Peace, if Just for a Moment (Updated from 9/13/2014)

(Handsome kid, huh...)

"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'."

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

Are you, like me, old enough to remember better times?  I remember when political parties worked "across the aisle" 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 squad "Democratic Socialism" sitting across the aisle in our system of government.  They try to excuse the definition of "Democratic Socialism" and it really doesn't fly.  Socialism is socialism.

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, you know, journalism, to separate truth from fiction. Now, it seems the "fourth estate" simply fuels the fires of racism, divisiveness, and the overthrow of our government.  Truth, freedom, and true equality have become dirty words, a death knell, best not used if you want a university degree, 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 the education 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 League of the Perpetually Offended.

As anti-semitism and other racist attitudes insinuate themselves into the highest levels of our government, I wish I could turn back the clock, even for just a moment, to the 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.  I'm not sure we even knew what "serial killers" were.  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

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, hanging with middle-class black boys.  I knew very little about hunger, being poor, racism, gender inequality, gender dysphoria, gays, political bias, etc., etc., etc., and so on.  I suppose members of the League of the Perpetually Offended would call me privileged, though my parents worked hard for everything and chose to only purchase what they could pay for.  I didn't grow up in a house full of debt.  Mom's family were poor dirt farmers in Mississippi who worked right alongside poor black dirt farmers.  Racism was not as important to the farmers as ensuring every one of your neighbors was being 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 a 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, like me, 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, Saw, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and so many others.  Television was being infiltrated by similar trash.  The ultimate horror story, the choices for our political candidates, came down to which handful of crap smelled better.

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

-- Howard Zinn

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.  Islamic heretics were threatening to take their demented version of reality worldwide as they destroyed any visage of innocence along their demented path.  Even Pope Francis, while condemning war between countries as senseless violence, saw these as issues better worked out over morning coffee.  But, he saw the insanity of destructive religious heresy as cancer that 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. I feel they are at the root of everything wrong with the world.  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 they spin 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 Perpetually 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, even back then, failed us more than it helped.

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

-- Mark Twain

I pine for the days when saluting our flag was patriotic and not a punchline for the Perpetually Offended who have no clue what was sacrificed by others to secure freedom for the League 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 consider lying down on the white sand, to 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 have, peace for just a moment, and true happiness in my life.  I will try not to be too concerned with my selfish want - relative peace throughout the world... forever.  I'll settle for peace, even for just a moment, knowing my retired ass may hit the ground running, again, at any moment.

"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

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 view any more right or wrong than the other. Opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form their own opinions, 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.

I fervently 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 offered. After twenty-three years of military intelligence, I believe that engaging each other in this manner, and in this arena, is a 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. Following his service career, he spent 17 years working with the premier and world-renowned Western Institutional Review Board, helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. He also served 8 years on the Board of Directors for the Angela J. Bowen Foundation.

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 a weapon for his war on intolerance... he chose the pen. He 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 personal, spiritual path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteered as the lead chaplain at a regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony at: tolerantpastor@gmail.com