QuoteIn November 1843, the Gettysburg newspaper The Republican Compiler printed what it claimed to be a verbatim report of a speech made to Republican forces by the Reverend Joab Prout, on the eve of the Battle of Brandywine:
"Soldiers - tomorrow morning we will go forth to battle ... your unworthy minister will march with you, invoking God's aid in the fight ... need I exhort you to fight the good fight for your homesteads, and for your wives and children!"
This has been on my mind for a while now. "The Good Fight" What is this. Is there one left? People talk a good line about "change" hell, a man won an election on the slogan "Change you can believe in". Have there been changes? Of course there have. Have they been ones we can believe in? NO.
So you ask why, why is it so difficult for people to not see what needs to be done, especially when the answers are right in front of their faces? I think the reason is because no one feels they are fighting for their very existence. The scary part is they are and they don't even realize it. Since they have never had to fight for their homes or their families, they can't comprehend what "The Good Fight" actually is.
Miyamoto Musashi said "Everything can collapse. Houses, bodies, and enemies collapse when their rhythm becomes deranged. In large-scale strategy, when the enemy starts to collapse you must pursue him without letting the chance go. If you fail to take advantage of your enemies' collapse, they may recover."
We are at a point of failure. We have not taken advantage of our enemies collapse, simply because we are our own worst enemy. Very little that is happening in the world today is something that could not have been stopped before it even started. For every inch we have gained across the globe, we have lost 6. The compromise has killed us. Well not physically killed us, but it has killed something inside of us that recognizes right from wrong, a part of us that knew when our fight was "the Good Fight" and stopped our realization of it becoming the "Ok Whatever Works".
The author Arthur Gordon said "Some people confuse acceptance with apathy, but there's all the difference in the world. Apathy fails to distinguish between what can and what cannot be helped; acceptance makes that distinction. Apathy paralyzes the will-to-action; acceptance frees it by relieving it of impossible burdens."
We have become an apathetic people. We are paralyzed by our own actions. We have allowed so many things to "pass along" lost so many inches that now, when we are miles from where we need to be everyone is scrambling for a route to salvation.
It is no wonder a political party that touts Christianity has gained such popularity. People know there are problems. People see that things are actually BAD WRONG. They are desperate for a quick fix solution, never realizing the problem they are trying to fix is years in the making. The problem is, god is not going to fix the problem and I don't know that we have what it takes to do so ourselves.
So where do we turn? Who do we look to for guidance, leadership, answers? I would suggest history, as it is bound to repeat itself, however, we do not seem to be able to learn from our mistakes. Where does that leave us? Within in 5 years of a downtrodden country, scrambling for food, killing for fresh water, dying for freedoms we gave away long ago.
I don't believe there is a chance for change. Not because it isn't possible, but because to change our surroundings we must first change ourselves.
Cross posted from EB&G
I really like this, and not just because you quoted Musashi.
:mittens:
Can't even add to this. :mittens: x 1000!