SINthysist
Rural Racist Homophobe
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2001
- Posts
- 11,940
Joan Nagy
Dec. 30, 1999
The holiday season consumes us with thoughts of gifts. Getting the right gift, the best gift and the gift most worthy of the money we have to spend is our number one aim. To a society that has truly come to represent the cliché of "knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing," this is no small task.
However, undaunted we tackle this chore with all our abilities. As we lay out our plan, we make lists, we prioritize our desires, we ascribe value, we access worth and we call forth all of our experience in our decision-making.
It is important that we exhaust all our talents in gift purchasing because, in the global marketplace, we will compete with the entire world for the rarest of goods. Americans need to educate themselves on the true treasures in our world.
One day we may find ourselves in a unique out-of-the-way antique store, and on the counter of the near-empty store will set two fetching, beautifully wrapped gifts, one labeled "Peace," the other labeled "Freedom." We will have enough money to purchase only one. Which gift will we buy?
"Peace" is a very popular gift, especially at this time of year. Peace always looks good, even to the common man. Peace is a semi-rare gift that is not available in every country. A cheap, imitation peace was produced in the old Soviet Union; however, the quality was always suspect and it was never as good as the American-produced peace.
The Soviet-bloc countries all produced their own peace knockoffs. Polish, Czechoslovakian, Romanian and Hungarian peace were highly touted by Western socialists but never acquired good reputations with Western capitalists, who, as it turned out, proved to be better judges of genuine peace.
An artificial peace is still being produced in Cuba and China, but these are of a truly embarrassing and inferior quality. Oddly, Western socialists are still trying to enhance the value of this bogus peace with specious claims, probably in an effort to flood the global marketplace and lower the overall value of authentic peace.
Peace can be expensive; many concessions must be given in exchange for peace and even the counterfeit peace can prove to be extremely costly. However, peace is frequently favored as a gift because it makes the giver look very noble. Many tyrants wore the cloak of the peace giver.
"Freedom" is an immensely expensive gift, which is an extremely difficult if not impossible gift to obtain. While freedom is popular, its demands are too costly for most common men and, while many claim to want freedom, few people throughout history have been willing to surrender the personal wealth needed to obtain it.
Authentic freedom is recognized only by the discriminating eye of one who knows the true value of both peace and freedom. Freedom is extremely rare and may only last a little over two hundred years if acquired. It can slowly evaporate if you lose your nerve, heart, backbone or brain. Freedom is the greatest asset used to acquire health, wealth and happiness; however, this also requires independence, faith, hard work and constant vigilance against those jealous enough to rob you of your freedom but not courageous enough to maintain their own.
The rare choice between peace and freedom was played out in a scene in the movie "Braveheart." In their fight for freedom, Scottish soldiers were outnumbered 10,000 to 2,000. Scottish rebel William Wallace addressed his soldiers, saying: "I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?"
"No, the English are too many. We will run ... and live," came the answer. "Yes, fight and you may die, run and you will live ... at least a while," says Wallace. "And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom?"
A difficult choice, perhaps. A high price, absolutely. But have you ever thought to answer the question: "What will you do without freedom?"
Dec. 30, 1999
The holiday season consumes us with thoughts of gifts. Getting the right gift, the best gift and the gift most worthy of the money we have to spend is our number one aim. To a society that has truly come to represent the cliché of "knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing," this is no small task.
However, undaunted we tackle this chore with all our abilities. As we lay out our plan, we make lists, we prioritize our desires, we ascribe value, we access worth and we call forth all of our experience in our decision-making.
It is important that we exhaust all our talents in gift purchasing because, in the global marketplace, we will compete with the entire world for the rarest of goods. Americans need to educate themselves on the true treasures in our world.
One day we may find ourselves in a unique out-of-the-way antique store, and on the counter of the near-empty store will set two fetching, beautifully wrapped gifts, one labeled "Peace," the other labeled "Freedom." We will have enough money to purchase only one. Which gift will we buy?
"Peace" is a very popular gift, especially at this time of year. Peace always looks good, even to the common man. Peace is a semi-rare gift that is not available in every country. A cheap, imitation peace was produced in the old Soviet Union; however, the quality was always suspect and it was never as good as the American-produced peace.
The Soviet-bloc countries all produced their own peace knockoffs. Polish, Czechoslovakian, Romanian and Hungarian peace were highly touted by Western socialists but never acquired good reputations with Western capitalists, who, as it turned out, proved to be better judges of genuine peace.
An artificial peace is still being produced in Cuba and China, but these are of a truly embarrassing and inferior quality. Oddly, Western socialists are still trying to enhance the value of this bogus peace with specious claims, probably in an effort to flood the global marketplace and lower the overall value of authentic peace.
Peace can be expensive; many concessions must be given in exchange for peace and even the counterfeit peace can prove to be extremely costly. However, peace is frequently favored as a gift because it makes the giver look very noble. Many tyrants wore the cloak of the peace giver.
"Freedom" is an immensely expensive gift, which is an extremely difficult if not impossible gift to obtain. While freedom is popular, its demands are too costly for most common men and, while many claim to want freedom, few people throughout history have been willing to surrender the personal wealth needed to obtain it.
Authentic freedom is recognized only by the discriminating eye of one who knows the true value of both peace and freedom. Freedom is extremely rare and may only last a little over two hundred years if acquired. It can slowly evaporate if you lose your nerve, heart, backbone or brain. Freedom is the greatest asset used to acquire health, wealth and happiness; however, this also requires independence, faith, hard work and constant vigilance against those jealous enough to rob you of your freedom but not courageous enough to maintain their own.
The rare choice between peace and freedom was played out in a scene in the movie "Braveheart." In their fight for freedom, Scottish soldiers were outnumbered 10,000 to 2,000. Scottish rebel William Wallace addressed his soldiers, saying: "I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?"
"No, the English are too many. We will run ... and live," came the answer. "Yes, fight and you may die, run and you will live ... at least a while," says Wallace. "And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom?"
A difficult choice, perhaps. A high price, absolutely. But have you ever thought to answer the question: "What will you do without freedom?"
