I recently was invited to attend an event hosted by my alma mater—a college that is outspokenly conservative and so generally attracts young conservatives and libertarians—in order to speak to incoming college freshmen about their transition into higher education. While sharing my experience about how my liberal arts education set me up for professional success in the national defense arena, I was surprised to hear so much shock from rising freshman over the fact that someone with my values would have worked for the government.

It wasn’t the first time I had heard this sentiment: Don’t join the military—it’s woke; don’t aspire to the CIA or FBI, who colluded against Trump; don’t go to college—you will be brainwashed by liberal ideologies; don’t step foot into X store—it’s woke … the list goes on of places and things to avoid.

I usually hear these warnings from older generations, so I was surprised to hear it from 18–19 year olds.

And it got me thinking: How do conservatives expect to impact society and live full and interconnected, community-oriented lives if we withdraw so radically from society?

Now, I am not advocating for embracing progressive institutions with abandon. In fact, I think that youth should be protected from harmful ideologies pushed in places like public schools until they are firm in their convictions. However, at some point, an individual should be able to pursue their passions and convictions in arenas with potentially opposing views.

Completely avoiding institutions with certain views is a kind of defeatism and withdrawal from society, and the ensuing isolationist attitude makes me uneasy for the future of this nation. It makes me very uneasy about the future of institutions like the military that are currently caught in the latest assaults posed by progressive ideological warfare and could greatly use more conservative voices.

If you are a conservative with conservative friends or family, you’ve probably witnessed this sort of attitude first hand. You’ve probably heard a relative say, “If such-and-such candidate wins the election, I’m going to move to X country.” The reason being, according to the individual ready to pack their bags and leave, that our country is too corrupt, too far gone, to be saved.

This kind of wholesale condemnation of society sees American society, and therefore our communities, as wholly lost. It’s not a very empathetic lens with which to view our neighbors and fellow citizens. It doesn’t offer much room to find common ground, share one’s own view, or create and cultivate community.

We should be engaging with our neighbors and acquaintances as much as possible. We should be getting to know them as people and articulating our beliefs and convictions as we come to know theirs. We should be trying to salvage the better parts of our military, our academic institutions, and our entertainment industry.

Sometimes we need to remember that there are, in fact, better parts to such institutions. For instance, films like John Lee Hancock’s The Blind Side or Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge remind me that, every so often, even Hollywood can’t resist a truly beautiful and morally sound story. Likewise, I have met intelligence officers who were excellent professionals and true patriots, and I’ve met countless military members of whom the same could be said. We too often dwell on the ridiculous actions of bureaucratic leadership to notice the everyday heroes who are actually making a difference in government service. Contrary to what the news may lead us to think, not all of America’s big institutions are wholly irredeemable.

As a Christian, I am reminded that Christ came among us while we were and are lost.

Who are we to give up on America now?

We should be fighting—as Sam put it in The Lord of the Rings films, “There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”

Moral reasoning aside, I also have two personal reasons that we cannot have a defeatist and isolationist attitude as conservatives. Those reasons are my two children.

The moment that my first son was born, my life became about making the world that he will inherit better. I want my children to live in a world where they can have a rich social life with good friendships, with a variety of solid academic institutions to attend, with the enjoyment of fine arts, with the ability to pursue a career of their choice, and with the ability to forge meaningful connections in their local community.

But the next generation will be robbed of all that if America’s educational institutions are increasingly piloted by ideologues, if the entertainment industry and the arts become merely propaganda, if young people cannot pursue meaningful employment because corporations and institutions are antagonistic toward their beliefs.

In short, our children won’t have rich lives if society continues to erode and politics continue to divide Americans to the core. Disdain for just how far American society has fallen will do absolutely nothing to reclaim our nation. Ceding academia, entertainment and the fine arts, and the military to ideologues is what far too many Americans have done for far too long.

Let’s not let fear, hopelessness, or a condemning spirit keep us from seeking employment or otherwise engaging with institutions and individuals that have embraced woke ideologies. Let’s be the kind of Americans who can boldly engage in our institutions. The time may come when we will have to stand up for what we believe, and we should face that confrontation, should it come, with the courage of our own faith in the veracity of our convictions.

The possibility of facing backlash or even termination for our beliefs should not keep us from engaging; rather, it is the kind of heroism that the times call for. If we have done our part well, then our stand will not go unnoticed or forgotten. We will sow seeds of truth that would otherwise never have seen the light of day in the radical quagmire of today’s institutions.

So, for the sake of future generations, let’s not hide in our own ideological echo chambers. Let’s confront our messy society with equal parts empathy and conviction.

There’s too much at stake not to.

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The views/statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed in this article are strictly the author’s own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Government.