Yes. That’s a soap dispenser. In the shape of a kitty. Who is tied to the top of a Christmas box by a big golden bow. And who has holly stuck in its fur. And who is (quite understandably under the circumstances) sad-eyed and apprehensive. In fact, I’m rather surprised the poor porcelain beastie didn’t come to life and furiously claw the nose off the Chinese worker responsible for its plight.
I bought it at an estate sale this morning. I didn’t buy it because it’s a good thing (yeah, trust me on that). I bought it because it demonstrates a point. And because I could demonstrate that point for a mere 50 cents, even though I estimate that 50 cents is about 10 times what that poor, pathetic item is worth.
Back to that in a moment.
—–
First, I’d like to say two things about the screed I wrote the other day.
Part of me is grateful for the large response it’s gotten. But the fact is it wasn’t what I meant to write. And having written it, I’m distressed to see it being misinterpreted.
I actually meant to write a meditative piece of a sort I’ve done before — about living our own lives around and in spite of the growing tyranny. But the writing went its own direction. You can say my Evil Twin (or my Better Self, whichever you prefer) finished the piece for me.
Having written it, I looked at it and … frankly found it rather wimpy. That final line (“… we will damn well finish you”) that’s being taken as “Looks as if Claire thinks it’s finally time to shoot the bastards” is no such thing.
If you read the passages leading up to that, you’ll hear me saying something more like, “We’ll be patient and when you’ve finally destroyed yourself with your outrages and excesses, freedom-loving people will deliver the coup de grace — which is by definition an act of mercy.
Not a word written about shooting, either. Or any form of violence. If I had specifically been talking about violence, it would have been more like “after you would-be tyrants have hoist yourself on your own petard, we’ll gather up the bloody pieces of you and bury them, nice folks that we are.”
I actually expected people to perceive me as being (believe it or not) overly cautious, and possibly full of hot air.
—–
Of course, I was talking about insurrection. And delivering the coup. But there are a lot of ways to do that.
When that mass of partying kids charged through the Berlin Wall in 1989, they were able to do it only because the cruel bureaucracy behind the wall had failed. Armed bureaucrats no longer had power over them, even though scant years earlier it seemed as if the wall was going to stand forever, with soldiers continuing to mow down anybody who tried to cross it without the Authorization of Authoritah.
But that night … nobody had to fire a shot. Far from it. The coup was delivered by happy young people who just wanted to get over to the other side to look in shop windows and have a drink.
Of course, coups against tyrants can be delivered in less jovial form, as Nicolae Ceaucescu learned later that same year.
I have no idea how our growing tyranny will eventually end. Given that it’s shaping up to be a tyranny of bureaucrats rather than a tyranny of Evil Dictators (despite the excesses of the Bushes, Obamas, and most of their ilk), I expect it’ll end more with a whimper than a bang.
I just know — and I really do know it — that whatever the form our tyranny takes, however it finally ends, whatever we must do to defend ourselves — at the end, freedom-loving people will be here to deliver the coup.
Because through oppression, war, cruelty, stupidity and all, we always outlast the bastards.
And in the meantime, we have lots of power to help the would-be tyrants weaken themselves.
Whether some shootin’ (from our side; they are already shooting at us, of course, and doing worse than mere shooting at freedom) is involved at some point, I simply do not know. I would rather see us help topple the UberGovernment by making our data security better than their snooping, by denying it money, by helping along the de-legitimization that it’s already doing such a good job at, by withdrawing any respect (let alone reverence) for it. I would like to see Outlaws in action. I would like to see hackers hack it and more Snowdens take more dramatic measures. I would like to see Moles destroy it from within, Agitators destroy it by making it a laughingstock, Ghosts destroy it by slipping out of its grasp, and Cockapoos destroy it by bleeding it dry.
If it comes to shooting, I hope freedom fighters recognize the right moment — and are as cagey as the Lexington and Concord Minutemen were against the “all-powerful” Redcoats.
If it needs to be done, let us do it wisely and well.
—–
And yes, all this — every bit of it — is still related to that hideous … kitty thingie at the top of the column. Okay. Maybe distantly related. But still related.
As I mentioned, I got that grotesquely abused kitty at an estate sale. You know me; I love garage sales. Estate sales, on the other hand, are depressing.
A garage sale is just people getting rid of junk. An estate sale is a snapshot of a whole life. This one was typical. A well-kept little house brimming with tchotchkes. A husband and wife, both now gone. No evidence of kids or grandkids or even pets. A record in “stuff” of two people deteriorating from brisk middle age to creaky old debility (from baseball caps from the biggest local employer to walkers and those strange toilet-things on wheels).
You could tell a lot about these people from what they left behind. Her religion was Jesus, his golf. (Has there been a single piece of Christian art, at least since the Reformation, that hasn’t been either totally tasteless or a desperate attempt to look trendy? Has there ever been a golf joke that anybody younger than 70 could appreciate — jokes about Tiger Woods’ sex life excepted?)
Whole rooms were filled with things like Soap Kitty above. Well, granted, I chose the worst of the worst. But you get the idea.
These people had themselves a nice little life in a nice little house. I’d guess they were happy with each other and with their lot. In some ways, they probably lived an enviable life.
But what did they do? What did they leave behind? What does the record of their days say — about them and about the purpose they lived for?
Did they even have a purpose?
Maybe. I’d be awfully arrogant to judge them solely by their soap dispensers and cookie plates. But that’s all I know of them.
They were probably happier than a lot of freedomistas I know. We who are always looking around and seeing the terrible things others manage to miss.
But at the end, what’s the sum? What will I leave behind? What will you leave behind?
Specifically, what will we leave behind that testifies to the value we place on freedom and the work we did to bring that value to real life? Will we only bitch about what’s wrong from here to eternity?
Or will we leave a mark — something that says, “No matter what the outcome, I worked not just for a living, but for freedom”?
We’re virtually tchotchke-free – it’s one of my life goals. 🙂
Every few months, I try to pare down the stuff in our living space. Even my dog has only a couple of toys, while her doggie friends seem to get a new one every week.
Hubby on the other hand, is a pack rat, and I don’t venture near his garages.
Besides a salt lamp, a Van Briggle Lorelei vase, and the rocks we collect while on our travels, we have basic stuff, like a sofa, a chair, a TV, a few DVD’s, etc. If we ever had an estate sale, there would be a lot of tools and used car parts, but scant decorative items.
The tchotchke-hunters would be sorely disappointed, unless they were looking to decorate their house with old transmissions and rocks.
So, I guess the way hubby and I will be remembered: either as annoying eccentrics, or as folks who told the truth and tried to warn people about the coming tyranny – depending on what the world is like after we are gone.
It would be not only arrogant but erroneous to judge people by the things they leave behind. A more meaningful standard would be judging them by the way they treat other people, be they friend or foe.
Whether one’s “religion” is Jesus, golf, or freedom, the real measurement of a person is how far above others they put themselves.
As Étienne de la Boétie wrote in his classic essay Discourse of Voluntary Servitude:
“Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break into pieces.”
Quote:
“Did you write it down? If you did not, you should have. This is because only what you have committed to paper has significance. Man’s experience is only that which he has recorded. The more you consider that, the more significant it may become. The Heinlein Hypothesis declaims that only the historic record establishes the essence of the human experience. If it was not written down, it might as well not have happened. This certainly impresses itself upon me in these closing years. A great deal has happened to me, and I have had a long life, and I am truly thankful that much of it was recorded. Therefore whatever you did is only real upon the printed page.”
~ LTC John Dean “Jeff” Cooper, USMC (retired) (1920-2006), Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries, Previously Gunsite Gossip, Volume Fourteen, 2006, http://dvc.org.uk/jeff/jeff14.pdf
Claire, tyrannies in general are “tyrannies of the bureaucrats,” as most of the indignities suffered by the populace are not inflicted by military or police (though they can and do indeed do their share), but simply from ordinary pettifoggery committed by people behind desks – who have the power to call IN the police or military to crush dissenters.
But as regimes lose credibility, the bureaucrats, police, and military start looking to change sides (in no small part to avoid payback), and it’s once that happens that the regime is doomed. When East German border guards decide that maybe shooting teenagers *isn’t* the optimal lifestyle choice, the Berlin Wall comes down – but not before.
The majority losing faith in the State as protector and savior … that’s where it starts. And people losing trust in the State’s servants suggests that that process may be underway:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/08/do-you-trust-the-police.html
Somebody wrote about how the “day belongs” to the living; meaning the world only belongs to us in usufruct. Might have been Cat Stevens or Thomas Jefferson, I don’t recall which. As long as people don’t leave behind a big mess for others to deal with, what does it matter how we lived or what our passions and preferences were?
I hope everybody understands that I’m not knocking these old people I never met.
Aside from them — and the estate sale that got me thinking about Big Issues — it does matter what we leave behind at the end of our lives — not so much in terms of things or money or whatever, but in who we were and whether we upheld our own principles. Otherwise, what is the point?
What will you leave behind?
A very dirty floor, probably. But there’s a sign on my door nobody’s ever going to figure out.
Actually, Claire, by classifying Jesus and golf as their “religions”, you are knocking them – and anyone who shares their religions. This is not new, but I thought I might point out that religious beliefs are looked down upon in these parts.
How is that “knocking them?” I’m genuinely curious.
So… what’s wrong with that soap dispenser, anyway? 😉
Sorry, Claire, but I’m at least temporarily immune to such thoughts. Just got back from a week dandling grandbabies. (Twin brother and sister, 2 years, deep into “do it mySELF”)
The kitty, OTOH.
Have you noticed how suddenly (“suddenly” to a 66 year-old) hand cleaner is EVERYWHERE. I saw a boy (12, maybe 13) pull a clean paper towel so he could open a restroom door without touching the handle. Society is getting way too obsessed with clean. If your immune system doesn’t get exercise…
[rant]Turn off the gadgets! Go outside! Don’t come back ’til you’re dirty![/rant]
Dammit, and I’d just dug up the guns and started stripping off the cosmoline 😉
Good job on both articles Claire, I knew what you meant. Shooting the Bastards won’t get us anywhere, no matter how justified the Carl Dregas may be. We’re better off living smart, ignore the bastards they aren’t as effective as they like to think they are.
” — it does matter what we leave behind at the end of our lives — not so much in terms of things or money or whatever, but in who we were and whether we upheld our own principles.”
Holding up principles is a great thing, but IMO not because of how it will affect the way in which others remember you. Holding up principles, or any other good act for that matter, is good because of what it does for you and your life.
Indeed, were we having a symposium, that’s darn near the very definition of “good,” contrary to what we’ve all been taught forever.
It sorta figures that a giant scam would be founded on a false premise, yes?
“Otherwise, what is the point?”
Proof positive, for what could the point possibly be for any person, except that which the person makes it to be? For any individual, there is no good, nor are there any points, external to that individual’s mind.
The millennia-old scam is very simple—just convince people that this is false. Then they’ll spend their whole lives chasing something that they believe to be better than themselves.
After thousands of years of this bullshit, you get Barney Frank.
akaGaGa wrote,” by classifying Jesus and golf as their “religions”, you are knocking them”
I don’t get the first part of that.
The second part, well, I surmise even the golfers would agree, and have no quarrel with it. Or they’d just give you a blank look.
@LarryA, actually, I’ve noticed the handi-wipes at the entrance to the grocery store seem to be less used. That’s just two stores though, not the whole easily freaked out nation.
And, I love your rant:
[rant]Turn off the gadgets! Go outside! Don’t come back ’til you’re dirty![/rant]
@C.W. you sure do cause me to think.
…Now I’m off to read those other 45 comments on the prior blog post. …Oh boy.
I once saw this great painting of Mary Magdalene washing Jesus’ feet with her tears. It was so bizarre I couldn’t stop looking at it, and not necessarily in a bad way (though I may have been on shrooms).
When my estate is sold it will look like a used book store. Most who come will be puzzled by my eclectic tastes. Then I’ll be forgotten, eventually. My great grandchildren might not even know my name.
But I’ve had a positive effect on my friends and co-workers, on my children and theirs. I’ve encouraged them to learn to think and question. We don’t always agree–any more than the commentariat does–but they’re no longer automatons.
I think the future will be a slightly better place for my having been here, and that’s enough for me.
In all my years dealing with people, both as a nurse and otherwise, the greatest indicators of happiness and health in all ages were a sincere appreciation and acceptance of oneself, and a relatively clear goal/purpose in life that was congruent with one’s basic values and principles.
Nobody has it down perfectly, of course, but the closer one can come, the better life will be altogether, especially at the end. I’ve been with hundreds of people as they lived out their last days and hours, and those who had lived this way, at least to some extent, were peaceful and purposeful to the end – even if their fondest wishes or goals had never fully been met. For them, the purpose of life was a journey, not a destination.
People who invested their entire happiness and purpose in life on someone or something else, without much in the way of core principles or that inner acceptance and congruence, were usually conflicted and unhappy all their lives and often died in great distress.
I think that the peace, freedom, integrity and joy we want to find in the world must first be found within our individual lives. And shared by demonstration… by being that way, not so much by our words, valuable as they truly are.
When my father died I did the “lion’s share” of the packing and carting away of the unwanted stuff for my mom and sister as my mom moved into a smaller home. I discovered the remains of a sad and bitter man, and they revealed just how much more sadder he actually was. Things I was never allowed to touch and play with until his last breath piled up in garbage cans. He had a tough life no doubt. So do many of us right now. The things he saved had meaning to him, yet I could not fathom what, why, or how. I wish he would have shared more with me. I wish I knew more about the joys in his life instead of The Depression and The Battle of the Bulge.
If my son will be around to clear out my mess when I expire I hope some items will bring some laughter and smiles. I hope he will find that I died satisfied with my life and that I had no regrets.
My main point is that there is a hypocritical disconnect between valuing freedom for all, and simultaneously looking down upon those who hold religious beliefs. They are not mutually exclusive.
akaGaGa — I do NOT look down on people who hold religious beliefs. On the contrary, I envy them and have spent much of my life trying (and failing) to find what they have.
For the last several years I have had three dear local friends. The only atheist among them died a few months ago, so instead of embarrassingly saying, “Some of my best friends are Christian” I can say ALL my best local friends are Christian.
And although there’s certainly a vocal atheist contingent within the Commentariat, some of the strongest supporters of this blog and me are devoutly religious.
As to my remark about the religion of the woman and the “religion” (golf) of the husband, I was being insouciant and irreverent, yes. But that’s not the same as looking down on religion or those who are religious. My observation was simply that the man appeared to be as devoted to golf as his wife was to Jesus.
If that offends, there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ve never been much for reverence and am not likely to start now.
If I were to kick off tomorrow, I hope whoever cleans out my place has the good sense to give the guns, ammo, etc. to someone who’ll use them. Other than that, lots of books, music, tools, and computer crap. I own only 3 things that anyone would describe as ‘furniture’. But, being dead, I won’t care much about what conclusions people draw from that.
If we look back on history, the people who left a mark, for the most part, were those who wrote things down. These days, lots of people write lots of things, but publish entirely electronically. Your cloud server goes poof? Oops, there goes a few years of writing. Make backups, in multiple formats, even, or perhaps especially, on paper.
Michael Dean just wrote something on perpetuating your legacy. It’s about audio, as a technical medium, but the motivation and goals are the same, no matter how you record your message.
akaGaGa –
I’m failing to see any “disconnect” in what Claire said. I wear one of those weird collars that mark me as “in religion” for life (Pastor)
But that golf course beckons like a second bride when I have an afternoon off.
Hypocrite (ὑποκρίτης) is a much abused term. Nothing Claire has said fits the definition. In fact – what she said is very good theology, according to the 1st Commandment. Whatever comes first in your life is your “God.” That is rather elemental . . .
Claire, both your other screed and this one are worth the read. Has Venlet chimed in yet? I do believe John would like both!
jb
Claire, I apologize. This was not the place for my comments.
For whatever it’s worth, I’m interested in seeing the next several generations develop into a Type I civilization, but in order to do that, they will need to live in polycentric libertarian communities (not unlike the American colonists), and to do that, the tyrants first need to be removed from power, permanently. Instead of “fighting the future,” as it were, I like to think I am fighting FOR the future.
The last thing I want to see is a situation like Heinlein’s “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” type scenario (does anybody remember that Earth became a dictatorial world government?). I also don’t want a Star Trek situation, since Starfleet is, quite frankly, fascism with a smile (which is laced with socialist economics). Something more along the lines of Victor Koman’s “Kings of the High Frontier” (I’m still trying to find a copy!) would be desirable…kinda like the cargo freighters featured on Star Trek: Enterprise, but much more of a heavier emphasis on them being responsible for free-market prosperity in space.
After the revolution, I’d like to see some wealthy entrepreneur hire Dr. Harold White away from NASA and just pay him obscene gobs of cash (sound money!) to develop the next working model for warp drive, beyond the White-Juday warp-field interferometer, which itself was based on Miguel Alcubierre’s warp drive proposal – [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White%E2%80%93Juday_warp-field_interferometer]
Word for the day: insouciant.
Light hearted; carefree; unconcerned.
///
In his later years, Dali returned to Catholicism. His interpretation of The Last Supper is well known, but he did other religious art that was pretty good (in my uneducated opinion). On my phone is a photo of a crucifixion painting(?) of his, which I was privileged to see at a show a year or so back.
The works below have had the effect of being modern contemplative icons for many people, myself included:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N0YaDuSCYZU/ThOzf44jjGI/AAAAAAAABZ0/i7QATx-THx8/s1600/daily-bread.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xOLwlWjW-go/SxSmmfoxRjI/AAAAAAAAADg/c8Mn8IFqIvY/s400/Forgiven.jpg
Thank you for providing a warm and personable hang out spot for thoughtful, freedom loving people of all religious persuasions.
Even golf.
I don’t get to wrapped up in the whole legacy thing, mostly because I don’t try to live my life to impress anyone else. And a legacy implies that someone else was impressed some how or some way, and noticed. Us ghosts are a bit more low key. I also think that what gets said or noticed or whatever should happen during life, not after a person is gone. So I don’t worry about legacies, or influencing people by what I do (or did) either.
Having been the only child, all that stuff the elders in the family left behind ended up in my lap to clean up. I, too, have no attachment to these things that must have had more meaning to them (since they hung on to it.) One day I realized I had 3 households worth of “stuff” and vowed to not leave so much behind when it’s my turn.
As for your soap dispenser – that just reminds me of so many just like them who have weird stuff that makes no sense when we find it. I’ve heard that those who went through the Depression tend to hoard all kinds of strange things like this, so maybe that’s the answer: They bought that just because they could – after so many years of not being able to afford “unimportant things”. Sorry Claire, but yeah, that thing is nearly full on ugly LOL.
Some folks ought not to reply for their complete lack of something to say.
I read your article with interest. It brought to mind two phrases: “From Dust to Dust” and “Pursuit of Happiness.” We came from dust, and we will return. Our lives are just a short interlude in which we must find our own meaning. During that time, we pursue happiness, sometimes successfully and sometimes not…but the judge of that is us, individually. Ceramic kitties may define us, but that’s ok if that brings us joy and meaning.
From older folks that I have known, they nearly all ended their lives with a deep sense of loss…loss of youth, beauty, mobility, wealth, intellect, family, friends, history, memory, worth. The only comfort they found, at the end, was a hope that they would be remembered. That their lives were not wasted, that they made an impact on the world. They invest much of their hopes in the next generation, if they had kids. They want to know that some part of themselves would continue to live on, whether in the form of offspring or in the form of ‘meaningful’ stuff left behind. My 88 year old mother is going that that now…what will happen to the old house, to the homestead? It will always be in the family, I say. I don’t know that for certain, but I tell her that because it seems to help.
What will I leave behind? A few pieces of good writing (most of my stuff is scribble and crap) and a positive influence on others. My wife, in a moment of self-pitying frustration with her life, once lamented that her life was nothing. She was quickly reminded that people LIKE her, and that is a precious thing. So it is. I believe I, too, will leave behind a positive vibe that in some small way will continue to ripple through the generations, giving me a kind of immortality that defies dust. And brings me peace of mind while I live. In the end, maybe I will be happy with that and will judge my life a success.
I can agree with Ron Johnson in part, but have to add one more thing – it’s not just that we are remembered, but what we are remembered _for._ It is important that we live up to our own ideals, otherwise other people will mean nothing when we die, we will have failed our most important trust. This is particularly true if we are remembered for something we ourselves think is inconsequential or not worthy of notice.
As a nurse I’ve been called kind, gentle, patient, and understanding, and even out of nursing, I’ve been lauded for those qualities at times. (At other times, not so much.) But it’s not what I want on my tombstone. Furthermore, these qualities are assumed to be “Christian”, and that’s not what I want on my tombstone either. Nor is it true that only Christians can retain or summon up these qualities. (Actually I don’t want a tombstone at all, I want my ashes to be tossed into some wild and rushing river – but you get the point.)
I think those who worry about being remembered are probably aware that they have done little in their lives to be remembered FOR. They have disappointed themselves.
Here’s anews flash 4everyone who doesnt know this already: in comparison it hardly matters what we as.people achieve, learn and pass on to te generations tocome; The same lessons or ‘tests and forging of one’s “metap” will be and happen rgardless. What does matter is “the Path” eindividual cALONE’ chooses. We allgive alll that sicerely seek Him forgiveness. Take care my friends and find your own already. in place Path to Him. — Thomas J T wknow the difference between right aachwroong as. Rationalizong or formingation of a public opinion. oensnt change that.In the end we will all stand alone and be held accountable. for the our zactions annd how they effected/affected others. Remember that . God bless you all. a.nd mayH give us inividual a
“Soap Kitty” (and her former owner) invoked two images in my mind. The first is a very short piece titled “Inferno, I, 32” by Jorge Luis Borges. Quoted in entirety:
—
From the twilight of day till the twilight of evening, a leopard, in the last years of the thirteenth century, would see some wooden planks, some vertical iron bars, men and women who changed, a wall and perhaps a stone gutter filled with dry leaves. He did not know, could not know, that he longed for love and cruelty and the hot pleasure of tearing things to pieces and the wind carrying the scent of a deer, but something suffocated and rebelled within him and God spoke to him in a dream: “You live and will die in this prison so that a man I know of may see you a certain number of times and not forget you and place your figure and symbol in a poem which has its precise place in the scheme of the universe. You suffer captivity, but you will have given a word to the poem.” God, in the dream, illumined the animal’s brutishness and the animal understood these reasons and accepted his destiny, but, when he awoke, there was in him only an obscure resignation, a valorous ignorance, for the machinery of the world is much too complex for the simplicity of a beast.
Years later, Dante was dying in Ravenna, as unjustified and as lonely as any other man. In a dream, God declared to him the secret purpose of his life and work; Dante, in wonderment, knew at last who and what he was and blessed the bitterness of his life. Tradition relates that, upon waking, he felt that he had received and lost an infinite thing, something that he would not be able to recuperate or even glimpse, for the machinery of the world is much too complex for the simplicity of men.
—
The second is just a simple passage of scripture, Micah 6:8.
Found this link on TMM.
http://now.msn.com/life-with-a-dog-photos-that-show-youre-a-dog-owner
Thought you might appreciate it.
Jim B. — I couldn’t get that page to show me its promised “26 things” on either of my browsers, even after allowing scripts. 🙁 Darn. Because the one thing I could see (in the main photo and caption) was that dog owners own tons of tennis balls even if they don’t play tennis.
Hey, that’s me! And every Christmas I get 40 or 50 more …
Claire,
Try moving your cursor onto the pics and to the sides. Directional arrows for the next or last pics usually show up.
Jim B. — Finally got that to work on one of my browsers & it was well worth the extra trouble. 🙂
Yeah … not inviting buddies on adventures because I’ve already got buddies … no room on the couch (or the bed) … and oh yeah, those pants that have to match the dog fur …