Winnie: Where are the rivers of blood, and the mountains of bones? I was promised rivers of blood! – The Boxtrolls

You can’t let civilians carry guns!  There will be rivers of blood!

You can’t let citizens have semi-automatic rifles!  The streets will run red!

You can’t let people have pistols!  Think about the children!

How long have we heard things like this?  20 years?  30?  Every time we take a step forward, we hear about how the streets will flow with the blood of children, and yet it doesn’t happen.

Imagine what would be said if other civil rights were opposed with such histrionics?  Oh, right, they are.  People have lost their minds about black people, gays, and women demanding recognition of their rights.  Those instances were no different from the gun rights movement – the cataclysm failed to materialize.

I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason. – The Day The Earth Stood Still

The herd is restless tonight.  Loud-mouthed morons in the Middle East and a President who can’t figure out how to follow the anti-epidemic techniques of the 10th century are sending ripples of fear through the country.   It won’t take much to really spook the cattle and get them stampeding.  We have to figure out a way to do more than live from crisis to crisis.  We need to stand up and say “This is what we are, and this is what we are going to do”, and we need to stick to that.  Governance by reaction is going to destroy us, and if we don’t head this off soon, things will get ugly.

We’re police officers! We’re not trained to handle this kind of violence! — Demolition Man

How many times did I hear “I didn’t join for this!  I joined for the college fund!” when I was in the Army?  If you’re going to take a job, you have to do it with your eyes wide open and accept everything that job requires of you.  If you take a job that has danger to it, you have to be honest with yourself about whether you’re willing to deal with that.  If you take a job that’s going to bore the heck out of you, you have to do the same thing.  When you cash the paycheck, you’re promising to be ready to do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Princess Aura: Look! Water is leaking from her eyes.
The Emperor Ming: It’s what they call tears, it’s a sign of their weakness.

— Flash Gordon

I’m of two minds on this one.  There is usually no harm in showing emotion, be it happiness or grief.  But there is a time and place for everything.  If I feel the need to let grief or sadness out, I tend to do it in privacy.  Happiness is something I feel comfortable expressing in public, but I won’t cry in public.  There’s no shame in it when I see others do it.  It’s just something I don’t do myself.

A baby holds your hands, and then suddenly, there’s this huge man lifting you off the ground, and then he’s gone. Where’s that son? — My Dinner With Andre

Like I said the other day, we took Little Bear to a college open house last weekend.  Girlie Bear is old enough now that she wants to get a job and learn how to drive.  We had a parent-teacher conference this morning for Boo.  Just yesterday, all of them were new, wrinkly, and pink.  Now, I’m staring having one child left at home in the face.

The years you get with your children are finite and they seem to pass quickly.  I just hope I take advantage of them while they last.

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.

There comes a time, thief, when the jewels cease to sparkle, when the gold loses its luster, when the throne room becomes a prison, and all that is left is a father’s love for his child. — Conan the Barbarian

I watched Little Bear take another step into adulthood today when we went on to a university for a tour.  He’s been through a lot, and rough times will happen in his future.  But I hope never forgets how much we love him, and how proud we are of him.