FEAR, COURAGE, AND RAGE

     "Let us go forth with fear and courage and rage to save the world." (Sylvia Paley)
     Perhaps we need to acknowledge that there is a great deal of fear in the world. People are afraid of the rapidly changing environment, with new ecological disasters showing up every day. They are afraid due to the sudden turnaround of the USA in its new path, seemingly headed towards both chaos and dictatorship. They are afraid because as we look around, there is no place to go no place to hide, no place to avoid consequences. And they are afraid as ugly and angry prejudices rise to the top of the ever growing swamps in so many countries.
     But that fear must make us stronger. A hero is one who has fear, knows fear, knows the outcomes that are possible, yet goes into the fray, be it physical or one of doctrines, strides in with that courage, often unexpected courage. We need so many courageous people today, yet where are they?
     They are certainly not within our government, aside from certain Democrats who are sticking to their guns. Others have ceded grounds to hatred, a la Omar and Tlaib. Some have run tail between the legs to vote with Trump so their seat remains "safe" or so they think. As for the Republicans, there appears to be not one single decent and courageous one amongst them, other than Amash, who left the Party. The rest are worthless as they vote against their own inner feelings and beliefs, in fear of the Demented One, and running for their seats. But why do those who say they are done, who have resigned or will leave, why do they continue to vote party line like good little soldiers. Are they following orders - and have we not been there before? We are in vastly short supply of courage today.
     But there is one more emotion that must come into play. It will arise from those with the fear and the courage. It will arise from those who have decent human instincts, those who know we can and MUST do better if we are to survive in a very existential manner - and a decent manner as well. It will come from those whose rage has boiled at a low temperature, yet is now rising, as the fuel for this rage is growing by leaps and bounds.
     These emotions will cause them to rage through the world, to take down governments, to lose patience with those in the wrong, with the oppressors, with the cruel, with those who would destroy hope, destroy our very physical and basic need for living - an earth, healthy, with the ability to heal all the wounds we have inflicted upon her. This rage will be strong and have some bad results, but people are getting desperate.
     We are already seeing rage. Look at Hong Kong. Look at Taiwan. Look at countries of eastern Europe who are upset with their new governments that resemble the former ones, just with different names. People are tired of  injustice masquerading as justice, in very warped form.
     Yet we are so lacking in appropriate responses. Look at the Demented One and the harm that he has caused in his definitely insane path and behavior. He tweets now to Iran that "the whole world is watching". Well, yes, fool, Captain Bone Spurs, who now uses a slogan from the anti Vietnam War crowd, yes, the whole world is watching and they are watching you as well. They are watching how we have left the brave protesters of Hong Kong alone, all alone in their brave and long period of protest and demonstration, so yes,the world is watching. It is watching how we swing back and forth, like a toddler trying to decide whether to eat that candy now or save it, changing his mind on an hourly basis and ranting around the whole thing, blaming it on others and demanding another piece of candy so he can have it all! In the meanwhile, the tantrum rolls though the house and destruction follows. Yes, the whole world is certainly watching.
     There is an old proverb which states that, "The clock ticks at home, as it ticks nowhere else." Our clock is ticking so loud that we are almost overwhelmed by it. Truly, if the hands of the Midnight Clock would be true tothe truth, the hands would read one minute before midnight. We do not alway agree with the clock and the time it tells us. That is fine, if we remember, somewhere, deep down, that the clock is running,whether we like it or not.
     Combine that with this statement by Marcus Aurelius. "Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life." The words of inspiration are there. The situations that demand action, that cry out for reform are there. We have but to heed the call, see the fear, see the awful things we have done to the earth and to people, and then get that courage to the sticking point and rage through the world with rage, use the laws for the good of all, rather than the few and let us return to a path of hope, of progress, rather than return to bad times, to times of violence, to self destruction. The clock is ticking, faster and faster.