The Will to Life

I could go on and on about the things I believe America should do to be a great nation. But it would be a waste of breath because we're not a great nation anymore. We've been moving in the wrong direction: mistake by mistake, arrogance by arrogance, since just after World War 2. My grandpa volunteered and fought in WW2, swept mines so soldiers could land on Fortress Europa and die by the tens of thousands. He lost a lung himself and spent some time in a psychiatric unit.

But he overcame and went to engineering school, and helped build amazing buildings across this country and even in Japan. He won some award for co-designing the Dorothy Chandler music hall in Los Angeles. That's what impresses me: the perseverance, not volunteering to go fight for generals, cowards, and business magnates.

Lasher, I don't share your enthusiasm for Hitler or the Nazis(though I do know the evils of Versailles, and why so many Germans wanted vengeance.) I'm not sure the world would be any worse off if America hadn't entered that war and they'd won. There was just a murderous, barbaric spirit in the air and it won out anyway. We won World War 2, just to lock into the Cold War. It's like the ring in Lord of the Rings: these people rose to victory on the backs of idealists and soldiers, and then they build an empire and hold vast peoples and lands in slavery(call it monarchy, religion, democracy, communism, whatever.) Or they try to be all-powerful: there's always various sides and resistance, and incredible amounts of complication.

Me, I'm a citizen of the world, not of any nation. I'm not angry at the U.S.A., but it hasn't been a land of opportunity for me. I've had to fight tooth, nail, and brain for what small success I've had. I've got scars on my body and my soul, and I'm not sure I'm long for this world. But I won't go down without a battle and I'm quite the tactician, lol. And I have !!the will to life!! I want art and beautiful women, rolling prairie hills, and the chance to speak to the world. And I'm happy to walk through blood, muck, and flak to get it. "Give me liberty or give me death."