Friday, June 10, 2016

The Darkness

(Source)
In that time the people were divided into three camps. Two of those camps were diametrically opposed to each other, they hated each other with a passion not seen since early in mankind's bloody history. For each of those camps there could be no compromise, no reconciliation, and, if things came to a head, no mercy. The hatred was palpable, when those two groups were in proximity, the intensity of that hatred was visceral, beyond all human understanding.

The third camp couldn't understand the vehemence, the screaming disagreements between those other groups. When did we become so divided, so bitter, so unreasonable, they asked themselves.

The sages told tales of long ago, when bitter warfare swept large sections of the planet. The innocent and the guilty alike perished. First in their hundreds, then their thousands, then, as time moved on and science and industry provided more and more lethal weaponry, there came a time when people died in millions. Numbers beyond the comprehension of rationality. Bodies beyond counting.

Only after long, bloody, and merciless fighting would it all end. There would be no neutrals, no bystanders, the third camp was always drawn in, sometimes reluctantly, but pushed and prodded by forces beyond human ken, the fighting grew until all were involved, until there were no safe places anywhere. You took a stand, or you perished, unmourned, unlamented.

Eventually the fighting died out, much like a fire which has exhausted its fuel. One camp would lie wasted, the other barely still standing, but relieved that it was over. Wondering what it had all been about in the first place.

The third camp, those with no abiding passion for the "great" issues of the day, would go back to the lives they led before the conflagration, if they could. Many, if not most, would be haunted by what they had seen, what they had experienced, what they themselves had done.

Always the two opposing ideologies would reform, in different guises perhaps, but always in opposition. Waiting, biding their time until they could go at it again.

One camp, perhaps, represents good, the other evil, perhaps they are both, in some respects, evil, mirror images of one another. Those in those two, non-neutral, camps have those who seek power over others, and those who, for one reason or another, rabidly and irrationally support those who seek the power.

That third camp is where goodness lies. They do not seek power, they wish to live in harmony and work together for the betterment of all. Always the two other camps seek to seduce them, draw them into the power struggles and the passionate hatred they have for anyone not like them.

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The Thirty Years War was started over matters of religion. Then the fighting continued to rage long after nearly everyone forgot why it started. Roving bands of mercenaries lived and fought for no other reason than there was no one left to pay them. So they roamed, looted, and murdered their way across Central Europe. The dead amounted to 20 to 40% of the population of the various German states.

The French Revolution began basically because the French Crown had bankrupted the government through support for our own revolution but also due to many other bad economic decisions. The poor had no work, no bread, the nobility had too much of everything. Madness erupted when Louis XVI lost his head, literally. The other European kings would not stand for that. How dare the French peasantry rise up against their betters? War broke out, France was invaded, the people rose up. This all led to the rise of Napoléon.

This man perhaps started out with simply a drive to preserve France, to preserve the Republic. But power and its perks and trappings is a great seductress. In the years following, millions died. From the disease-ridden islands of the West Indies to the ancient towers of the Kremlin, armies fought, while soldiers died in their thousands the civilians died beside them. Ravaged and ruined by the conquering hordes sweeping back and forth across their homelands.

In the middle of the 19th Century political and economic differences in the Western Hemisphere tore a new nation apart. Brother took up arms against brother, spurred on by those whose only interest was in their own power, their own profit.

Americans slaughtered each other in their thousands and at the end of it all, what really changed, a cynic might ask. People exchanged one master for another and tried to move on.

World War I broke out and again Europe was drenched in blood. World War II followed and the horror, the devastation encircled the globe this time. One group destroyed, their nations shattered, only to lead to two opposing camps once more.

Always there is one group seeking power, seeking control of their fellow man. They want, they need, they demand.

Where does it end?

Will it ever end?

I see darkness ahead, the world again plunged into chaos. The last bastion of freedom stands on the cusp of violent introspection once more. Where will it lead? If we fall, who will follow? There is no one out there who can stand against the eternal raging tide of evil. It truly is up to us, there is no one else. If we fall, a new dark age will descend. There will be decades, if not centuries, of misery and terror. Freedom will be gone from this good Earth. Can it, will it ever arise again?

Being involved is important, this coming election is critical. Don't be distracted by the media circus, the new sensations which they throw at us everyday. The distractions, the circuses, are intentional. They don't want us to think, to reason, they want us to follow the crowd, to go with the flow. Go along to get along.

Don't fall for it, think, choose wisely.

Even though it may already be too late.

Truly though, I don't think God is done with this nation yet. But we have to show ourselves worthy of our past and worthy to shine as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world. I have hope.

But I also have fears. Time will tell.

It has all happened before


What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NIV)







26 comments:

  1. Well said, and damned scary!
    For some reason this tune and this particular line of the tune have been playing in my mind for quite a while.

    And he can't even run his own life
    I'll be damned if he'll run mine,

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    1. Let's pray the last bit of that song proves prophetic...

      Sunshine, come on back another day,
      I promise you I'll be singing
      This old world, she's gonna turn around,
      brand new bells will be ringing

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  2. An interesting take on an age old problem. Well said,but as long as they, the powers to be, want to cry havoc, their brothers, and sisters had better be in the front lines.

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  3. The presidential election isn't important at all. The important thing is what Americans do on the other 1,460 days of the quadrennium. And most Americans long ago decided to let other people worry about that feces, man. This nation has become almost entirely Lord of the Flies. The place where feral children reign. Those who survive will have to relearn the fact that there's no right or wrong, only what happens and what you do.

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    1. Good point but it's not so much who the President is as it is who is in Congress. If they abdicate their responsibilities (which they have as of late) then who sits in the White House is very important. The colossal goat rope of the last decade can be traced directly to the Congress not doing their duty and that feckless fool in the White House. Just my opinion.

      But you're right, many of the American people have become ill-disciplined and spoiled brats. Not all, perhaps not even a majority, but enough to sicken a patriot.

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    2. I don't understand how you can say that the Presidential Election is unimportant. So, having Barrack Hussein Obama in office for the past eight years has not been important? Knowing that the next President will be able to nominate 2 or more Supreme Court Justices (and gobs of lower court judges) is not important? Right now the courts are proactively helping the leftists ruin this country. The Supremes are pulling stuff out of thin air that are in no way supported by the Constitution, and it is almost impossible to overturn a SC decision. Congress has let BHO and the Courts run amok -it doesn't really matter to Congress which party in in power as long as the individual Congressman remains in power. Congressmen are pretty much immune to the effects of an out of control Executive and Government Agency Bureaucracy. We the People have to take back our Government, and I am not at all convinced that it can be done by voting -all recent evidence indicates that just voting is not sufficient.

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    3. You might be right Ron. You make a number of excellent points.

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  4. The nature of Man has not changed, so we will continue to suffer from his weaknesses. I was listening to a talk about Churchill by Dr. Larry Arnn of Hillsdale College yesterday on my way back from my hike. One quote from Churchill, and it may have originated from Plato, Aristotle or one of those other old, white guys, is that (paraphrasing) "There are two types of government- one where the government ruled for the people, and one where the government ruled for the rulers." We have the latter now in America. The Government has become too large to be controlled, and it is growing itself every day. IRS adding thousands of agents to handle Obamacare, TSA basically going on strike and saying that they need to add thousands of agents- it is a self feeding beast.

    The War on Poverty was a joke and is an abysmal failure, one that has cost more than $20 Trillion Dollars. Armed conflicts that should have declared Wars with all that doing so entails, were not, yet we continue to send troops to be killed and once again spend Trillions to no appreciable effect. Traditional American / Western Civilization values are under serious and effective attack by the Left. If left to its own momentum, these actions will destroy America. There are many valid reasons why it is so hard to be optimistic. Winston also said something to the effect that "There are times when a man has to make a choice, though by making that choice he may die." Those times may be coming upon us. Nothing is really new, the ancient Greeks and Romans knew well the history of Man and the nature of Man and wrote of it clearly. Our Founding Fathers also had this knowledge and tried to provide us with the best they knew how to postpone our fall.

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    1. All so true and well expressed Ron.

      Government right now is most emphatically not "of the people, by the people, for the people." But it can be again, but it will take hard work.

      I almost believe that mankind requires a great conflict now and again to remind us that civilization is but a thin veneer over our savage past.

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    2. "Nothing is really new, the ancient Greeks and Romans knew well the history of Man and the nature of Man and wrote of it clearly. Our Founding Fathers also had this knowledge and tried to provide us with the best they knew how to postpone our fall."

      Which is why Western Civilization and the true Classics of Literature are not taught in College anymore. Can't have anyone learning the lessons of History. They need to learn how to be "Victims". PAH! A pox on them all!

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    3. "of the people, by the people, for the people." I find it difficult to imagine that quote held any meaning to the man that said it. His actions seemed to negate that thought.

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    4. That was a tough time, he did what he thought was right. I believe history will show that he was right.

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    5. Juvat, that is one reason why I have become so fond of Hillsdale College. They DO teach Western Civilization. HC offers free video and audio of many courses that they teach at the school. Both Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager have many dialogues with Dr. Larry Arnn (President of HC) & his staff- iTunes has almost 200 of them available. Excellent resource.

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    6. Hillsdale College, I've seen some of their videos.

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  5. You have defined the difference between those who think (which can be very painful) and those who feel.

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    1. Thinking can hurt. Feeling without thinking is primitive. And dangerous.

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  6. Well done, Sarge. Expertly analyzed. And I don't think God is finished with the US yet, because too many of His people remain, crying out for help & relief. But what we might have to go through on the way could be a daunting thought, unless we listen very, very closely to His voice.

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    1. I had in mind something you said, both here and at your place, not that long ago. It's dark out there, I think we're being tested. Perhaps not like Job was tested, but tested nevertheless.

      And thanks.

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  7. The Darkness, aye, the Darkness, we loves it, Precious, yes!

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  8. I've come back a number of times to look at the Out of Darkness photo. Very striking -I can see it either being a Darkness falling over the world, or a view of just before the sun shines on the land. Something a bit primal about it.

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    1. The photo really sang to me. I chose it for just the reasons you state, things could go either way.

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