There's a decidedly old and familiar saying: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." While the origin of the saying is unclear, the meaning remains obvious: "When hard times arrive, the strong will harden and endure them.” At least, that’s how we usually interpret the saying. Another possible interpretation is “When hard times arrive, those who pretended to be strong in easier times will falter and run away.”

I feel that both make a great deal of sense if you think about how people usually react to tough times — similar to the “fight or flight” response. Either you actually buck up and rise to the occasion of difficult times, or your bite doesn’t nearly measure up to all your bark, and you are found lacking.

You are an idiot if you think our current reality isn’t one of those times.

I’m sorry, was that too harsh? Well, the thing is that I’m not sorry at all. To be honest, I’m done with mincing my words or holding back the full force of my opinions any longer. So yes, we live in one such hard time. And I think we can clearly see who is acting in which manner nowadays.

I’m not going to waste time by pointing fingers at specific people, whether in government, the public celebrity spotlight, or on the street or in the workplace. Basically, if you’ve decided to bury your head in the sand and pretend that nothing that has occurred in the past six months is out of the ordinary, you are officially the “tough” that has “got going” — right out the door and away from any discomfort.

On the other hand, if you have spent the past half-year writhing in discomfort as blatant, hideous dishonesty and incompetence become the bywords of our national leadership, as I have, then there’s hope for you yet. There’s still a good chance that you are one of the tough that will actually get going and pull through.

So get going. Toughen up. Pull through. Resist. Nevertheless, persist. You saw the cover photo on this article, right? It’s there for a reason. A fundamental part of being American is seeing the proper course of action to take and then taking it, even when the established authority tries to stop it or condemns it as irrelevant. The brilliant thing is that we can see this happening, right now. We can look to the states and cities that are ignoring the blustering rhetoric of our leadership and are committing to the future-minded ideals of other leading nations of the world. That fabulous gal on the cover photo, along with her massively successful recent film, kinda embody that as well.

Bottom line — the going has indeed gotten tough. So toughen up and get going.