Austin Hatch no longer had a father, but he was visited by his future coach many times as he struggled back.  He was there while Austin was in his coma, when he couldn't walk or talk.  Coach Belein followed up with this orphan, becoming a parent and mentor.

He did all this with little fanfare.  It was done discreetly, away from the cameras.  He promised Austin he would hold his scholarship for him, and he left that promise as a carrot that helped keep Austin working during his physical rehabilitation.  When Austin was finally ready, he joined his university class as a scholarship player.

John Belein kept his promise. 

This was at a fairly steep price to his team.  There are only thirteen scholarships available to an NCAA division I basketball program to give out.  Most high-level schools turn away lesser athletes in hopes of getting better players.  John Belein gave away one of the few he had available for that class, because Austin needed a new family to support him.

By keeping his promise, he gave Austin the chance to regain his life.

Austin never was able to play the game he was so good at again.  He remarked once that his body would never let him do what his mind wanted it to.  He was given a few minutes of playing time at the end of five games.  His best statistic was scoring one point, one of three free throws.

One point for his basketball career.

And now his real career is just beginning, in life and in business.  He is graduating, has a job, and is getting married.  As he said recently, "Life's good, man."

A fine athlete in her own right, Abby Cole, his fiancée, has a Twitter feed where she has one pinned tweet.  It reads: "God's love is transforming."

They are planning to share that love with their lives.  These are the best of a new generation – living productive lives, hopefully to raise a family, making their culture better just by taking part in it.

At Sunday's Senior Day, Austin thanked the fans, his teammates, and his coach.  Here is a quote from his short speech, about his mentor, Coach Belein: "They say the ultimate measure of a man is how he treats a man who could never repay him."

There is some well earned praise.

Coach Belein helped this one fine person get back home.  He put one person on the path to being great again.  His intention was not political, but it's the kind of personal story that is needed so desperately in this time of squalid leftist horror.  We need thousands and thousands of these kinds of stories to add up to the final promise of Making America Great Again.

While the left is busy politicizing the horrible shooting in Florida and demagoguing the Russia story for its own agenda, our best and most final answer is the many real stories like that of John Belein and Austin Hatch.  In the end, we live well, to our highest, or America can't be great again.  It's how we put it back together.