Re: Did Wizard survive the Burning Dude Festival?

Truer words have not been spoken, Wizard, you said it all. Life is far too precious to waste it with ineptitude; last time I checked, you only get one. Many do not realize that civilization on a whole is on a decline, yet it is obvious when we examine what our governments protect and simultaneously refuse to fight for. It is so easy to write from a position of power, to use the viewpoints of governments, jailers, armies, kings, Columbus, the Founding Fathers; for one thing, there is much more information available showing these views. It is much harder to write from the opposite; the poor, the imprisoned, the dead, the subjects, the Indians, the slaves. But a man cannot know what justice is until he sees what is just from that oppressed perspective, in addition to the "official" point of view. Such a realization should lead any astute person to the necessity of preparedness; yet even with warning, they do not....

California will be hit with an earthquake, a massize earthquake. It is not a question of if, it is a question of when. Whether you voted for Bush or not, it is only a fool that does not prepare. Those that do not.... well, we have seen New Orleans. And we have also seen how long "our" government took to help them, and it is likely they would take as long to help us.

This is not my government; it really is not anyone's government, although most will proclaim it to be. The idea of "our" nation, "our" government, "our" country, is foreign to me, because there is no possible way for any collective body to represent everyone's interests. Our laws do not reflect how most of us would handle things, indeed many of us would strengthen some and abolish others with a single stroke. The same applies to our president actions, and our court's decisions.

Government is a necessary evil, and I do not wish it gone; we would decsend into anarchy. But government is also supposed to serve the people, and currently our government has forgotten its people, for the benefit of corporations. Why is our greatest threat, Osama bin Laden, still uncaptured, while someone that posed no threat, Saddam Hussein, is in jail? Vctims in New York City (the survivors) must relive this truth every year he goes uncaptured, on this day, September 11th. Why are many of our most patriotic men, men that have volunteered to fight for us, still in a country thousands of miles away, when they could have been home to help? Why do our tax dollars go towards reducing the tax bills of wealthy stockholders and for wars without purpose and end, while programs to help Americans go woefully underfunded? These are questions I cannot answer, but I do know that they result in victims not being helped in time; it results in people dying. When government becomes oppressive and tyrannical, and forgets its objective, it is not the right of the people but their DUTY to either amend or abolish that government. This world is a dark place. We will all die. But I do not intend to become one of those people that dies early when that earthquake does hit, because I am prepared. That is my duty to my family.

happy springing,
serenity