(Reprise)
We Don’t Matter
Civilizations Come and Go
Empires Boom then Go Bust
Governments Rise and Fall
Currencies Come and Go
Fashions are Ever Changing
Yet, through it all
THE PEOPLE
go on and on and on
A while back one of our more querulous colleagues asked plaintively:
"Do you think we COULD ever recover from this fiscal mess, even through tightening belts? And what DO we do with the very poor if we tighten?"
All I could think to say at the time was “For heaven's sake! Have a little faith. Cultivate more trust in Almighty God.”
All I could think to say at the time was “For heaven's sake! Have a little faith. Cultivate more trust in Almighty God.”
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| These good folk must like singing Praise Choruses in church. |
If we've been able to prevail in the Revolution of 1776, the War of 1812, explore, chart, and settle the western wilderness, get through the atrocity of Lincoln's War, adjust to massive waves of notably anomalous foreign immigration, the various elements of which neither liked, trusted, or had much inclination to cooperate with one another, survive WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, LBJ, the Sex Drugs & Rock 'n Roll of the Sick-sties, Vietnam, Watergate, Jimmy Carter, an assassination attempt on President Reagan, the spineless, colorless, passionless out-of-touch presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush, Monica Lewinsky servicing The Bent One under the desk in the Oral Office, the presidency of Dubya, the intellectually-challenged, closet-liberal, we can certainly survive our current woes, which are –– if we look at it with any sense of perspective at all –– a mere walk in the park compared to most things just listed.
The only thing wrong with us Americans is that we indulge in far too much whining and wringing of hands.
Most of us are too fat, and too overindulged anyway. A period of serious austerity is probably just what we need in order to get revitalized.
Less WHINING and far less DINING would have undoubtedly have a tonic effect.
As for the poor, the women would then have to get up off their dead asses, get off drugs and alcohol, stop producing fatherless babies, stop watching crap on those gigantic 54" color TV's in their Section 8 housing, and start cleaning windows, sweeping floors, polishing brass, copper and silver, washing and ironing clothes, and cooking meals at competitive wages for those who can afford to hire them.
The men would have to dig ditches, weed, hoe, trim, and mow lawns and gardens, clean streets, pick up trash, lay bricks, hammer shingles, harvest crops, transport products from here to there, and do maintenance work in large public buildings for low pay –– just like they used to have to do in the days before Eleanor Roosevelt and LBJ chained them up, castrated them, and put them on Welfare –– and before Illegal Immigrants started filling the void in droves eager to perform the necessary tasks pre-Union, pre-Welfare-State Americans used to do gladly for modest wages.
Believe me, if left once again to their own devices, “THE POOR” would survive.
It's only the Welfare State Mentality that has weakened huge numbers to the point where we're turning into a nation of slobbering, snivelling, babbling, blubbering JELLYFISH.
Civilizations come and go. Empires boom and go bust. Governments rise and fall. Currencies come and go. Fashions are ever changing and rarely for the better. Yet, through it all The People go on and on and on. Life persists and persists no matter what we do to try to alter, curtail or abolish it.
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| Fear not! This too shall pass. |
LIFE is stronger than governments, stronger than people. LIFE is GOD, and you may be sure that HE isn't going anywhere.
When we emerged from the ooze and slime, as evolutionists insist we did –– though no one's proved it yet beyond a reasonable doubt –– there were no governments, no nations, no boundaries, no rules, other than The Law of the Jungle –– Survival of the Fittest and Most Ruthless –– Dog Eat Dog and all that. And life was, as has oft been said, “Nasty, Brutish and Short.”
Yet, somehow, despite our species' extreme frailty in comparison to so many others, we not only survived –– we grew, –– developed Language, Art, Poetry, Literature, discovered the laws of Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, developed Architecture, Philosophy, Religion and Politics. In short we went from a feral state –– mere animal existence –– to the mixed blessing of highly complex, stratified forms of Civilization.
With each successive failure after every period of decline, degeneracy and eventual extinction "someone" “somewhere" has always managed to preserve what was best from the ruined past, and used it to enhance the future.
To our eyes right now the whole world appears to be falling apart. We naturally feel confused, frightened, threatened, but it is just possible we are going through a necessary shifting of the moral, religious, ideological, cultural "tectonic plates" that may eventually settle into a firmer foundation than ever before and bring us to great heights as yet undreamed of.
Is it likely that you and I will be here to see it? No, but it doesn’t matter. Harsh and absurd as it may sound WE DON’T MATTER. Our only legitimate purposes here is to serve Life (God) as lovingly and gratefully as possible as long as it pleases God to allow us to do it.
So, don’t worry. Weeping, wailing, hand-wringing, bitter denunciation, blaming the villains, etc. won’t improve our prospects one iota. All it is sure to do is spoil whatever time we may have left.
The opening lines of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio put it magnificently:
“Christians, be joyful
and praise your Salvation,
haste with Thanksgiving
to greet this glad morn.”
Like the mythical Phoenix Bird, our species seems to have an infinite capacity for rising from the ashes of our funeral pyres to begin life all over again.
Bank on that. Don’t invest energy in fear of disaster, and above all don’t fear death.
The mind of the dreamer
_____ is a secret storehouse
__________ wherein may dwell
__________ all youthful fond illusion ––
The embryo of each utterance of hope ––
_____ each word of comfort ––
__________ and each song of joy.
The mind of the cynic
_____ is a well-known asylum
__________ wherein lies disenchantment ––
_______________ destruction and despair ––
The insidious, lisping voice of the serpent.
O, foolish Man! Why choose strife,
_____ when only what you choose to know
_____ has life?
~ FreeThinke (1962)
So, are you suggesting that life as we know it began, oh, say about six thousand years ago? That dinasaurs and men co-existed? That the science we know is not truth? That faith is superior to reason?
ReplyDeleteIf it were only so simple !
Yes, civilizations come and go. One day. when our sun burns out and becomes a black hole, where will civilization go to survive?
Perhaps another civilization, alien to us will accept a rag tag fleet of humanoids looking for a new home.
Maybe we better start looking, eh?
I know what you're trying to do, FT, but it isn't working very well, because you don't seem to realize how mentally lazy people have become, and how little they read anymore. Most of them have the attention span of a gnat. We can thank television and the preoccupation with sex, drugs and musical waste products for that, but you can't ignore it and pretend it never happened, and expect to reach today's crowd.
ReplyDeleteInstead of presenting your keen insights and pearls of wisdom one at a time, you tend to give away a whole jewelry store in one article. It's too much, so most of them just skip it, or try to make remarks based on ignorant assumptions after reading just the headlines and barely scanning the rest.
What you do is give too much of a good thing.
I admire you, FT; that's why I'm bothering to tell you this. I think you'd fare better if you restrained yourself, and gave far less. For every one who appreciates you, there are thousands who can't.
Your friend,
--------------> Katharine Heartburn
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteOh, good heavens! We have a dullard among us:
ReplyDeleteRN said...
"So, are you suggesting that life as we know it began, oh, say about six thousand years ago? That dinasaurs and men co-existed? That the science we know is not truth? That faith is superior to reason?"
Mr. FreeThinke said nothing of the sort!
Please, for your own sake, "Rational", break out of your narrow confines.
Bravo, Mr. FreeThinke! Bravo!
Pot calling kettle black Frida. Sorry you fail to understand.
DeleteIt is fine by me if you remain confined on your conventional box the was crafted for you by the masters of deception.
"When we emerged from the ooze and slime, as evolutionists insist we did –– though no one's proved it yet beyond a reasonable doubt."
ReplyDelete"Evolutionists" insist nothing of the sort. Ever.
Darwin's evolutionary theory explains changes over time in living things. It has never made any claims on HOW life began.
Thank you for your appreciation, Frida, but I really do wish you hadn't sniped at Les, like that. It wasn't necessary, and might be harmful. Yes, I scold others, myself, -- probably much too often -- but in general I believe it's better to err on the side of kindness.
ReplyDeleteLes meant no harm, I'm certain.
We had an altercation the other day to be sure, but I'm happy to be able to say we've straightened out our differences since.
America -- indeed, mankind in general -- previously had the hardy pioneer spirit.
ReplyDeleteNow most people can't walk even a mile in a temperate climate with bottled water in hand.
Are there hardy souls walking the earth today? I think so. I KNOW so! However, the hardiness is in the minority, a minority much smaller than previously. And it is in the interest of controlling bureaucrats to nurture the spirit of hardiness.
PS: One cannot be whiny and hardy at the same time.
ReplyDelete"Darwin's evolutionary theory explains changes over time in living things. It has never made any claims on HOW life began."
ReplyDeleteDarwin was raised in the Christian faith, and I don't believe he ever disavowed it, although I'm sure he realized, as most thinking people do, it would be incredibly naive to take the story of Adam and Eve in Eden literally. [I think it's usually ill-advised to take anything literally.]
That aside, Darwin's discoveries certainly have helped a great deal in fueling the atheist movement, and skeptics and non-believers have certainly taken Darwin's "ball," and run with it -- in directions Darwin, himself, probably never intended.
Surely you've heard the idea of life emerging fever-so-gradlly over millennia rom The Primordial Soup?
I don't reject the idea. It seems plausible given the little we still know today. I my view, "Adam"might very well have been an amoeba, and "Eve" a naturally-occurring variation on "Adam," but I'm hardly adamant about it.
How life began is THE most significant question we could consider. No one knows, and it may never be possible for any of us ever know for certain.
the motos I've adopted since discovering it in recent years is this succinct advocde from Walt Whitman:
"BE CURIOUS, NOT JUDGMENTAL."
Think how much unnecessary strife might be avoided, if more adopted that attitude!
Katharine! I hank you for your kindly meant advice. I think you are undoubtedly correct. (When are you not? ;-) For good or for ill, however, it seems to be part of who I am that ideas, thoughts, feelings and recalled data just spill out of me in a great rush -- especially early in the morning.
ReplyDeleteWriting to me is as natural -- and as easy -- as breathing. Bit I do see your point, and will try to curb my impulses, even if just a little, out of consideration for others.
I'm an odd mixture of Cornish, Anglo-Saxon, Scottish and Italian. There is no doubt in my mind that one's ethnicity has an even more profound effect on one's temperament than the socio-economic conditions under which one has been raised.
Nature most probably has far more influence on the development of personality and character than Nurture -- or I feel.
AOW! It's good to see you back. You've been missed.
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right, but I believe that mankind is inherently otiose. In other words with the rare exception of those who are fiercely driven by vivid imagination, powerful yearnings to "make a difference" and abundant creative energy, people tend to follow the paths of least resistance, and will gladly do as little as possible when others make it things too easy for them.
The nature of the beast!
FT, you've dispensed enough pearls of wisdom in one post to either create the most beautiful pearl necklace for those so inclined or to choke the most self-indulgent swine. What's the adage? "If the shoe fits, wear it!".
ReplyDeletePersonally, I've got a bit of a problem with Darwin and his theory of advancement of life on Earth through "natural selection". Darwin, himself, being from the elite upper crust of English society wouldn't have had to go shovel in hand , turn the soil and study the earthworms. It's hard to say how he "discovered" his theory of evolution, but it definitely wouldn't have been from personal experience or his own personal life. The Darwins and Wedgewoods intermarried for many generations so this would be entirely inconsistent with his theory of survival of the fittest through natural selection, since marital choices were made for him and previous generations of his family.
Charles, himself displayed
symptoms of the problems of generational intermarrying with several health problems that could best be described as genetic weakness as he became a sickly man.So to my way of thinking there's a problem here Houston—squaring his evolutionary theory with his own life by example.
"That aside, Darwin's discoveries certainly have helped a great deal in fueling the atheist movement, and skeptics and non-believers have certainly taken Darwin's "ball," and run with it -- in directions Darwin, himself, probably never intended."
ReplyDeleteDarwin waited 20 years before publishing his Origin of the Species because he knew very well the fire-storm it would create. H
Darwin himself grew up religious but remained agnostic until his death.
In early nineteenth century Britain, the Church held massive power; it owned land and property, controlled schools and was heavily linked to politics. Accepting Christianity was a statement of social position. People feared attacks on religion as it was seen as essential for keeping society under control.
Waylon: "Darwin, himself, being from the elite upper crust of English society wouldn't have had to go shovel in hand , turn the soil and study the earthworms. It's hard to say how he "discovered" his theory of evolution, but it definitely wouldn't have been from personal experience..."
ReplyDeleteDo you not know that he sailed on the HMS Beagle for 5 years where he collected all sorts of samples of animal and plant life, and where he observed the Galapagos finches? He most definitely came to his scientific conclusions from first-hand observations.
"Survival of the fittest" does not mean survival of the strongest, but rather survival of those plants and animals that can adapt to and thrive in their changing environments so that they are able to pass on their genetic material to future generations.
Aurore Dupin: I did not know that Darwin sailed on the HMS Beagle for five years doing his work. I believe HMS means that the ship was either His or Her Majesty's Ship.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that Darwin's Theory of Evolution was a Crown sponsored enterprise. I don't believe he's have a lot of trouble gaining publicity for his "theory" being that it was British Royalty that sponsored it.
And we should all recognize the dilapidated state of the British Monarchy today. Too much inbreeding there, as well, I believe.
"Are you saying that Darwin's Theory of Evolution was a Crown sponsored enterprise. I don't believe he's have a lot of trouble gaining publicity for his "theory" being that it was British Royalty that sponsored it."
ReplyDeleteNo. I didn't say that at all. The HMS Beagle, whose captain was Robert Fitzroy, was sent to South America to survey and map its coast lines. Captain Fitzroy looked to engage a gentleman naturalist as a self-financing passenger who would give him company during the voyage. A sequence of inquiries led to Charles Darwin, a young gentleman on his way to becoming a rural clergyman, joining the voyage.
So, no. I said nothing of the sort.
I'm curious, Waylon. I don't know how old you are, where you are from, or where you were educated. So I'm somewhat shocked that you did not know that Darwin made his discoveries by his own observations while on the HMS Beagle.
Or are you pretending to not know as a joke?
Love the cartoon with L'il Ricky Santorum and Michele "Psycho" Bachmann.
ReplyDeleteBoth examples of why the far right has overstayed its welcome and is being purged.
Oh for Chrissakes, Ducky! The cartoon is supposed to be FUNNY.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even realize who it was until after I thought about it a bit.
Having served The Church as an organist, choirmaster and composer for forty years in most of the mainline denominations including the Roman catholic Church, I have developed a hearty dislike for Fundamentalism, Bible thumping, and most of all the movement to replace the magnificent liturgical music that spans eight centuries with Pop-style crapola, and stuff that sounds more like high school cheerleading than anything even faintly spiritual.
There has been plenty of wonderful music written for church services in the twentieth century using advanced modern harmonies -- even jazz harmonies -- punctuated with a brilliant use of dissonance genuinely illustrative and expressive of the meaning of Scripture. This stuff is totally appropriate for worship.
The crap that makes church sounds like an Eighth Grade Sock Hop or a Hootnanny is not, and I won't stand for it.
Anyway, the ostentatious carrying of the Cross and vigorously athletic posture of the cartoon figures illustrates perfectly everything I have come to loath and despise about "church" today.
Populism has no more place in a worship service than socialism. Christ is about the life of the SPIRIT not of the earth. This gung ho rah rah redneck stuff is absurd.
Swing and Sway with Jesus, Cocktails with Christ, Hootnannies for Him, and Jumping for Jesus are for the WAZOOKS!
We find it were we can, FT.
ReplyDeleteBach or Coltrane wailing on A Love Supreme. It all leads the same place.
Although in Coltrane's case it was the searching for God. The search is all. Be wary of those who say they've arrived.
Ducky, did.you know there's a church of "St John coltrane" in San Francisco? http://www.coltranechurch.org/
ReplyDelete"One cannot be whiny and hardy at the same time."
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure about that, AOW. I've known any number of tough, resilient, capable individuals who've been successful, and even so they seem to love dwelling on negatives and making loud, long complaints about all the things they don't like in this world.
I'm sure the pioneers did their share of grumbling and cursing too as they bumped and lurched along in their Conestoga Wagons, and hacked their way through the wilderness toward undeveloped, largely unknown destinations "out west."
Imagine too what life must have been like for the Explorers and their underlings. Beyond courageous and indomitable possibly verging towards foolhardiness, but altogether incredible, if you stop to think about it. Being human, however, I'm sure these brave adventurers did their 'fair share" of moaning and cursing their fate -- and each other.
________________________
Ducky, it would never occur to me to mention Johann Sebastian and Coltrane in the same breath, but since I have studied the former in some detail, and know very little about the latter, I don't feel qualified to say much about it.
I do know the difference between Art and Kitsch, and I know enough about Coltrane to say he certainly does not represent the latter, but the little I've heard of his music has had a depressing effect -- on me. Of course, the Ignoranti, who want to hear simple-minded "Sandi Patti" songs, or finger snappin,' toe tappin,' hip swingin' crapola in Church never fail to find the majestic splendor, kinetic complexity, mystical wonder and glory in Bach's music "depressing."
I think it may have been Heifetz who said of the Bach Chaconne for Unaccompanied Violin -- one of the great, monumental works in Music Literature -- "Some listeners will be transported to mystical worlds of wonder and delight, others will feel they'd just as soon spend those fifteen minutes in the dentist[s chair." (loose quote, not literal)
"One man's meat is another's poison," and all that.
So, in the end it never fails to boil down to "I like what I like, and I don't like what I don't like. PERIOD!"
The vast majority seem either totally incapable or so mentally lazy as to be disinclined to feel any curiosity or eagerness to know anything beyond what they absorbed by osmosis in the first three to five years of existence.
And then, there are the many who like sheep simply follow trends set by moguls in the enemedia and various branches of "show biz."
You may blame "The Excesses of Capitalism," for that, and I "Cultural Marxism," but in actual fact I don't really disagree with you, except I wouldn't call the culprit "Capitalism." It is Crony Capitalism, better called Corporatism. Where you and I part company is with my conviction that this lamentable condition came into existence as Industry's Defense Against the Incursions and depredations of so-called "Progressivism," which I regard as one of the manifestations of Marxian thinking, even though it probably came about independent of direct devotion to Marx.
"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,"
ETCETERA!
"I'm an odd mixture of Cornish, Anglo-Saxon, Scottish and Italian. ... ethnicity has a... profound effect on one's temperament"
ReplyDeleteFrom where I'm sitting, you are unmistakably American.
Coltrane has a certain sterile quality to him, but that's a criticism I've heard made of Bach too. Perhaps they are both artists who are more widely admired than they are enjoyed. When I listen to either of them I am frequently astonished, but I've never yet felt a hand reaching out of the music, punching through the wall of my chest and gripping tightly round my heart, as happens routinely with Beethoven.
Nomed Ami said
ReplyDeleteIf this guy is a typical American, I'm a French whore. No Americans I know talk like that. This guy must be from outer space. No normal person could understand any of the crap he puts down. Whatever he is, he's no American. Have you ever met any real Americans? HE thinks he's a conservative. That's not an American, that's an idiot.
typical is not a synonym for unmistakably.
ReplyDeleteFunny how Our Nation so enjoys the historical fantasies re-enacted in Downton Abbey, but then subsidizes the poor, preventing the Middle Class from employing servants, and servants from developing ethical notions of self-worth.
ReplyDelete