The Coward Within

As the verbiage from a cinematographic endeavor pierces our sentiments,..."It's easy to be brave from a distance"...we slump a little deeper into our popcorn stained recliner, reach for an icy carbonated, and reluctantly nod in agreement. Naturally, this isn't a self imposed indictment,...but merely mirroring what we've understood for quite some time,...

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~From the 1949 movie-"The Fountainhead"~

One actor's question:..."Ellsworth, what are you after?"

Reply from actor portraying Ellsworth:..."Power. What do you think is power? Whips? Guns? Money? You can't turn men into slaves unless you break their spirit. Kill their capacity to think and act on their own. Tie them together. Teach them to conform. Unite. To agree. To obey. That makes one neck ready for one leash. You've heard me preaching it for years, but you didn't have the wits to know what you were hearing. Why do you suppose I denounce greatness and praise mediocrity like you? Great men can't be ruled. Why did I preach self sacrifice? If you kill a man's sense of personal value, he'll submit."

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Quite obviously, when one is deceived into believing the lies of mob mentality or collectivist thought, or worse, deceived into it,...one's integrity of ideals, freedom of expression, and marching to the beat of a differing drummer, will all be, "For whom the bell tolls." You should foist a cold marble stone upon your back etched with "DEAD MAN WALKING",...and while stumbling under the weight of it,.. contemplate the blandness of your walled rut. Hopefully, an occasional wisp of bygone adolescent visions will be like cool water to a thirsty soul,...while you walk on...walk on...walk on...down the neverending rut of,..'What will never be'.....

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Now back to our movie...

The hero of the show speaks: ......"Selfish? Is that what they call me? Well I am. I live by the judgement of my own mind and for my own sake."

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Are we critical thinkers; and acting accordingly? Or must we meet the expectations of others, and their approval? The directed commonality of actions generally arises from death of individuality,...and the constancy of 'following' is perpetuated by personal fears,..giving rise to political correctness & general wussification,...and more fear. Even though the Bible provokes us through this verse; " How long halt ye between two opinions?',...how long can we relegate the Bible, Constitution, and common sense to the archvist's dust laden caverns, while we solely commute upon the daily train wrecks of relativism? We must never forget, when the loudest conductor calls and beckons, there's more than one set of rails to hitch ourselves to,...and we just need to clutch our tickets while hopping the train heading to 'OUR' destination!

The question we must answer truthfully is,...who's leading us? God, or man?


~"Preacher Joe" Paluch ~