The Struggle for Balance

It resides within each of us. It is fluid, changing... often difficult to follow and discern.

There are, however, river banks that loosely contain it. Sometimes our liquid overflows them and temporarily hides the essential containment forms. But ebbing of the runoff always eventually redefines their original placement.

There are twists, turns, drops, back flows, direction reversals, and direction returns.

This is life. We reflect on it in so many forms... sometimes common, familiar and tangible... sometimes elusively introspective, effusively ethereal and with the deepest emotion. We show it differently, hiding some (many?) parts from the eyes and ears of others. For many, image and presentation weigh heavily in that decision. Some are reluctant to reveal their individual searches for reason. They are concerned of being scrutinized as "weak" or some other derogatory interpretation. But the struggle for balance is truly representative of our struggle to live out our lives. Some confront it, some ignore it... and many run from it.

I believe that the deeper the mind's strength, the greater the myriad of recognized avenues... thus the larger the potential confusion... indecision... conflict. The greater the magnitude of perceived beauty, of resolute horror, of encountered souls (and those bereft)... the more weighty the intersection's choices become. Perhaps it is a blessing, an antidote... for those who can only (or choose only) to keep their delving shallow.

And so it is with the decision to participate in the process, any and each, political or otherwise. We can opt to remain passive, silent, absorbed in only the micro world... the "Me" world of present popularity and lauding.

Or we can seek to learn, speak and/or participate, experiencing the brunt force of the complexities. The preeminence of communication resources, the all minutes news, the "sources", the pundits, the agenda driven glory seekers, the opinionists, the appeasers, the pacifists, the hooded aggressors, the brazen enemies and every single transmitted voice... can be daunting. It can place you in the stainless steel basket on the 'spin cycle', entangled in your own clothes and trying to momentarily project your head above lid level, counter-rotating in brief half arcs to try to get a glimpse of that which almost remains stationary and grounded.

Blogging, today's potential extension to the very bedroom of every John and Jane Smith can be a personal wire for all... for any. It produces yet another chorus to the din of opinion's conjecture and speculation. And that effort is among one of several pursuits to which I herein make reference.

The inevitable question would be "Why?", when it yields no financial gain, yet from so many "serious" participants it extracts huge allotments of time, research and response attention. For those with the under crust passion to persevere relentlessly, it devours time from family, from work, and from play. And it is self consuming, personally intrusive, and often troubling... frustrating. It can seem alternatively huge and then instantaneously trivial... merely petty. But those who don't write, frequently don't grasp the cathartic potion.

I want to tell you... they don't have to for the effort to be valuable! It has rewards for you personally and it may bring benefits to folks you never see, know, or hear comment. If you can, I will implore you to consider the silent consumership...

Some seek fame and traffic of the many, and will shamelessly prostitute their painfully obvious quest for worshipers. Guiltless, blatant, self serving attention whores. To me, they are all too common, easily identified by an experienced focus... and completely, totally unworthy of my time... even to the point of bothering much to express that... With them, I let my absence speak for me.

The marked, determined 'Do-gooders' (a name I use here to mock the commentary of the 'fakers'... and they don't deserve capitalization) are my real 'Pleasers'. Those who would risk their registered, vehement disagreement as the equivalent of "hatred". For tradition is regression in NowSpeak. 'Tis now more noble in the Media's Majority Court to promote that of proclaimed, revisionist "value" than to earn by substantive action. "Too orthodox, too traditional" chant the chiding. Good has become gray, as too has evil, such that now all is ash. Is unfeigned honor a ghost of days past?

No. Not dead yet. Not amongst the stubborn warriors of fact's impassioned chase! They ride, and ride again, unflinchingly, squarely confronting every incoming storm. To watch them fight swells my heart and emboldens my determination to do my very small part right beside them.

The temptation to simply surrender with a sigh and refrain the mantra of "too far gone, can't be fixed, bigger than we can any longer influence"... can it be resisted? How strong is the spirit in your soul? Were you taught and trained from your youth or were you "set free" to find yourself without guidance' good impetus?

Competition has morphed into conformity, which breeds compliance, and eventual surrender. Too many gifts spoil the child. He learns to easily expect to accept... to only receive. Such is the coequal to the creeping socialistic servings now offered to the bleating adult masses. "They" become the nurturing, expected hand that feeds "We"... the special, the deserving, the coddled 'safe' ones.

Dare speak a voice ascribing past principle, and you shall be exposed to the light of scrutiny and ridicule! The paraded 'majority' speaks loudly through its' many mouthpieces, seeking to shrink those rebel songsters and push them back to reclusive harbors. Our progressive nobles translate their rewritten virtues to peddle as groceries to the superseding 'World Community'... and then hold them up high to again chastise our denounced national wanderings. Self flagellation is the sport of choice and favor in our United States of Rome. Be ashamed! Be so ashamed! Flood the room of viewing with the scent of elitist snobbery and the incremental conversion chamber is complete, producing lemming clones who follow and suckle on command.

No need for individual thought or invective. Vituperation, castigation are only permissible ploys for the encroaching rulers, not for the few remaining with spine.

"Hush, you dissenters! Wither! Submit! It's 'our manners' or 'your radicalism', have you not heard of Our offered Two Choices? Be reasonable, be quiet, be still... Legislation will 'give' us the 'equality of utterance' that Amendment One never provided!"

"See there! Another Gift of Queen Nancy! Behold her Fair Care Doctrine! Wet your tongues and lips... her feet require bathing! 'Tis it not the very least We should do? She has such walking remaining... We need only pave her road with ourselves."

Dear Friends... WE of true bony spine... MUST not, CAN not... WILL not... EVER give up our pledge to uphold the foundation that was placed for US... many generations ago. Our perceived difficulties in our struggle to triumph over evil so often are light lifting when compared to the gallant, incredible sacrifices of those who marched before us. To fail is to dishonor what they gave. Remind yourself of your due resolve. TEACH it to your children. SPEAK it to your friends and acquaintances. LEAN on the soldiers who boldly share your fight... and stay ready to provide your shoulder when they too require it... for they will. That is just as important a duty in your own struggle as any other.

BE a REAL American... and NEVER, EVER surrender.