Peace, If Just for a Moment

"Come, senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

There's a battle outside

And it is ragin'.

It'll soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin'."

-- "The Times They Are a-Changin'", Bob Dylan (1964)

Are you, like me, old enough to remember better times?  I remember when political parties worked with each other, exercised a little "give and take" so everyone got something out of a deal, and we all tried to make social programs sustainable so we didn't have to rob Peter to pay Paul.  It was a time when socialism and communism were threats against our Constitution and our way of life, and no one, Democrats included, would have imagined inviting them into our political system.  Now we have a new bastion of "Democratic Socialism" sitting across the aisle in our system of government.

The term democratic socialism is sometimes used synonymously with socialism, but the adjective democratic is sometimes used to distinguish democratic socialists from Marxist–Leninist-inspired socialism which to some is viewed as being non-democratic in practice.

-- Wikipedia, Democratic socialism

The adjective "democratic" no longer distinguishes democratic socialists from Marxist-Leninist socialism. It truly is what it is and if someone says they don't see it that way, they either aren't looking very hard or they are in denial that our very way of life, our freedom, is in danger. We used to rely on the press, journalism, to separate truth from fiction, but now it seems the "fourth estate" simply fuels the fires of racism, divisiveness, and the overthrow of our government.  Truth and freedom have become dirty words, a death knell, best not used if you want a university degree or a job in journalism or the U.S. Justice Department. 

It would seem, for many of us, our desires are no longer predicated on learning to think for ourselves but, rather, on learning what some anarchist professor wants us to learn, their sad view of the world and reality. This is what we desire?  And, now, the "fifth estate," the socio-cultural group "of outlier viewpoints in contemporary society... most associated with bloggers, journalists publishing in non-mainstream media outlets, and the social media or "social license," has become the latest arm of socialist propaganda and the perpetually offended.

As anti-Semitism and racism insinuate themselves into the highest levels of our government, I wish I could turn back the clock, even for just a moment, to the early 1960s, and not just because I was a heartbreaker.    For me, it was a peaceful time in life and a morally different world.  I could tell my mom where I was going and disappear all day, as long as I was back before dinner.  Kidnappings were rare, and I'm not sure we even knew what serial killers were, and terrorism was the purview of ecology extremists and anarchist groups like the Black Panthers or the Weather Underground.

“Being a kid was much more fun than being an adult. Life was sweeter then.”

-- Trevor Carss, author, illustrator

When I was very young, kids could go play in the woods and not have to worry about child molesters.  Frightening horror movies were tales of Frankenstein or Dracula shown at the Saturday matinee which was always packed.  I could wait alone for a bus to the theater, and the driver actually knew when to let me off coming home.  Of course, I was a middle-class white boy.  I really knew very little of hunger, being poor, racism, gender inequality, gender dysphoria, political bias, etc., etc., etc., and so on.  I suppose the perpetually offended would call me privileged, though my parents worked hard for everything and chose to only purchase what they could pay for.  Mom's family were poor dirt farmers in Mississippi who worked right alongside black dirt farmers.  Racism was not as important to the farmers as ensuring every one of your neighbors was fed.

Somewhere along the line, life in America changed.

The Zodiac Killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy, Jr.; serial killers and ax murderers were coming out of the woodwork.  Our country was turning into an immoral cesspool of child molesters, rapists, and immorality.  New words worked their way into our vocabulary like "human trafficking," "slice and dice," and "child pornography."  Even middle-class white boys weren't safe anymore.

What was happening to my world?

Horror movies went from gothic tales of horror, the classics of Stoker, Poe, and Shelley, to the senseless violence of multi-movie franchises like Saw, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes and so many others.  Television has now been infiltrated by similar trash, and the ultimate horror story, choices for our political candidates, has come down to which pile of shit smells better.

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”

-- Howard Zinn (1922-2010), historian, professor. socialist thinker

On top of these threats to civilization, we now find ourselves, once again, faced with rewriting our definition of "monster."  As though the atrocities visited upon the world by the Nazis and the Japanese weren't enough, we faced the threat of communism and socialism wanting to destroy our country. We then faced Islamic heretics, like ISIS, cutting babies in half or burning captives in cages, on film for the mass media, as a heretical honor to Allah, while threatening to take their demented version of reality worldwide as they destroyed any visage of innocence in their path.  Even Pope Francis, while condemning war between countries as senseless violence concerning issues better worked out over morning coffee, sees this religious heresy as another cancer which must be excised from the Earth through an international effort.

Personally, I'd like to rid the world of the League of the Perpetually Offended who I feel are at the root of everything wrong with it.  The perpetually offended keep racism, divisiveness, terrorism, political obstructionism, and the death of innocence, all moving along at a steady pace for the news media to feed on while spinning their "journalistic" version of the truth in order to fulfill some ugly agenda of ultimate destruction which only the League can truly appreciate.  I occasionally get the uneasy feeling there will never again be "peace in our time" or any time soon if the media and the offended can prevent it for their own peculiarly immoral benefit.

Every night when I finally get to sleep, I do so hoping for the relative peace I remember in my youth when military or political service was what patriots volunteered to give for their country.  It never would have occurred to us to claim we didn't know a war was going to be what it was or we never would have volunteered to join.  Really?  How does one not know what death and destruction are, or that the philosophy of destruction works both ways?  It seems our education system fails us more than it helps.

“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”

-- Mark Twain (1835-1910), author, humorist, lecturer 

I pine for the days when saluting our flag was patriotic and not a punchline for the offended who have no clue what was sacrificed by others to secure their freedom to be so offended by every little thing.  Maybe it's just me, but I'd like to see the perpetually offended be offended at what they never seem willing to bring to the table - ownership of their own failings. 

I may go for a walk on the beach tomorrow and look for this elusive peace.  I'll consider wading out a few hundred feet until the water is up to my waist, or just lay down on the white sand and watch the water and the birds and feel the sun on my face.  I think I'll talk to God.  I'll give thanks for what I do have, peace for just a moment, and not be too concerned with what I want: Relative peace throughout the world, forever.  Yes, I'll settle for peace, for just a moment, before my retired ass hits the ground running, again, tomorrow morning.

"A person integrates many experiences into creating their being. Personal encounters with other people, as well as moments of personal solitude contemplating ideas and personal existence, congeal to form the depiction of a self."

-- Kilroy J. Oldster, attorney, arbitrator, author

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world renowned, Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteers as lead Chaplain and Chaplain Program Liaison, at the regional medical center.