Of Myths and Legends

I used to tell my kids that if you could describe everyone's life as a book then the final chapter would be entitled 'Myths and Legends'. I told them that we all have a tendency to remember people as larger than life but not to be suspect of or discouraged by that. The fact is we need to emphasize the qualities of a person's life and hold them up as a billboard for the world to see. In a world that continues to plunge ever deeper into the recesses of the pit, people who still have a functional conscience need to know there is a better model to follow.

When I was a kid, I was an aficionado of the Saturday afternoon westerns. There was a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from those 'B' movies and 1/2 hour TV shows. The likes of John Wayne, Randolph Scott and Roy Rogers rode the plains and streets of the old west with guns displayed outside their trousers. These men lived by a code of honor like a modern race of Knights who demanded nothing less of other men . They defended the defenseless, confined evil and selflessly gave of themselves for the same. Some more memorable elements of those codes of honor I still keep with me today:

1. Always take the seat against the wall offering the best view of the room

2. Never face the Sun

3. Always command the high ground

4. A .36 caliber handgun is good but a .45 is better

5. If time permits; get a shotgun

6. It is better to die with Eagles than live with swine

7. Never trust a man who speaks with forked tongue (this was always my favorite)

8. Never expect of a man that which you are unwilling to do yourself

We have come a long way since the days when even the writers in Hollywood understood the simple wisdom of the ages and were willing to infuse it into the story line. We have, in fact, become a land of compromisers. Compromise has become the byline of the elite; a sign of wisdom in a city that no longer shines. It lost its luster so long ago that the current residents can't tell you when the transformation began. Those who choose to work in that city are, in danger of losing their very souls. Here logic has been replaced with convoluted rhetoric; purity with rampant sin; courage of conviction with sleazy backroom compromise; worship of the one omnipotent God has been replaced with the Eastern, New Age, Siren's song that 'all roads lead to heaven'. I wonder how one reconciles these passages from the Koran which are considered the latest and most authoritative:

Sura:9:5 - 'But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans (infidels; Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims) wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war; but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.'

Surah 9:29 - 'Fight against those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, even if they are of the People of the Book (Christians and Jews), until they pay the Jizya (a tax on non-believers) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued (enslaved).

With these from the New Testament:

John 15:13 - Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Mathew 5:38 - 40 - ³⁸"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'^{[a] 39}But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ⁴⁰And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

The answer of course is clear; only a deceitful person would dare to suggest some basic misunderstanding or maybe they have been spiritually blinded.

From this city the elected, lord from their lofty thrones, in the once hallowed halls of hope and hand down edicts designed to garner support from one sub-culture or another to insure another 2, 4, or 6 years of an illicit career. The fallout from these decisions varies in type, but not intensity. Laws cordoning the rights given men by their Creator, slip the electorate ever closer to the precipice overlooking the pit of slavery. Laws defending the indefensible at a cost paid by Patriots, demoralize and deaden the nerve center of nationalism. Wars haphazardly waged to massage the egotistical needs of lesser men reek eternal havoc on our idealistic youth and rob families of their posterity.

I have no doubt the worshipers of the lords of DC have hope their perverted cowboys, having transformed the countryside into a shining version of their polluted dream, will ride off into a glorious sunset. They have an awful truth awaiting them. On the other hand, down in the depths of my soul I know that the fallen Warrior will ride off into Glory. God speed Warrior! May God show more mercy to the lords of DC than they have shown to those who entrusted them with our sacred trust.

Semper Fidelis;

John Bernard