A Word About Optimism II

I wanted to clarify why I wrote Optimism II.

First, I want everybody to have a great, successful life. Hey, I'm a nice caring conservative!

Second, and perhaps more important, I began to realize over the course of the past few months, I found myself in a perpetual state of anger and disgust. The Battle of Iraq is being successfully twisted into Vietnam. The media, the liberals, the democrats...and now the spineless, do/say-anything-to-keep-my-power Republicans find treason and betrayal a cozy fit for their ambitions.

Truth, Justice and the American Way mean nothing to these scabrous toads. And they are winning. It's enough to give you warts.

And it's tailor-made to make those of us who actually care about all things bright and beautiful, rant and rage and stew in juices that will eat us alive.

So many of our sites and blogs are dedicated to listing the outrages to decency, the insults to honor, the betrayal of all we believe in, that it's easy to become discouraged, to surrender to ennui or depression or despair or unrelenting anger. I know because I've felt their pull.

Many of my friends talk only about the crimes and idiocy of our enemies (both foreign and domestic)...focusing constantly on the unrelenting evil and stupidity. I finally realized it was ruining my life. Constant anger is not good for the soul. It consumes like a Bad Fire, leaving only the ashes of greatness.

I want the Good Fire! The one that cleanses and clarifies. The one that burns away the flaws and leaves the brilliance! I want to kill the bastards with a smile on my face!

I want to fight for, not against!

The difference is inspiration vs desperation.

It may sound like mere semantics, but the difference it's real. It's a full-blooded, live, roaring, snapping difference in attitude and power. It is the mantle of invulnerability and the magic sword.

The Leftshits have made a career out of sapping our strength, wavering our determination, questioning our virtues, deflating our certainty, tarnishing our glory, belittling our manhood, mitigating our power, crippling our effectiveness, silencing our war drums, breaking our spirit.

Because we let them. They are worms munching and burrowing into our souls, shitting their foul and stinking fear, insecurity, weakness, timidity, feebleness, anemia and impotence.

NO MORE!

Their poison is killing us. We fight on their field; reply to their accusations; defend against their charges; play by their rules; try to gain their approval. Why? They have nothing to offer but defeat and dishonor.

A Knight does not spar with a surly peasant. It makes the Knight low and common, confuses his purpose, wastes his skill, blunts his weapons for the true battle.

To the stupid peasant, the Knight is an affront, an insult to his pathetic deficiency and weakness; he instinctively hates him. To the peasant the most important thing is to bring the Knight low. But the Knight has no time for the doltish peasant. His duty is higher, greater than the dim peasant in his mud-floored hut could ever imagine. The Knight doesn't explain, argue or debate the peasant. He ignores him..because he is unworthy of notice. The Knight spurns the prating fool, and gets on with his crusade.

And that's just what we have to do with the Leftshits. They are nothing more than surly peasants trying to challenge and sully the Knights who have a greater purpose, in order to feel less pathetic and base.

When we let ourselves get caught in that fight, on those terms, we are Knights rolling around in the mud with peasants. We must creative a new narrative, one that focuses on and proudly proclaims—out loud— our truth, honor, goodness, integrity, fidelity, courage, fairness, decency, not to mention our tremendous contributions to the rest of the world. And one that celebrates power, strength, glory and victory!

We must fight. And when we do, it must be tall in the saddles of our battle horses with shining armor glinting in the sun of righteousness.

Corny? Screw it, that's who we are. We need to remember it, and believe it. No more false modesty. No more pretending we aren't the best, brightest, strongest, kindest, most compassionate, most generous, toughest people on earth. And the baddest motherfuckers in the valley.

And the enemy will crumble like week old bread.

It starts with one person changing their perspective, focusing and paying attention, concentrating on the right things, changing the conversation. People will respond. Glory and goodness and optimism are irresistible.

The Gunslinger, Knight