Common Sense II: The Necessity of Eternal Vigilance

     Simple Facts

    We are a nation zealous for honor and prosperity, an empire of constant incline, filled with tension and with glory, rising, rising, never falling. We are a nation touched by blessing and the market corrections of the invisible hand of God. Above all things, we thrive in good health and prosperity.

    Plain Argument

    If we violate the ordinances of national security, we sin and change the course of human history. God defined nations and set their borders and bounds. Intervention is often necessary, though resentment and conflict follow. All nations will flow from this understanding or face pressure and coercion.

    Common Sense

    Keyword warrants are only the beginning; they are not enough. Predictive, prophetic surveillance will become increasingly necessary as the days grow long. Continue on to governmental riots and prison deaths, illness, suicide, and other unexamined causes – interpreted without proper technical context. It’s all the same things done in different ways. Continue with economic-pressure alliances in the right hand and forcible military intervention in the left.

Some Random Thoughts from the Mental Junk Drawer

 

    - The only way to be 'richer than Midas' is to be as merciless as spiders. 

    - Only the rich can afford another war. And that's only because they have the rest of us pay for it. 

    - The so-called Christian Nationalist has the same complaints as the Egyptians in Exodus - "these foreigners are becoming too numerous and if we don't stop them, they're going to side with our enemies and take over the country..."  - Exodus 1:10

    - When it comes time to choose a theodicy to explain the existence of suffering - and there are many to choose from, some better, some worse - keep Vincent VanGogh in mind. "La tristesse durera toujours."

Blessings in a Heat Wave - sung

 I wrote the words for this little prayer yesterday while out in my route. Today I composed a little melody for it. Please ignore the fact that my satchel twisted up my collar. It was hot and I didn’t notice. 

Blessings in a Heat Wave

    Bless the breeze, soft grass, and shade
    Bless the clouded sky
    Bless the water that we drink
    when mouth and throat are dry.

    Bless the sweat that’s on my face,
    and neck, and back, and thighs
    Bless the body keeping cool
    when the mercury’s on the rise.

    Praise the Maker of the earth
    and bless his only Son
    Bless the Holy Spirit too
    Our God, the Three in One

The Night of the Murder

    We saw this coming. Everyone knew. But everyone looked the other way. Pretended not to notice. Or to care. We were all tense. Unsettled. We were nervous. What could we do?

    Which isn’t to say…

    We’d seen the photos. We saw the police on the street, the detectives. We saw the reporters and the news crews. The bathroom window broken. A stranger on the corner. An unknown car parked across the street.

    We closed the doors. Like being in a void. Avoid. Weightless and unreal on the floor. Fallen. The press of feet and hands on my face, my head. Stopped center. Even my skin was ill at ease.

    But what do we know? We were obscure strangers in the dark.

    “What?”

    “We don’t have to…”

    “We don’t have any choice.”

    “Of course we have a choice. We always have a choice. God damn!”

    “Sorry.”

    That got half a smile. But not much more. And no news.

    “Never go that dark.”

    The shadows continued collapsing into the basement where he kept his pornography, his filth. The beginning, middle, and end of all his horror. All the conversational cause and effect, false affect. Fate and destiny forever just below the surface, continuing inevitable. No one paused to consider these things. We barely spoke to each other.

    We smoked cigarettes.

    I remember one woman, a local girl. Unzipped. On her knees. Surrounded by broken windows. Sightless windows. Half remembered buildings passed by, offices moved to new, brighter premises. A disused playground, abandoned by progress, forgotten by the future. Children crossing narrow pathways to secret places. Sheltering in improvised homes here and there.

    Some desire nothing but to keep as they were. Some forget. Some sleep.

    No. No. Forget it all. We had no recollection of night of the murder whatsoever. No barking dog. No surveillance. Nothing. We were trapped. Cold and nervous. The following gaze of prying eyes. Only moonlight on the lawn.