Yet another good…no, great…essay by Gerard: “How We Live Now.” Excerpt:
How we live now is in a space where the blood-oath "Never forget!" has been essentially "disappeared" as well. Instead, the oath has become -- at most -- the question, "Have you forgotten?" popularized a year or so back by a maudlin Country and Western tune of some distinction but little note. Once a blood-oath becomes a question the answer is always -- for most -- "Yes."
For those who have not forgotten and who still hold to the oath of "Never forget," such an answer affirms only the shallowness and self-deceit of the growing mass of fellow citizens weary of war at six removes; those eager to "move on." And while this is not unexpected nor even incomprehensible, it is disheartening to see the shameless use of this urge daily -- most explicitly in the work of the hyper-traitors that compose the group of the same name; a group that seems always fully funded and well beyond any consequence as yet for their treason, and for which pride in treason seems to be a necessary line on the membership application. This too is how we live now.
Well, what of it? Let those diseased with decadence, dead of heart, steeped in cowardice, roiled by hate of that which nurtures them, and possessed of souls riddled with the chancres of the spirit tattoo these marks upon themselves. The better to know them in a future time. Such beings always proliferate in the dark passages of history; and always play on the mindlessness of the masses. It is their insect nature. You can see it in the species from the maggot men of
The people I know personally and call “friend” haven’t forgotten, far from it. But most of my friends and nearly ALL of my family (there is but one exception, and she shall remain nameless) are either military, former military, or are military-friendly. And perhaps that’s the reason that everyone in my small circle of friends “remembers.” The mindset that Gerard rails about, and he is RIGHT to rail, is entirely foreign to my direct experience. But I know that that particular mindset does, in fact, exist. Case in point: Kris (in
War and remembrance. They go hand-in-hand. And the simple fact remains: we are still at war. Wishful thinking on the part of folks who think this whole nasty business would go away if we’d only get out of Iraq, if only we’d “talk” to those who would kill us in less time than it takes to blink an eye (or the time it takes to draw a dull knife across our collective throats while video taping it), if only we’d quit “exploiting” the rest of the world, if only we’d quit supporting Israel unequivocally and “help” the Palestinians, if only we’d impeach the president, and all the other tangential bullsh!t spouted off ad nauseum by Code Pink, MoveOn.org and their fellow-travelers will not “make it so.” Far, far from it.
God Save Us from the ostrich-people who would bury their heads in the sand and urge… nay, demand… we follow their example, even as our enemies announce with perfect clarity their aims and objectives. Yet some of us know what to do, and how to do it. Let’s hope those of us who know prevail over those of us who don’t.
The Bible is full of stories of forgetful people who fall back into the old mistakes. Like the children of Israel forgetting how God had delivered them from Egypt with great miracles and parting of the sea. Yet they did forget and even wanted to go back. The Bible tells us to teach our children about war - not to let them forget the battles we have fought. Although this is spiritual, it is very literal too.
ReplyDeleteBuck,
ReplyDeleteThat was well written, thank you for those words of wisdom.
Shelly
There are no conservatives and liberals. There are people who see an attack like what took place six years ago, and say "wow, we are really vulnerable" and there are others who look at it and say "wow, there are some sick people in the world."
ReplyDeleteVery few people who have one of those thoughts, put much energy into the other.
Gerard's words are good ones. So are yours. Well done.