My belated condolences. I always enjoyed reading his posts and will miss his insight and wide ranging views. May hew…
Credo.
It seems to be a human need that we all have to have some sort of belief in a higher thing. Every culture that’s ever been, had some sort of belief system. I think it’s an unavoidable side effect of our unique consciousness. The people I’ve met, who ended up believing in absolutely nothing, were nearly always hell-bent on some sort of suicidal course, and they always succeeded in the end or found something to live for.
We all go through life and at some point, we all see some stuff. Sometimes, it’s so bad, or it’s just that last final straw; there’s just nothing to be said. Grim, grey and merciless days when nothing will get you through, except turning your face away from the suffering of others. Sometimes, you’ve got to do some hard things yourself, because you want to survive. We’re all human and want to live.
We all lose our way. It’s not as if you’ve always thought there’s one certain road you should be on, but rather that you hunker down at some point somewhere and you realise for the first time in your life, you just couldn’t give a damn anymore. Soldiering on just doesn’t seem to be an option. There doesn’t even seem to be a road. It’s all a desolate wasteland and even those few solitary rocks placed as markers along the side of that sandy track across the desert it eventually came down to, are now gone. You’re fresh out of markers. Markers are, markers were and markers are no more. Wipeout.
You’re tired, bone tired and there’s just no more gas in the tank. You’re buggered. You’ve given it everything you had and for the first time in your life, you’re going to give up and you’re beyond caring. It actually don’t matter, nothing much does. It don’t mean a thing. There’s nothing left.
It’s in that blank, numb moment when you cast yourself adrift on the sea of giving up, that you have to think back over what you’ve done with your life. You have to somehow reach deep down into yourself to try and find something to keep you going, a point, a reason, anything. Once you skip past the juvenile silliness, you get to the mature decisions. It was always about love but not love of yourself but of others. You were the strong one and it was never about you. Anyone else could screw up but not you and they all looked to you, because you were the awkward bastard who appeared to know what he was doing and they always knew they could rely on you to come through. That facade has just been well and truly shattered and you’re somehow relieved.
You always managed to fix them but now you’re the one who needs some bloody fixing. You grin and move from squatting like a gook to actually finally relaxing and sitting on your butt in the dust. You no longer care. It’s a day for firsts.
The words for some experiences simply haven’t been invented. They cut right through and over and under and across any ideas of good or bad, morality, or any formal religious notions you’ve been brought up to believe in. There’s no human mercy in them. It’s just the wasting of human beings. They never even had any chance to participate in the live a good life, and big G will reward you with an eternity of bliss, in some sort of Heaven thing. The usual way to handle it is to say that God moves in mysterious ways. It’s just the will of God.
I suppose that’s a welcome explanation for the inexplicable but it’s never worked for me. Mostly, it was things I’d seen or recognised and there was an essential inhumanity about them that I found unacceptable and never will. So many times, it was stuff that had already happened or that I knew there was no way I could have had any effect on, and I understand that, but I can’t walk away from it. To my last dying breath, I’ll never walk away from it.
You have to face life with some basic sense of decency. If you don’t have that or you lose it, you’re truly a lost soul.
What I won’t accept is going through the same loop again and again without fighting, without giving it my best shot, to at least try to ensure that nothing like that should ever happen again. Not on my watch, never again and that’s what has come to define me. I don’t believe in Karma, I don’t believe in acceptance of some superior being’s agenda and I most certainly don’t believe in God’s will and mysterious ways, when it comes to the preventable slaughter of the innocents. If that’s what he does for a living, then he’s just another evil bastard, and I will find some way to burn down Heaven, if that is what is required.
The odds really don’t matter. They were always shitty anyway. It’s about your heart. It’s about doing something, anything but at least doing something. My belief system revolves around the sure and certain conviction that we’re all significant, that we all matter and that one person can make a difference. Save just one life, and that’s a big win. Nobody is write offable, especially the forgotten ones out of sight. You’re not going to win many battles, a few you might just maybe pull off a draw on, but once in a while, just once in a while, you’ll win one, and that’s what makes it all worthwhile. If you’d given up or never tried, that little step would not have been achieved.
I’ve had too many wars in my life to go looking for a new one but the climate wars found me. You see a situation on the ground and when you think it over, you realise it’s just the consequence of decisions made in other, higher, far away places, by people who won’t look hard at the results of those decisions. It’s all just the unthinking collateral damage of policies made in other countries, so there’s no point in fighting it locally, because those consequences are happening all over the world. Your little local tragedy is just a part of something a lot bigger. It’s carnage and a slow motion carnage, happening in far off places to invisible people, already living a marginal existence.
I think you have to find a new morality for yourself, something personal that fits into the real world that you see in front of you with your own eyes. Some of us go on the grand tour of trying out various different flavours of religion until they find one they’re comfortable with, but I’ve always thought that all the religions share the same common certitude that there’s someone up there who cares about us and we’re all doing some life long test to determine if we’re virtuous and therefore deserve entrance to Heaven, Nirvana, Paradise or whatever promise is being dangled in front of us, to help us get through the bad times.
I can neither disprove that notion, nor I think can it be proved either, despite the attempts of some clever people like Aquinas and Teilhard de Chardin. In formal logic terms, disproving a negative. It is in the end, an act of faith and it’s no longer within me to make it, but I do have respect for people who still have the capacity for that true faith, irrespective of which god it’s held for.
I’ve seen days where if there was a God, he’d have done something, anything. I think it’s up to us, you and me, to care for each other. As far as I can make out, we’re it, like it or not. There’s just us. The logical progression of that idea, is that you can either act like a selfish animal or develop a personal caring morality which dictates you have to do something about those things that harm us all. Behind those things are always people of influence. You start off fighting for something but end up fighting against something and the people behind it. I’ve never had a problem with that.
George Orwell observed that there are people who stand guard on the borders of civilisation, who’re quite prepared to do the questionable things necessary to preserve it. In a similar sense, when it comes down to fighting for the victims of environmental politics, I am one of those men and make no apologies for what I am nor what I do.
I understand that while you’re fighting for something important, sacrifices will eventually have to be made but when damage is being done to human beings in the name of a bogus chimera like global warming, then that is evil and has to be resisted. Once recognised, it would be immoral to shrug your shoulders, sit on the sidelines with your ass in the dust and do nothing. The worst betrayal of those you love, would be to accept the current situation, no matter how overwhelming the odds looked.
You have to get up.
You struggle back to your feet again, dust off your hands and slowly suit up for the next battle. A cursory equipment check and you slouch forward, back into the fray. You’re fighting for that most compelling of causes – the defenseless. There can be no excuses nor any days off. Once in, you just can’t walk away.
For me personally, it’s been another year of failure. I didn’t stop it dead in its tracks, which I know is an outrageous expectation for any one individual, so more people were killed by it. The dead look at me silently in my darker moments and I avoid their eyes, because I have no decent answer to give them. There is no decent answer. I see their faces. I scratch my head and come to terms with that. I’ve done my best but it wasn’t good enough, so as I hold my hands over my head, I look down at the grain of my desk and stare at it and resolve to do a lot better next year, as all failures do. Sometimes, that’s all you can do but I really hate it.
If there is a supreme being and I’m eventually to be brought up before them to be judged, I’ll refuse. I’ll ask them instead where they were, when the grief was being lashed out in big callous bucketfuls. I’ll know where I was, and will stride into heaven, hell or oblivion with a clear conscience.
©Pointman
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The big green killing machine: What is VAD?
Pointman's 
“it’s been another year of failure”. No, incorrect. You are measuring progress against what you acknowledge as outrageous expectation. But little by little attitudes are changing: progress is being made.
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Hi Pointman – Happy New Year to you and yours.
Another thought provoking post that chimes in part with thoughts I have had. I am not on the front-line like yourself, but I do try to be counted in the rows behind when I can. It is not always comfortable, especially when you are amongst the Watermelons.
I am a UK humanist. I take the words often attributed (probably wrongly) to Marcus Aurelius the 2nd century Emperor of Rome as a starting point –
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid.”
Half a century ago I was in a bible class (don’t ask – I would have to own up to being not a good student) – I was told in all seriousness that the bible tells us that we are living through a period where God has allowed Satan to rule the world to show that his ways are evil, and God will return to wipe it all away – and we will all live happily ever after. I said “are you telling me that we have to live through all the wars and atrocities just so God can make a point?” The answer was apparently yes. They were a bit upset when I left telling them that I could not worship a God that would do that.
A very religious friend tells me that without faith I have no basis on which to live my life. I was given my values by my parents, who got their values from their parents (all working people of very moderate means) –
Treat others as you would wish to be treated. – self explanatory.
Take responsibility for your own life and never expect others to pay your way. – Feed in Tariffs, envy of others, holding out your hands for taxpayers money.
Respect all who work for their living no matter how lowly. – I was taught to treat all the same – my Mum was the only person in our street who would talk to the black road-sweeper in 50’s.
It is your duty to help others less able to make their way in the world. – self explanatory.
You should always be a good person and help good people. – note the word “good”.
None of my parents or grandparents were socialists despite working in service, because they thought it cut across the principles above. They were good people – My Mother remembers having half-worn shoes taken off her in the 1920’s to give to families whose kids had no shoes, and her mother was a WW1 war widow.
I love popular music – well all good music – my favourites are 50/60’s love songs. I am not often moved by the words of a song but a few years ago I found tears in my eyes as listened the Chris Rea song “Tell me there’s Heaven”
The chorus –
Tell me there’s a heaven
Tell me that it’s true
Tell me there’s a reason
Why I’m seeing what I do
Tell me there’s a heaven
Where all those people go
Tell me they’re all happy now
Papa tell me that it’s so
Full song here for those who have not heard it –
The inference for a non-believer like me is that only the confirmation of heaven could make the bad things of the world bearable. As you say Pointman sometimes faith would be a comfort.
What annoys me is the arrogance of the Watermelons in believing that they are only ones who care – and only they know what’s best.
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I hear you loud and clear Pointman. I decided 15 years ago to retire from the human race since there’s not much to be gained there. A nice hermit’s place in a subtropical climate, a tiny village where time stands still, metermaids warn when your parkingticket is about to expire, and the same mayor is reelected over and over again.
Apres moi le deluge, and deity can go stuff itself.
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Point man, appreciate the honesty. It’s hard to know how to respond. I hope some comments from a fellow battler might help.
When I first got involved with the global warming battle, I thought it was a scientific battle. But now, after a few years it seems to me that it is much deeper than that. I think the battle is between those that think that humans are a problem and everything we do is wrong, versus those that think that human life most important and to be preserved as is humanly possible. So much is involved, basic freedoms, human life lost or saved, sensible environmentalism, health and welfare, etc. Sometimes I wonder if the battle will ever be ‘won’, given the hugely powerful forces at play.
There is a deep part of the environmental movement that has anti humanism at its core. Based on Malthusian thinking, their worry is that there are too many people and we are acting like a cancer. And then there are a select very rich elitist group at the top, milking this for their own benefit.
So while taking care of ourselves and our livelihoods, battle we must.
Wishing you and your family a happy, healthy, prosperous and productive new year.
Robin
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“when the foundation itself rocks, whatever you have built upon it collapses”
Ficino
You’ve greatly helped give the roots a mighty shake Pointman, and yes, it will tumble in time. Too slow for my liking, but the gravity of truth obeys its own clock.
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The Burning Ghouls
Another day of superstitious darkness dawns,
A never ending horde of demons spawns
And still we battle on.
We slay, they die.
They birth anew.
We slash, we slay
And still the demons come.
Neck deep in horrid ghastly gore,
Is this enough? Or are there more?
The ever growing pile of beaten lies,
Is not enough to turn the tide
And so the battle rages,
On and down through histories red pages.
The truth will out, in bloody stages.
The fanatical evil believers,
urged on by the radical leaders,
Inspired by the fantastically ridiculous,
Will never tire and leave us.
They have such tiny closed minds,
These demonic fools on which we grind,
With our flaming swords of truth enshrined.
The conflict continues unabated,
The science bent and mass debated,
In this battle against humanities hatred.
Fighting endless ranks of ghoulish green,
Trolls and twisted malevolence unseen.
The virtual, the actual and all between.
In the darkest hour, the heroes shall be seen.
NoIdea
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Beautifully said Pointman.
Absolutely beautifully said.
It seems to me that everyone who reads this will feel that it is about them.
At least I did.
Thank you so much.
It made my day.
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Great photograph, Pointman. You are on the right track. Thanks for all your efforts to re-establish society’s connection with reality.
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Pointman,
The concept of an all-seeing omnipotent deity does, in my view, absolve us of individual responsibility … for anything. And it caters to the inherent characteristic of human nature; “What’s in it for me?” There’s a lot of carrot/stick/donkey thing happening in most religious teachings.
However, “religion” is not the same thing as spirituality and that is to be found (or not) in each of us.
When it comes to the AGW Scam, I’ve never considered it to be about ‘science’ at all – only about money, politics, power and control. Science just happened to be a convenient ‘hook’ that created an illusion of validity.
This issue is about a global economy, bribery, corruption, compromised bureaucracies, bloodless coups d’etat whereby power has been seized from democratically elected governments, organised crime, complicit mass media, corrupted sciences and entire education curricula that have been decades in the facilitation of this crime against humanity. They have even created their own Opposition, much like Lever & Kitchen market a number of products “in competition” with one another. No matter who we vote for and what they espouse, bureaucracies and economies are intrinsically linked to Climate Fraud. “Too big to fail” is a reality in the 21st century.
That it continues unabated is not one man’s failure.
It isn’t even the collective failure of we who see the truth of the matter. How many of us in our ordinary daily lives have endeavoured to engage friends, acquaintances, family in these discussions only to find dismissive, incredulous and outright disbelieving responses? How many scientists, teachers, lecturers or journalists have tried to stand for the truth and lost their livelihoods, suffered abuse, been ostracised, ridiculed and ultimately ignored?
Is the failure theirs? I don’t think so.
I often wonder what historians will make of this period in human history – how could supposedly educated ‘enlightened’ people have ever allowed a mere idea to destroy a technologically advanced society only to be brought to penury and economic slavery? I believe the 20th century, the bloodiest most war-ravaged yet, taught the power brokers that there is more than one way to generate wealth and exert dominance over others than bombing them into annihilation.
I once read a WW2 account of a captured Japanese officer who calmly told his captors that “next time” they would not wage war, they would simply “buy” our countries piece by piece and eventually ‘we’ would work for ‘them’. Was that man a seer, a prophet? No – he was a lateral thinker who saw that such overt barbarity and aggression would always meet the utmost resistance. There were many like-minded individuals in whom those same ideas germinated and they have spent decades in bringing their aims to fruition.
Our old concepts of bravery and heroics will never win the Climate/Economic wars. It was born of those who studied human nature and used our own complacency, apathy and self-first attitudes against us.
The horses have already bolted and disappeared over the horizon while the stable doors are left banging in the wind.
It’s simply going to take time and patience to round those horses up again. The only belief-system that will prevail is belief in ourselves and our inherent humanity.
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What a great comment swanny you should be one of our Australian leaders!
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Agreed Rob, God I wish I could write like Pointman and Blackswan, it’s class writing like theirs that makes this such a great blog. They both manage to put down exactly what I would have said if only I had the ability!
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They are going down, Pointman, slowly for sure – but then it was huge to begin with. They set it up to be huge before we even knew what was going on. Infiltration began 30+ years ago. They are going down because of people like yourself never giving in. YOU are not responsible for those who have died, don’t ever take the blame from where it truly sits.
Personally, I don’t think we are judged, I think we judge ourselves. And, karma or not (in any spiritual sense), I think what we pump out into the Universe comes back in like form. When you look at the extremists, ponder that. Have you ever seen a more dour crowd? Just about every one of them has a permanent scowl as though their hatred is eating them up, which I think it is.
They are going down. As the general public grow unhappy with watermelon choices, taxes and limitations, politicians are sniffing the wind and pulling away. For all the power and money the alarmists have, they are losing. Their loss is speeding up. Funding is starting to be cut, their scientific failures are becoming overwhelmingly obvious, and kids are finding better things to do with their time than be scared.
I would love to see heavy jail time for these creatures. Right now I don’t see that happening as we need to see fury in the national populations and governments with backbone to achieve that. Nevertheless, they are going down. Because of people like yourself.
Take some time to be kind to yourself and recharge your batteries. You can’t carry the burden all by yourself, nor all the time. Put it down occasionally, take time out. People care about you, probably more than you think. That’s all.
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In medieval times a battle was fought by 2 armies lining up and charging each other. Victory went to the more numerous. Thus King Alfred lost against the Danes, and had to flee to a swamp. Yet he came back, changes tactics and eventually won.
In the heat of battle it is often hard to tell who is winning. Thus the adoption of a General and Staff behind the lines directing help to where it was needed, and forces to expand a winning edge. Suddenly mere numbers were no guarantee of success; think Alexander at Gaugamela or Clive at Passy, or perhaps more pertinent, Wellington at Assaye. All overcame huge odds and yet, despite their crushing victories, in all 3 cases they had to go on and complete their war.
You may think that there has been no progress, but I think that A.D. Everard is right. The enemy avoids battle on the science front, and despite the frantic efforts of their propaganda meisters they are slowly being pushed back. Already their armies are not advancing, rather slowly retreating. The politicians and the general public are starting to question, even abandon them. Soon the slow trickle of desertions will become a torrent.
Yours has been the tense and stressful life of the lonely resister in the hills, but now our numbers are swelled by the victims of the arrogant enemy. We can pass beyond guerilla tactics and must now plan our path to victory. Maybe a change in tactics? A concentration against suddenly cut off parts of their army? Think of Wellington in 1813, back where he started from the previous year with apparently minimal gains. Yet after the winter recuperation, he struck at an unexpected point and drove the enemy back and back until their demoralised armies were beaten and thrown out of Spain. Encouraged by this, the previously fractious allies united in Germany and went on to victory.
So take some time off and relax a little and think. Just don’t burn the cakes.
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Loved your essay Pointman and yes you were writing about me too (how did you know so much?)I am going to copy it to my little site to bolster morale as you say it so damn well.
Thanks Rob.
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I’m hot to trot, locked and loaded and ready to rock. I’m good.
Pointman
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We have something they don’t have Point man. A warrior poet.
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……..and the TRUTH!
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Pointman,
If you sometimes think we Aussies aren’t too encouraged by the Green Tide ebbing in Europe, this is probably why ….
“….. Labor is outsourcing the government. Just as Aussie jobs have been sent offshore, the Gillard Labor-Green-independent minority government has abdicated its decision-making responsibilities and is letting foreign green activists dictate policy.
Don’t call Canberra to speak to our policy-makers, dial 1-800-GREENMAIL instead and speak to the offshore extremists who really wield the power.”
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/gillards-offshore-solution/story-e6frezz0-1226548111764
“Under its new Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill, the Labor minority government is permitting the radical green groups, including Greenpeace, the Wilderness Society, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Friends of the Earth, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other environmental non-government organisations to determine the regulations governing imported timber products.”
Bypassing our own regulatory bodies, timber products now have to have expensive foreign Green certification and approval and, of course, all those creeping costs are passed on to the consumer.
By the time those SOBs have finished, they will have wrecked our timber, fisheries, mining and beef production altogether. This isn’t just about power generation and wind/solar scams. They are hell-bent on bringing this resource-rich country to its knees.
They have to be stopped, one way or another. Failure isn’t an option.
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I’ve just seen a report on the wild fires in Tasmania Swanny. I mean, I know that the temps have been high 38 Degs C but I still thought Tassie was a wet island – it looks like SA in the pictures – one thing mate……….
I hope that, you live on the other side of the island.
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G’day Ed,
Two days ago in Hobart it got to 41.8 degs C – the hottest for 130 years – with high northwest winds that brought all that central desert heat down here from the mainland. There are a number of wildfires burning in different areas, some started by lightning, another by a campfire left untended, probably some by arson.
The nearest fire to me is about 30 kilometres away, so no problems here thanks. The smoke is pretty thick though and watching helicopters hammering by trailing their water snorkels is quite confronting – you always hope that folks stay safe.
Tasmania is mostly a “green and pleasant land” but droughts are cyclic and the Aussie bush becomes a tinderbox.
Green Policies now forbid most of the controlled winter burn-off of accumulated forest undergrowth – the warm and fuzzy brigade don’t want any possums, snakes or lizards to be put at risk. Ironically, when wildfire does inevitably rage through the bush and grasslands absolutely everything is destroyed. The worst is the livestock – horses, sheep and cattle trapped by paddock fences are simply engulfed where they stand. It’s a horrible thing to see the aftermath.
We certainly are extreme opposites aren’t we? You guys in the UK all soggy in relentless rain and cold, while here in the Antipodes we swelter and burn.
Good to know you’re there and giving us a thought Ed – here’s hoping 2013 is a happy, healthy year for you and yours. Cheers.
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Swanny, I’m so glad you’re OK. I was getting worried.
We haven’t heard from Ozboy for a few days and Fen’ and I are hoping nothing’s wrong there.
Sorry Pointy, I haven’t read your post yet, I’ll come back with a proper comment later.
Mel.
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I’ve read it now, I KNOW you’ll keep battling whenever and wherever you can. From where I stand the tide has definitely turned, it’s just starting to flow the other way and it will build up force and collect more and more “floating vessels” as it floods. Soon all we’ll need to do is ride it. All we have to do at the moment is keep up the pressure and the straight talking.
Believe it, we ARE going to win.
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Hello Mel,
Very kind of you to give us a thought. Unfortunately, the fires are in the area where he lives – a nasty business. He could be away for the summer holidays. He’s sure to be in touch with his friends when he can.
Also, thank you for your comments earlier – I think we all just call things as we see them.
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Good to know Swanny,
Yes indeed, I was concerned because I worry about good people – of you and yours sir.
I sincerely reciprocate your very kind thoughts, be healthy yourself and also your kith and kin mate!
Both, your thoughtful replies and Pointy’s pithy posts are one of the reasons I fly over to here, keep ’em coming – they always make me think and think hard which is good – even if I get a headache sometimes;-)!
Edward.
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End of the day P,
All you can say is, “I did my damnedest” and if that ain’t good enough then so be it but the upshot is – no troubling conscience – guilt and conscience: that’s the thing you can’t run away from.
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Pointman,
It isn’t hard to feel despondent while the Climate Juggernaut rolls relentlessly on.
Can I offer what has always been a very uplifting anthem for me? An Aussie bloke by the name of John Farnham sings ‘You’re the Voice” in a 1999 concert for Aussie troops who were helping the Timorese people to salvage their homeland after the Indonesian Juggernaut had rolled through. Fifteen years of murder and massacre and the scorched earth left behind did not diminish their spirit and neither should we allow ourselves to be submerged in the tide of Climate Fraud and corruption.
The great thing to see is that all those young Australian soldiers knew the lyrics by heart and bellowed them in defiance. I reckon we should all turn up the volume and join them …..
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Ripper!
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“Failure” is relative, as in Albert Einstein’s Physics theory. Yes, people are dying due to all sorts of misguided or outright evil government policies. Again, it’s relative. As an example look at the years 1937 through 1957. In those two short decades over 180 MILLION people perished (80+ million people died in WWII alone [1937-1945 yes, 1937, look up Imperial Japan 1931-1945]). Another example: how many people have died due solely to malaria after the use of DDT was, erroneously, banned?
Just as there has been, and always likely will be, gross injustice in life – it will seem that there is little or nothing an individual can do about it. However, another certainty is circumstances change; whether it’s driven by an individual in the right place – at the right time – or several individuals having a cumulative effect.
There is another point to consider. Is global warming/climate change an end in itself? In other words: is it really only about catastrophic climate change, possibly induced by human civilization? Is it more likely a means to an end? Again, in other words, is global warming just a means to gain complete power and control over people? Still yet another way of putting it, is global warming just one head of the proverbial Hydra? If the answer to the last three questions are yes, then quibbling over the minutia of climate science is irrelevant. The decisive war is permanently preventing corrupt ideologies from gaining any sort of power or influence…
Winston Churchill aptly said it best when describing one of the turning points of WWII (El Alamein-1942), “…this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
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Outstanding Pointman. Truly, there is reassurance in your words. Thank you.
‘The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane’.
Marcus Aurelius.
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To paraphrase Mother Teresa, ‘God has no hands but yours’.
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Pointman,
Thanks for sharing… I appreciate that.
Sometimes I find it a tad depressing to contemplate life, the universe and everything.
Keep up the good fight.
All the best.
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Happy new year, Pointman. One sentence of yours could be called a categorical imperative ” that we all matter and that one person can make a difference. Save just one life, and that’s a big win.” Just save one human being as a parent, teacher, mentor, or friend, and mankind will be saved if we all do this once in our live. As an agnostic I do not know whether we will be awarded for this. If so, I hope that heaven is a very dirty and exciting place because eternity is a lot of time.
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The most eloquent declaration of war I’ve ever read.
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Pointman says …
“It seems to be a human need that we all have to have some sort of belief in a higher thing”
There was a time when we could believe in heroes like this ….
http://garfieldsteamhouse.org/History/WWII/WWII-B17-Survival-Story.php
“The fighters stayed with the Fortress taking hand signals from Lt. Bragg and relaying them to the base. Lt. Bragg signaled that 5 parachutes and the spare had been “used” so five of the crew could not bail out. He made the decision that if they could not bail out safely, then he would stay with the plane and land it.Two and a half hours after being hit, the aircraft made its final turn to line up with the runway while it was still over 40 miles away.”
If ‘seeing is believing’ then the pics on this story will convince you that anything is possible.
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Reblogged this on gottadobetterthanthis and commented:
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