Everything. OK! I’ll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max’s toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog… When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out… But the worst thing I ever done – I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa – and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life. — The Goonies

Confession is, indeed, good for the soul.  Carrying guilt around only makes it heavier.  Get it off your chest, make amends, and move on.  But never forget, the best confessions start with “No kidding, there I was…..”.

It is difficult to associate these horrors with the proud civilizations that created them: Sparta, Rome, The Knights of Europe, the Samurai… They worshipped strength, because it is strength that makes all other values possible. Nothing survives without it. Who knows what delicate wonders have died out of the world, for want of the strength to survive. — Enter the Dragon

Western society, in all its myriad forms, is a hot-house flower that will wilt when the protective layer of men and women who guard it and the base of men and women who support it quit working.  People who don’t have to worry about someone kicking in their door and raping their wife have time to wax poetically about the necessity of disarming the populace.  Those who don’t have to worry about where their next meal comes from, regardless of their economic status, don’t have to think about those who toil to make sure that bread gets to their mouths.

Once that protective shell and supporting structure cracks or gives way, people will have to decide whether or not their society is worth working for and defending.  Whether or not they survive will depend on that decision and their willingness to follow through.

Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave. — Blade Runner

There’s a cliché that says “When the government fears the people, there is liberty, but when the people fear government, there is tyranny.”  It seems to be especially true in the last decade or so.  We should be able to live our lives and not worry about what agents of the state will think of us and what we do, so long as we cause no harm to others.  Instead, if we make waves or criticize those who have placed themselves above us, we run the risk of investigation and repression.

Girlie Bear is reading “1984” for school right now.  I hope that she recognizes the parallels in today’s society.

Hawkins: I’ve got it! I’ve got it! The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right?
Griselda: Right. But there’s been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: They *broke* the chalice from the palace?
Griselda: And replaced it with a flagon.
Hawkins: A flagon…?
Griselda: With the figure of a dragon.
Hawkins: Flagon with a dragon.
Griselda: Right.
Hawkins: But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle?
Griselda: No! The pellet with the poison’s in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!
Hawkins: The pellet with the poison’s in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.
Griselda: Just remember that.

— The Court Jester

 

Keep it simple.  A plan should be understood by the most stupid person who will be executing it, and they should be able to recite it back to you without prompting.  This “Napoleon’s Corporal” can keep you from failing because you tried to be brilliant.