I was thinking about Thomas Sowell again the other day, and his admonition to pay attention to Facts about Results, not rhetoric about intentions. (see our post below)
I interpret that as the world of difference between living life as an adult, and living life as a child.
Children can afford illusions; in fact one could argue that it helps them enter adulthood with more grace, as it postpones the cuts from the hardships and sharp edges which the Real World has in store for us all. Childhood innocence buys us the necessary years that can allow we mere mortals to build up a reservoir of sufficient imagination, in order to fuel the faith required to persevere through the inevitable adversity that smacks us sideways as we begin to see both the ugliness as well as the magic of our world.
Such pain is the rite of adulthood.
The form of denial that helps us as children, becomes poisonous to us as adults. Living in denial, living a lie, surely must rank as one of life's most hellish experiences. Adults must learn to dis-illusion themselves, if they are to survive with dignity. Dignity, meaning living a life worth living. A sacred life.
Is there ever a time when the amount of energy required to avoid an ugly truth, is less than that which is involved in dealing with that regrettable truth? To remain under the spell of one lie, we cocoon ourselves within another, and then another, and ever more, until one's humanity is so submerged behind layers of falsehood, we begin to resemble the self-deluded monsters parading around with their bestial signs in this video.
Take a good look at both the face and the message of the "anti-war" side of our current global conflicts. What kind of "peace" are they imagining for our brothers and sisters in war-torn regions of the world?
What price will the citizens of embattled democracies pay, in consequence of infantilized adults spurning their duty to grow up?
Who is more honestly anti-war, than the brave soldier shouldering the sword of peace that shields the next generation of innocents? God Bless them for their brave sacrifice, and may God damn those that cause that sacrifice to be needed in the first place.
2 comments:
Here's a great essay on the consequence of not growing up to face the real world. I will hopefully get a chance to see this video tomorrow, at another computer.
I’ll agree that antiwar protestors are particularly misguided. I’m not so sure about the childhood/adult, illusion/reality dichotomies you set up. Most of my major security policy disagreements are with people who also take security seriously. People have basic disagreements over what constitutes ‘the Real World’. For example, I think anybody trying to impose democracy on a country divided by deep tribal, ethnic, and religious bonds has their head in the clouds (or up their own arse). That being said, I don’t doubt that the people who advocate such a policy believe that security is a serious issue and that countries need to defend themselves with force. In other words, I don’t think the key differences are between those with a child-like worldview and those with an adult worldview. The ‘adult to adult’ disagreements are just as sharp and far more important.
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