“There’s something
happening here.
What it is ain’t
exactly clear…”
--Buffalo Springfield
It’s been longer than I’d like since I last posted, but I’ve
had a very difficult time trying to decide what to say. I don’t like talking politics in this blog,
but I haven’t found much of anything lately that I feel like laughing
about.
So, today I will talk about some things that are bothering
me. I suspect they’re bothering you too.
Thirty-nine years ago this month, I loaded an old, beat-up
Dodge Colt without air conditioning, and headed south to Fort Benning, GA. That car held everything in the world that
was important to me, especially my beautiful and very pregnant wife.
Upon our arrival I deposited her into a decrepit old trailer
house outside of the post, and reported for duty.
Just two months previously I had raised my right hand in
front of the Flag of the United States of America, and swore an Oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the
United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. I was at Fort Benning to begin training on
how to do that.
Since that day, I have never been told, formally or
otherwise, that I have been relieved of that Oath.
Yet, today I find myself being assaulted from all corners it
seems, demanding to know if I side with the Nazis, or if I side with the
Communists. What in Heaven's name is going on here! Are you serious? How can that even be a question?
Let me be completely clear:
I will never side with either one of those groups of thieving, lying,
murderous bastards! Both of these
extremist fundamentalist “isms” have murdered and enslaved millions of people
around the world. I will never associate
with any of them, other than to resist their evil, and defend our Constitution
as my Oath demands.
I am on the side of Logic, Reason, Enlightenment, Law, and
Love. I don’t do hate, and I have
personally never met a fellow Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine who does.
My uncle and his brothers-at-arms fought the Germans and the
Japanese, not because they hated them, but because they loved their country,
their families, their friends, and their way of life.
If you don’t believe that, then look at what happened after
the War was over. My uncle and his
brothers rebuilt Germany and Japan. They
stood up to Soviet and Chinese aggression and defended the German and the Japanese people. Not once did they say, “Oh well. They’re just Germans, or they’re just
Japanese. Who cares what happens to
them?” Today, Germany and Japan, once
our bitter enemies, are among the closest of our allies. That was not accomplished with hate.
We don’t live in a perfect world. I find it a rather hostile environment
actually. There are a few good things
going on, but unless we walk a narrow path, Nature herself will destroy us
without a thought. For example, we can
adapt to the heat and the cold. But if we
don’t, either one will kill us. We can
adapt to Gravity and fly six miles high in the sky. But one small deviation from the correct
path, and we are destroyed. Gravity
shows no mercy.
It seems to me that the Ancients understood this better than
we do today. Their writings from long
ago are clear in their warning to us: “They have planted the Wind, and will
harvest the Whirlwind!”
Nature is not forgiving.
Cause and effect are immutable.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics has not been repealed. We can’t afford to be out planting the
Wind.
My Dad used to tell me: “Don’t listen to people who haven’t
got their heads screwed on right”.
I think that’s a good idea.