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Delusions Of Grandeur ("beta testing" an editorial, comments appreciated)

Your Opinion/Questions Miscellaneous Keywords: WORLD TRADE CENTER, PENTAGON, TERRORISM, BETA-TESTING AN EDITORIAL
Source: intended for TheForce.net (not published yet)
Published: September 27, 2001 Author: Christopher Knight AKA Darth Sidious
Posted on 09/28/2001 00:08:13 PDT by Darth Sidious

Delusions of Grandeur

A TFN editorial is usually on something like DVDs or Episode II or Jar Jar Binks' existence. Simple, innocent stuff, y'know...

Not this time, not material things like that. Materialism is become an inane thing to enough people lately. I don't feel like writing about Star Wars and some don't feel like reading about it anyway. Not only because of what happened on September 11th, but also for what is happening, right now, in our lifetime. Some have said we shouldn't delve into the real world... that TFN should be a means of escape from the daily grind. That in the two weeks since the attacks we've seen too much grief already, it's time to move on. And if this were anything other than what we've been through, I'd agree, absolutely.

But for all we know, this is now World War III... the other shoe just hasn't dropped yet. We're in that period between shooting the Archduke and Austria getting honked-off enough at Serbia. How can we not reflect upon the times given us? We didn't ask for this, but here it is... and it ain't gonna go away just because we try to wish it away. "Star Wars is just an escapist movie", right? Yeah, well two Siths took over a fictional galaxy... while in realityone guy masterminded a three-day immobilization of the most powerful nation in recorded history. Maybe we should face some reality head-on for a change...

That's not to say we SHOULDN'T talk about Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter at all... absolutely keep looking forward to them! Now more than ever we need good stories like these. We gotta have some kind of talisman of innocence to hold onto against this world's madness. Life must go on, because if we deny ourselves this little, then the scumbags responsible for September 11th have already won. And damned be us if we give them even that much of a victory. And if you desire a nugget of saga lore, stick around: you might find it.

We've had too much escapism already. Escapism, as with everything else, is a good thing in moderation. If Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings are merely vehicles to escape this world from, then we've denied them their greatest power. They aren't "realities", but they are "idealities": realms where the line between Good and Evil still exists and where few have to debate about what side they fall on. On their own they can inspire, like every other myth has done. Taken too seriously, they dull our senses of the real world. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, the twin dangers of fantasy is to either not enjoy it and thus miss it's meaning, or to enjoy it too much, and let it take hold over you.

There's a delicate balance that must be walked between those two extremes. We've perhaps gone over too far into one... now we should return to the other.

Nothing said here will assuage any grief or anger, though I've prayed for words that could do so. Or at least the grief... it would be counter-productive to not take a lesson from anger even now. During the service at National Cathedral on September 14, the Rev. Billy Graham said we should be angry, even at God for allowing this to happen.

I'm angry at God. But for whatever comfort this may bring, I have faith that He is sovereign over all things... and that however painful this time is, that good will come out of it. Right now we're in the valley, climbing our way back to the summit... we can't appreciate the view from up there, without first seeing things from down here. But right now I'm angry over a LOT of things that led us down here in the first place...

I'm angry at the person who engineered this. He is the worst kind of coward: too afraid to face his own death but not afraid to send others to theirs. And ever notice how people like that never EVER put their own butts on the line? How do you measure a man? By what he's willing to give of his own for what he believes in. The person responsible for this believes in nothing: not in the sanctity of life, and not even in the God his religion describes. Nothing can describe the vehemence we should express towards this person.

But while blaming a person in a distant land, there's a nagging ache on my heart to see where some responsibility lies on the shoulders of many people - including my own - in my home nation. Please do not misunderstand: what happened on September 11th was the evil and calculated actions of one man. But that we've grown so shallow and lethargic that it took more casualties than the invasion of Normandy to shock us back to our senses... that makes me angry also. And not all the patriotism - which I am very thankful for - going on now will heal the abuse we've done to this country over the past decades. Waving a flag does not make anyone a saint, nor will all the "God Bless America"s we've seen on restaurant signs add the slightest whit of righteousness to this or any other land. We've corrupted ourselves, while somewhere a real-life phantom menace made plans to attack us while we were most vulnerable.

There has to be more to freedom than just waving a banner and saying the right words, and we've forgotten that.

I'm upset with modern politics, on both sides of the aisle. Two generations and more have come of age believing that Conservative vs. Liberal is synonymous with Right vs. Wrong. We've bought into that lie, while the people who gave it to us have done little but fight for power amongst themselves. We've been told that Good and Evil were subjective: that whatever we wanted could be "good" if we so desired. We fought for those crumbs from the table of our own freedom, distracted enough by "benefactors" so that it never occurred to us to ask of them "for what price?" We can't define ourselves by something as cheap as our modern politics anymore... we can't afford to, not if we're to hold onto this gift of liberty.

I'm disappointed with a lot of our so-called "spirituality", including some things of the very faith I hold to. Spirituality in America is, in a lot of ways, an apathetic, lukewarm shell of a thing. While many sought a refuge of peace and comfort from this cold harsh world, many of us denied them that much, content as we were to chase after hobgoblins like Harry Potter and Dungeons & Dragons. Weren't there better things our faith could have motivated?

I'm frustrated that we, when given the choice between easy comfort and earned freedom, chose the quick and easy path of security. In the aftermath of the attacks more people are becoming readily willing to surrender a little freedom for a little security. My beef with this is that history has proven that whenever a little freedom is yielded, the rest inevitably follows.

But all of this are small parts of the problem: we've become so enamored of fleeting material dainties, we've grown atrophied from the strength we once had... that all of us had, American or not. This world has seduced us into laxity and petty pageantry... and now comes a time to demonstrate we must yet earn the right to be called individuals in the entirety of freedom.

Why did this happen? Because in the grand scheme of things, we may have let it happen. But now is not the time to shed crocodile tears and duck our head in the sand over it. And even now, good is coming from this incident. The Red Cross once could barely keep the bloodbanks filled... now it can barely accommodate everyone who wants to donate. Fire and police departments, Boy Scouts and other youth, and working people everywhere are collecting for the victims. All over the world, the very worst of events has brought out the very best of the human condition, and that can't go without mention.

In the weeks and months, perhaps even years to come, all of you now reading these words - no matter where on this Earth you are - will be fighting two wars. The first will be the most obvious: the war against threats from without. Some of us, if not now already, will soon find ourselves at the forefront of this struggle. The second war will be aimed at within, over our own identity... and how much it means to each of us to preserve and maintain that.

Who knows, but modern myths like Star Wars, Lord Of The Rings, and the rest may be about to come to our service, in our most desperate hour. Don't look to them for absolute guidance, but do keep them as a reminder of what we once had, have been called to defend, and what we can still have again.

It's not the best of times we have come upon: there has been much grief, and more is certain to come. But I'll close on this note: a few days ago I spoke with a good friend, who told me something his grandfather - a World War II vet - had said: that the conflict before us now will eclipse the brutality and longevity of the second world war. But also, that this generation, and not his own, would go down in history as the true "Greatest Generation". That as more will be inflicted upon us, so too will we find it within ourselves to give more. Not that it is asked of us, but that we are spurned onward by a higher calling than mere men could articulate.

Would that it be true...

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

-- from "Ulysses", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Heads-up!

And I've *no* idea how those weird blue lines got into the quote from "Ulysses".

JohnRob...? :-)

If you hope to publish, you had better learn to write.

Okay, let's start there:

What could be improved upon?

What could be improved upon?

I'm not going to slam like Old Professor, but I quit reading when I hit the 'Star Wars' references. Can't stand that crap. Just MHO.

Ummmm... it's written for a Star Wars website :-)

1 - I used to post at one of the Star Wars forums a while back for a short time (probably a year ago) and never knew you were one of the guys running that site. Interesting. :)

2 - No critique, but - Billy Graham really said we should be angry with God? Didn't hear that.

We as Americans will slack off for survival while US other Americans give respite.

It will work out and work for all the families.

We are grieving and supporting are fellows.

I have not one answer nor a solution yet will support each and everyone who is brave to actually go to battle and listen to our Commander in Chief President G.W. Bush.

nuff said

Actually he said it's okay to be angry with God.

Good catch. Thanks!

Fixed now.

If I were to critique or edit the entire piece, I would be some time, but let's just use the last sentence for starters:

Not that it is asked of us, but that we are spurned onward by a higher calling than mere men could articulate.

"Spurned" should obviously be "spurred", as one would "spur" a horse to go forward; "a higher calling than mere men could articulate" is terribly awkward; "callings" are not articulated, they are "heard" (assuming your use of articulate is to speak), now, rephrase it as this:

Not that it is demanded of us, but rather that we are spurred to act from an unarticulated, yet heard, calling beyond that of man himself.

Doh!

Y'see, I've really been enraged by a lot of things of late, and usually something like this would not get past me. But when the ol' adrenaline kicks in and sends the synapses smokin' with an idea...

Changed. Thanks!

Actually, this is pretty tame: TheForce.net is notorious for reckless posting without a spellchecker ;-)

I have two spellcheckers; they reside at my left side in the bookcase next to the computer desk, both covers and most pages are tattered, yet I seldom refer to them for other's spelling, only my own.

My first copy of Wordperfect was fully illiterate; the dictionary doubled in size after the first month's use as I added to it.

A long time ago, I was a weatherman in a lonely tower with nothing to read but the WBAN (the official Army Navy Weather Bureau manual) and a Webster's 3rd International dictionary, I read that dictionary from cover to cover twice in four years and I still mis-type, but I refuse to touch-type; old dog stuff, I guess.

My sense is that you will be pilloried for allowing any suggestion or intimation that there could possibly be anything in our conduct, whether individually or as a nation, that would allow the Tuesday Terror to occur. The attack was, indeed, violative of everything -- thus it is simply not possible that any natural law could have allowed it to happen. Any such thought invokes a hint of reciprocity and is seen to shift the blame to the victims. Gravity would fail before we, as Americans, could be in any way connected other than as completely innocent victims.

Not that I believe that to be an accurate assessment -- it did, after all, happen to us. But I expect that you would be hounded for implying that any accounting is due.

was-salaam,
ankaboot
--
Rejoice, muslims, in martyrdom without fighting,
a Mercy for us. Be like the better son of Adam.

Yeah, I know.

Got death threats as a columnist on the college's newspaper. If they're gonna take me, I pray to go with my boots on.

Tip 2:

But all of this are small parts of the problem: we've become so enamored of fleeting material dainties, we've grown atrophied from the strength we once had...

By combining "all" with "are" you have confused the plural and the singular; "fleeting material dainties" is impossible to paint; too many fuzzy edges, "we've grown atrophied" is oxymoronic as atrophication is a diminishment of function and mass, not growth; let me try to express the thought differently:

But, all of this is just a small piece of the puzzle that troubles us so, the strength we once enjoyed from well-earned order has suddenly atrophied, enervating us and separating us from our coffee-table complacency, bringing us face-to-face with stark reality that evil does exist and it is in our backyard, just short of the door.

Mixing metaphors is like falling in love at 3:00A.M. at Joe's Bar:

But now is not the time to shed crocodile tears and duck our head in the sand over it.

Try this:

Now is not the time to shed crocodile tears or bury our heads in the sand like foolish Ostriches...

Re: #18 and #19... curious, that I'd just finished rewriting those :-)

This one is minor and easily cleaned up:

I'm frustrated that we, when given the choice between easy comfort and earned freedom, chose the quick and easy path of security. In the aftermath of the attacks more people are becoming readily willing to surrender a little freedom for a little security. My beef with this is that history has proven that whenever a little freedom is yielded, the rest inevitably follows.

Simply rewrite it thus:

I'm frustrated that when we were given the choice between comfort and earned freedom, we chose the quick and easy path of comfort in the hope of gaining security. In the aftermath of the attacks more people are becoming readily willing to surrender a little freedom for a little security. My beef with this is that history has proven that whenever a little freedom is yielded, the loss of freedom inevitably follows.

Version 2:

Delusions of Grandeur

An editorial on TFN is usually about something like DVDs or Episode II or Jar Jar Binks' existence. Simple, innocent stuff, y'know...

Not this time. Materialism is become an inane thing to enough people lately. I don't feel like writing the usual and many wouldn't feel like reading it anyway. Not just because of what happened on September 11th, but also for what is happening, right now, in our lifetime. Some may argue that we shouldn't delve into the real world... that TFN should be a means of escape from the daily grind. That in the two weeks since the attacks we've seen too much grief already, it's time to move on. And maybe so, if this were anything other than what we've been through lately.

But for all we know, we now live in the nascent stages of World War III. We're in that period between shooting the Archduke and Austria getting honked-off enough at Serbia. How can we not reflect upon the times given us? We didn't ask for this, but here it is... and it ain't gonna go away just because we try to wish it away. "Star Wars is just an escapist movie", right? Yeah, well two Sith took over a fictional galaxy... while in reality one guy masterminded a three-day immobilization of the most powerful nation in recorded history. Maybe we should face some reality head-on for a change...

That's not to say we shouldn't talk about Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter at all... absolutely keep looking forward to them! Now more than ever we need good stories like these. We require a talisman of innocence to hold onto against this world's madness. Life must go on, because if we deny ourselves this much, then those responsible for September 11th have already won. And damned be us if we give them even that victory. And if you desire a nugget of saga lore, stick around: you might find it.

Maybe we've had too much escapism. Escapism, as with everything else, is good in moderation. If Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings are merely vehicles to escape this world from, then we've denied them their greatest power. They aren't "realities", but they are "idealities": realms where the line between Good and Evil still exists and where few have to debate about what side they fall on. On their own they can inspire, like every other myth has done. Taken too seriously, they dull our senses of the real world. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, the twin dangers of fantasy are to either not enjoy it and thus miss it's meaning, or to enjoy it too much, and let it take hold over you.

There's a delicate balance that should be walked between those two extremes. Have we gone over too far into one? If so, now we can return to the other.

Nothing said here will assuage any grief or anger, though I've prayed for words that could do so. Or at least the grief... even now we can take a lesson from anger. During the service at National Cathedral on September 14, the Rev. Billy Graham said weshould be angry, and that like Job it was even okay to be angry at God for allowing this to happen.

I may be angry at God. But for whatever comfort this may bring, I have faith that He is sovereign over all things... and that no matter the suffering, good will come out of it. Right now we're in the valley, climbing our way back to the summit. We can't appreciate the view from up there, without first seeing things from down here. But right now I'm angry over a LOT of things that led us down here in the first place...

I'm angry at the person who engineered this. He is the worst kind of coward: too afraid to face his own death but not afraid to send others to theirs. And ever notice how people like that never EVER put their own butts on the line? How do you measure a man? By what he's willing to sacrifice for what he believes in. The person responsible for this believes in nothing: not in the sanctity of life, and not even in the God his religion describes. Nothing can describe the vehemence we should express towards this person.

But while blaming a person in a distant land, there's a nagging ache on my heart to see where some responsibility lies on the shoulders of many people - including my own - in my home nation. Please do not misunderstand: what happened on September 11th was the evil and calculated actions of one man. But that we've grown shallow and lethargic enough that it took more casualties than the invasion of Normandy to shock us back to our senses... that makes me angry also. And not all the patriotism - which I am very thankful for - going on now will heal the abuse we've done to this country over the past decades. Waving a flag does not make anyone a saint, nor will all the "God Bless America"s we've seen on restaurant signs add the slightest whit of righteousness to this or any other land. We've corrupted ourselves, while somewhere a real-life phantom menace made plans to attack us while we were most vulnerable.

There has to be more to freedom than just waving a banner and saying the right words, and we've forgotten about that.

I'm upset with modern politics, on both sides of the aisle. Two generations and more have come of age believing that "Us. vs. Them" is synonymous with Right vs. Wrong. We've bought into that lie, while the people who gave it to us have done little but fight for power amongst themselves. We've been told that Good and Evil were subjective: that whatever we wanted could be "good" if we so desired. We fought for those crumbs from the table of our own freedom, distracted enough by "benefactors" so that it never occurred to us to ask of them "for what price?" We can't define ourselves by something as cheap as our modern politics anymore... we can't afford to, not if we're to hold onto any semblance of freedom.

I'm disappointed with a lot of our so-called "spirituality", including some things of the very faith I hold to. Spirituality in America is, in many ways, an apathetic, lukewarm shell of a thing. While many sought a refuge of peace and comfort from this cold harsh world, many of us denied them that much, content as we were to chase after hobgoblins like Harry Potter and Dungeons & Dragons. Weren't there better things our faith could have motivated, than pursuing things so fleeting?

I'm frustrated that, when given the choice between ready comfort and earned freedom, we chose the quick and easy path of comfort in the hope of gaining security. In the aftermath of the attacks more people are willing to surrender a little freedom for a little more security. My beef with this is that history has proven that whenever a little freedom is yielded, the rest inevitably follow.

But all of these are small parts of the greater problem: we've become so enamored of fleeting dainties, we've atrophied from the strength we once had... that all of us had, American or not. This world has seduced us into laxity and petty pageantry... and now comes a time to demonstrate we can still earn the right to be called individuals in the fullness of liberty.

Why did this happen? Because one chose evil, while many chose apathy. But even now, good is coming from this incident. Not long ago the Red Cross could barely keep its bloodbanks filled... now it can barely accommodate everyone wanting to donate. Fire and police departments, youth groups, and others everywhere are collecting for the victims. All over the world, the very worst of events has brought out the very best of the human condition, and that can't go without mention.

We have woken up - again - to a dawn that only our parents and grandparents will remember. In the weeks and months, perhaps even years to come, all of you now reading these words - no matter where on this Earth you are - will be fighting two wars. The first will be the most obvious: the war against threats from without. Some of us, if not now already, will soon find ourselves at the forefront of this struggle. The second war will be aimed at within, over our own identity... and how much it means for each of us to preserve it. Who knows, but modern myths like Star Wars, Lord Of The Rings, and the rest may be about to come to our service, in our most desperate hour. Don't look to them for absolute guidance, but do keep them as a reminder of what we once had, have been called to defend, and what we can have still again.

It's not the best of times we have come upon: there has been much grief, and more is certain to come. But I'll close on this note: a few days ago I spoke with a good friend, who told me something his grandfather - a World War II vet - had said: that the conflict before us now will eclipse the brutality and longevity of the second world war. But also, that this generation, and not his own, would go down in history as the true "Greatest Generation". That as more will be inflicted upon us, so too will we find it within ourselves to give more. Not that this is demanded of us, but rather that we are spurred to act from an unarticulated, yet distinct, calling beyond that of man himself.

Would that it be true...

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

-- from "Ulysses", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

This part is even more minor:

This world has seduced us into laxity and petty pageantry... and now comes a time to demonstrate we must yet earn the right to be called individuals in the entirety of freedom.

Try:

The world has seduced Americans into a state of lassitude and petty pageantry, but now comes a time we must demonstrate our recognition of our constitutionally granted rights as free men, each and all.

Oooohhh... "lassitude". Good word!! :-)

I'm gonna have to thank you somewhere on here, Professer ;-)

Not this time, not material things like that. Materialism is become an inane thing to enough people lately. I don't feel like writing about Star Wars and some don't feel like reading about it anyway. Not only because of what happened on September 11th, but also for what is happening, right now, in our lifetime.

This is good, just a touchup:

Not this time, not material things like that. Materialism has become an inane thing to enough people lately. I don't feel like writing about Star Wars and some don't feel like reading about it anyway.

Not only because of what happened on September 11th, but also for what is happening right now in our lifetime.

but now comes a time we must demonstrate our recognition of our constitutionally granted rights as free men, each and all.

Problem here is, a LOT of the audience is outside the United States, so "constitutionally granted rights" won't apply. However, I've just re-written so that it will be understood that ALL have rights, implying a natural endowment.

mmmmm I believe this may be the week that the whole town also volenteers to pick and ferment grapes for a the areas local vineyard. They get a great lunch and dessert and vino. Perhaps this was the interlude to the bun march.

Note: "its" is possessive, like in, "goodness is its own reward," it's is a contraction for it is, as it's a good thing goodness is its own reward.

Woken is a terrible corruption of awakened, try not to ever use it.

When it said "materialism is" originally, think I had that line from Bagavad-Gita that Oppenheimer quoted in mind, where it says "I am become..."

Guess an infintive error like that is acceptable only (a) when quoting an Indian epic and (b) when you've just unleashed the power of the sun via a nuclear detonator :-)

I'm less bothered by ungainly phrasing than Old Professor (although his suggestions are clearly good ones). I focus more on ideas than words.

From that perspective, I give your essay high marks. Well done.

Oppenheimer was "blinded by the light."

I've no idea what Old Professer's field of study is, but he's been an immense and invaluable help in polishing this up, as has everyone who's written in with critique. Truth be known I've been sorta rusty with this sort of writing... and figured there's no shame in asking others to help coach one back to the best of ability.

Thanks for the kind words :-)

Delusions of Grandeur

An editorial on TFN is usually about something like DVDs or Episode II or Jar Jar Binks' existence. Simple, innocent stuff, y'know...

Not this time, not with material things like that. Materialism has become an inane thing to enough people lately. I don't feel like writing the usual and many wouldn't feel like reading it anyway. Not only because of what happened on September 11th, but also for what is happening right now, in our lifetime. Some may argue that we shouldn't delve into the real world... that TFN should be a means of escape from the daily grind. That we've seen too much grief already, it's time to move on. And maybe so, if this were anything other than what we've been through lately.

But for all we know, we're in the nascent stages of World War III. In that period between shooting the Archduke and Austria getting honked-off at Serbia. How can we not reflect upon the times given us? We didn't ask for this, but here it is... and it ain't gonna go away just because we try to wish it away. "Star Wars is just an escapist movie", right? Yeah, well two Sith took over a fictional galaxy... while in reality one guy masterminded a three-day immobilization of the most powerful nation in recorded history. Maybe we should face some reality head-on for a change...

That's not to say we shouldn't talk about Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter at all... absolutely keep looking forward to them! Now more than ever we need good stories like these. We should have talismans of innocence to hold against this world's madness. Life must go on, because if we deny ourselves this much, then those responsible for September 11th have already won. And damned be us if we give them even that victory. And if you desire a nugget of saga lore, stick around: you might find it.

Maybe we've had too much escapism. Escapism, as with everything else, is good in moderation. If Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings are merely vehicles to escape this world from, then we've denied them their greatest power. They aren't "realities", but they are "idealities": realms where the line between Good and Evil still exists and where few have to debate about what side they fall on. On their own they can inspire, like every other myth has done. Taken too seriously, they dull our senses of the real world. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, the twin dangers of fantasy are to either not enjoy it and thus miss it's meaning, or to enjoy it too much, and let it take hold over you.

There's a delicate balance that should be walked between those two extremes. Have we gone over too far into one? If so, now we can return to the other.

Nothing said here will assuage any grief or anger, though I've prayed for words that could do so. Or at least the grief... even now we can take a lesson from anger. During the service at National Cathedral on September 14, the Rev. Billy Graham said we should be angry, and that like Job it was even okay to be angry at God for allowing this to happen.

I may be angry at God. But for whatever comfort this may bring, I have faith that He is sovereign over all things... and that no matter the suffering, good will come out of it. Right now we're in the valley, climbing our way back to the summit. We can't appreciate the view from up there, without first seeing things from down here. But right now I'm angry over a LOT of things that led us down here in the first place...

I'm angry at the person who engineered this. He is the worst kind of coward: too afraid to face his own death but not afraid to send others to theirs. And ever notice how people like that never EVER put their own butts on the line? How do you measure a man? By what he's willing to sacrifice for what he believes in. The person responsible for this believes in nothing: not in the sanctity of life, and not even in the God his religion describes. Nothing can describe the vehemence we should express towards this person.

But while blaming a person in a distant land, there's a nagging ache on my heart to see where some responsibility lies on the shoulders of many people - including my own - in my home nation. Please do not misunderstand: what happened on September 11th was the evil and calculated actions of one man. But that we've grown shallow and lethargic enough that it took more casualties than the invasion of Normandy to shock us back to our senses... that makes me angry also. And not all the patriotism - which I am very thankful for - going on now will heal the abuse we've done to this country over the past decades. Waving a flag does not make anyone a saint, nor will all the "God Bless America"s we've seen on restaurant signs add the slightest whit of righteousness to this or any other land. We've corrupted ourselves, while somewhere a real-life phantom menace made plans to attack us while we were most vulnerable.

There has to be more to freedom than just waving a banner and saying the right words, and we've forgotten about that.

I'm upset with modern politics, on both sides of the aisle. Two generations and more have come of age believing that "Us. vs. Them" is synonymous with Right vs. Wrong. We've bought into that lie, while the people who gave it to us have done little but fight for power amongst themselves. We've been told that Good and Evil were subjective: that whatever we wanted could be "good" if we so desired. We fought for those crumbs from the table of our own freedom, distracted enough by "benefactors" so that it never occurred to us to ask of them "for what price?" We can't define ourselves by something as cheap as our modern politics anymore... we can't afford to, not if we're to hold onto any semblance of freedom.

I'm disappointed with a lot of our so-called "spirituality", including some things of the very faith I hold to. Spirituality in America is, in many ways, an apathetic, lukewarm shell of a thing. While many sought a refuge of peace and comfort from this cold harsh world, many of us denied them that much, content as we were to chase after hobgoblins like Harry Potter and Dungeons & Dragons. Weren't there better things our faith could have motivated, than pursuing things so fleeting?

I'm frustrated that, when given the choice between ready comfort and earned freedom, we chose the quick and easy path of comfort in the hope of gaining security. In the aftermath of the attacks more people are willing to surrender a little freedom for a little more security. My beef with this is that history has proven that whenever a little freedom is yielded, the rest inevitably follow.

But all of these are small parts of the greater problem: we've become so enamored of fleeting dainties, we've atrophied from the strength we once had... that all of us had, American or not. This world has seduced us into lassitude and petty pageantry... and now comes a time to demonstrate we can still wield the responsibilities entrusted us in the fullness of liberty.

Why did this happen? Because one chose evil, while many chose apathy. But even now, good is coming from this incident. Not long ago the Red Cross could barely keep its bloodbanks filled... now it can barely accommodate everyone wanting to donate. Fire and police departments, youth groups, and others everywhere are collecting for the victims. All over the world, the very worst of events has brought out the very best of the human condition, and that can't go without mention.

We have awakened - again - to a dawn that only our parents and grandparents will remember. In the weeks and months, perhaps even years to come, all of you now reading these words - no matter where on this Earth you are - will be fighting two wars. The first will be the most obvious: the war against threats from without. Some of us, if not now already, will soon find ourselves at the forefront of this struggle. The second war will be aimed at within, over our own identity... and how much it means for each of us to preserve it. Who knows, but modern myths like Star Wars, Lord Of The Rings, and the rest may be about to come to our service, in our most desperate hour. Don't look to them for absolute guidance, but do keep them as a reminder of what we once had, have been called to defend, and what we can have still again.

It's not the best of times we have come upon: there has been much grief, and more is certain to come. But I'll close on this note: a few days ago I spoke with a good friend, who told me something his grandfather - a World War II vet - had said: that the conflict before us now will eclipse the brutality and longevity of the second world war. But also, that this generation, and not his own, would go down in history as the true "Greatest Generation". That as more will be inflicted upon us, so too will we find it within ourselves to give more. Not that this is demanded of us, but rather that we are spurred to act from an unarticulated, yet distinct, calling beyond that of man himself.

Would that it be true...

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

-- from "Ulysses", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

A+

BTW I am a lawnmower mechanic, for real.

BTW "distinct" works better than "heard", good show.

Now is not the time to shed crocodile tears or bury our heads in the sand like foolish Ostriches...

This reminds me of the old Paul Simon song that begins....Something tells me it's all hapening at the zoo...doo-doo-dee-dooo...

Come to think of it... what the heck was I smoking to write something like that?!?

I read the first two paragraphs and have no clue what you're writing about.

Really, the line is not that bad...I was just trying to tweak the old professor.[/grin]

Really, the line is not that bad...I was just trying to tweak the old professor.[/grin]

It's for a Star Wars website. Imagine this is an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation": whenever we get into science-babble and "particle of the week" stuff just nod your head and say "uh-huh" and you'll be fine.

(ducking and running from the Trekkies) :-)

You did good!

I enjoyed following your suggestions and the way you gently gave them. Darth Sidious thanked you as do I. It is a better essay. I tend to read for content and agree with what DS says. He is right, and, thanks to you, more readable.

Thanks for helping Chris. I have a lot of respect for that kid.

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