“Forever,” she smiled, “is just long enough.” Gazing into her eyes, he knew he’d come home….

There…. How’s that? What, you may ask, the hell is it? Easy, it’s the last line of a romance novel I’m never going to write, because having to fill in the stuff leading up to such a trite ending would probably reverse all the good work I’ve done the last four years in keeping myself sane…. Oh, not that I have anything against romance novels, or romance… It’s just a bit sappy, don’t you think? A nice ending, but, sappy, for sure….

Hmm… I would say that’s probably enough wandering around, if such is any indication of how it’s going to go, wouldn’t y’all? I suppose it would also be good if I gave up on the rhetorical questions, since nobody else is actually here to answer them, if a rhetorical question even needed one. Now we’ve stumbled over into nonsense, it’s definitely time to go. No fooling, and no fooling around; we’re using the Tardis, now….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Pretty much all the honest truth telling there is in the world is done by children.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes

That said, to no good purpose, I’m sure, the following is a relatively short discussion of courage, from a couple years ago, on a day I went for a stroll through my psyche, again, in the intro section. It’s pretty interesting, if not good, so, it will do for today’s mess…. I like it, and, it’s all damn straight, IMHO…. but,then, I did write it….

From 2/25/2014:

Terrible things could happen now…. they could, you know. And, should they happen, we’ll deserve every second we experience of mind-numbing, soul-chilling, petrifying terror, because, hey, we’re the ones who left the door wide open, inviting it to enter our domain, bringing with it our ultimate doom…. Yes, it’s our own damn fault, and we will know the truth of the matter, because we have been warned, having previously been given wisdom such as this….

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” — Albert Einstein

This is not new wisdom, that we’ve never before seen or suspected; history has provided us with innumerable instances proving the truth of this aphorism….. Time after time throughout our short span of existence on this world, we find examples of men or women who had prior knowledge of an issue, and, by their silence, allowed it to take place, to the detriment of all…. It doesn’t make it right, but, it is certainly not an uncommon issue for mankind…. Such issues are not, perhaps, of those we are given by Reality, our favorite gifts, …. In fact, many don’t look on this, or any knowledge, as gifts, and THAT is a big part of the entire problem….

Our problem is a failure of spirit, that has to do with a basic virtue, one that has been claimed as the basis for all other virtues; without this characteristic, none of our finer qualities are ever seen in the light of day…. That pillar upon which all other virtue rests, then, is Courage…. Yes, plain and simple, courage….

I have found, in my fairly long life, most of mankind, I’m afraid, are cowards…. I’m not an exception, though it IS something I’ve worked hard to mitigate…. Fear is a hard thing for most of us to admit, even though it isn’t considered abnormal; its strength, with the way it causes us to lose control, frightens us… However, that is also its saving grace, as the guilt one feels, for having given in to it, can, and does, stimulate us to greater effort, whereupon we can find that courage within ourselves, the next time we are in danger of giving in…. This is how almost everything we do, and have done, of an ethical nature, ever gets done…. because someone discovers they DO have the courage to act when there is danger to themselves, or to those for whom they care…..

That is what it takes, you see…. No virtuous act can ever take place, unless good people have the courage to act in the face of the Evil that exists, in spite of the fear they feel in the presence of that Evil. If they don’t summon, or find somewhere with themselves, the courage to act ethically, or morally, if that is needed, then Evil has free rein to let itself out to play in human affairs, to the detriment of us all….

Each of us has to find that courage within ourselves, the courage to put aside our fear, to carry on with what we know to be right, even though expediency and comfort are left behind in such cases…. Living with honor and integrity is never the easiest path we can take; it is always fraught with danger, because it doesn’t avoid evil, because it’s too hard, but, rather, confronts it, endeavoring to deal with it in a straightforward, upright fashion…. thus, preserving one’s own honor, when forced to have truck with what always leaves us feeling a bit dirty….

Now that we have wandered so far afield this morning, I’m not sure what will happen to this Pearl…. Minor ranting isn’t uncommon in the intro, but, I do try to limit it to no more than eight or ten paragraphs, so we don’t take forever to get into just the first section…. a resolution which, this morning, is NOT unfolding according to plan…. Allow me to sum up, and get on with it, if you will…

All of what I wrote above is true and complete, to the best of my knowledge, and constitutes a fairly accurate assessment of today’s situation here on planet Earth…. Evil is out there, ffolkes; when we… that’s you, and me…. fail to stand up to it, look it in the eye, and tell it to “fuck off, you bloody sod!”, it will continue to manifest its existence, causing untold pain and suffering for us all…. So, be brave, ffolkes, and don’t let Evil have its way without at least some token resistance, ‘kay?…. “Kay!…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, “To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws.”” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi

“I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.” — H. L. Mencken

“It is ridiculous to lay the blame of our wrong actions upon external causes, rather than on the facility with which we ourselves are caught by such causes.” — Aristotle

“The materials of action are variable, but the use we make of them should be constant.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD), How Nobleness of Mind may be consistent with Prudence, Discourses, Book ii, Chap. v

“Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right actions arises by itself?” — Lao Tzu

“Reality is not a constant.” — Subtle Bee

“Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old.” — Aeschylus, “Agamemnon”, 584

“I leapt headlong into the sea, and thereby have become better acquainted with the soundings, the quicksands, and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly song, and took tea and comfortable advice.” — John Keats

“For a man can lose neither the past nor the future; for how can one take from him that which is not his? So remember these two points: first, that each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle, and that it signifies not whether a man shall look upon the same things for a hundred years or two hundred, or for an infinity of time; second, that the longest lived and the shortest lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, ii, 14

“But if a man happens to find himself … he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life.” — James Michener

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Shoot, this is getting too easy. I guess I’ll have to go back to sweating over this in the mornings…. Nah, I sweat enough, of that I have no doubt. On that odd note, I’ll leave this be, lest any further fussing cause it to fall apart altogether. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should there be sufficient reason to warrant such arrogance…. No doubt there will be….