Zee Blog

TGIF

To be honest, I hate the use of "TGIF", but today is a special day. I have made it through this week and I didn't think I was going to. Two seperate 5 page papers due this week and another at the end of last. Now I can focus on my midterms this upcoming week!

Why am I in school again?

So guess what? The wonderful Shattered Angel has finally created a blog!

♥§Now you see me...§♥  [13+] #1019349 My thoughts and feelings splashed haphazardly on the screen for your convenience. by Roseille ♥

You will go there now! Stop reading! Read hers! Support her! Do it now or fear the wrath of the Wombat!

Last night as I was procrastinating on my paper I had possibly the most fun I've ever had here on Writing.com. loon and myself had an all out race for 520. She won, but I feel I put in the good fight. I love her to death, even if she is a punk.

I had another one of my philosophical discussions with susanL. I love talking about this stuff, and since I got in the spirit of Mencius yesterday I thought I might take a piece out of his work again which reflects the discussion we were having last night.

The talks we had last night were about, like usual, the War and how our Country is being ran. I was kind of disturbed yesterday when I discovered that nearly 3000 government workers will lose their jobs in New Orleans because the government simply can't afford to pay them. I know this might be an easy shot, but I'm going to put it out there anyways: "We can't pay workers who have lost their homes and life, but we can pay for a war that is quickly spiraling into oblivion costing near 2000 lives of your brave men and women?"

We discussed what it means to accept the responsibility that you have been wrong about something, and how I feel that our President doesn't necessarily accept anything he has ever done(barring his apology of the response to NO)as wrong. For a while there, it was even "unpatriotic" to think that the President could be doing wrong.

With that said, I now give you a story from Mencius...

Mencius, Page 91, Book 2: Part B

The people of Yen rose in rebellion. The King of Ch'i said, 'I am very much ashamed to face Mencius.'

'You should not let this affair worry you,' said Ch'en Chia. 'Which do you think a wiser and more benevolent man, the Duke of Chou or yourself?'

'What a thing to ask!'

'The Duke of Chou made Kuan Shu overlord of Yin and Kuan Shu used it as a base to stage a rebellion. If the Duke of Chou sent Kuan Shu knowing what was going to happen, then he was not benevolent; if he sent him for lack of foresight, then he was unwise. Even the Duke of Chou left something to be desired in the way of benevolence and wisdom. How much more in the case of Your Majesty. May I be permitted to go and disabuse Mencius' mind?'

He went to see Mencius. 'What sort of a man,' he asked, 'was the Duke of Chou?'

'A sage of antiquity.'

'Is it true that he made Kuan Shu overlord of Yin and Kuan Shu used it to stage a rebellion?'

'Yes.'

'Did the Duke send him, knowing that he was going to stage a rebellion?'

'No. He did not.'

'In that case even a sage makes mistakes.'

'The Duke of Chou was the younger brother of Kuan Shu. Is it not natural for him to have made such a mistake? Furthermore, when he made a mistake, the gentleman of antiquity would make amends, while the gentleman of today persists in his mistakes. When the gentleman of antiquity made a mistake it was there to be seen by all the people, like the eclipse of the sun and the moon; and when he made amends the people looked up to him. The gentleman of today not only persists in his mistakes but tries to gloss over them.'

Mencius lived during the early years of 300 B.C. That's before Jesus Christ made his bold and inspiring sacrifice. How can such wisdom be ignored for so many years? 2300 years and some still have yet to learn.

I am not perfect, and as I told susanL last night, I will not put the brunt of my true thoughts on the war or our President completely on the table. Although I don't agree with the President I have unimaginable respect for the men and women out there that pledge and give their life for the ideal of the U.S.

Yet, should we ask these brave young men and women to give their lives for something I don't think the average American fully believes anymore? Would you give your son, your husband, your father to this?

I have a family friend preparing to fly out to Iraq right now. He volunteered to be reinstated active duty to go out there. He has a wife, a four year old son, and a new born. He believes that when our President puts out a call against a perceived enemy that it is in the right and something he should answer. I respect this man's moral courage more than I can put into words.

I don't, however, want to go to his funerl and see his flag folded before my eyes to be writing something ten years from now like many have written about Vietnam. When is enough, enough? Even if I am naive and it is for a good and just cause?