1
Greatness
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary safety deserve neither Liberty nor safety” - Benjamin Franklin
Leon sat alone at his kitchen table, cleared from the evening meal, pondering. It had been a long many years since he had done this very thing, free time was a blatant new addition to his life, one he was still not fully aware of or fully able to utilize. The past twenty or so years of his life were now becoming a blur, a quickly fading memory. Though, what he was now doing was a quaint necessity really, he reminded himself gently, the past needing to be remembered before it is forgotten.
Leon looked up for a moment, out the one large window in the room, looking out to the night sky, all the stars, all the grandeur, all the memories. He thought of his children, Jimmy and Jillian. They were young, this was now their time, this life, this world, it was now up to them. What Leon had done for them- for everyone- would not soon be forgotten. It couldn’t be forgotten, he thought, nothing in life is that static, everything moves too quickly. Sooner or later, it would all happen again, history would repeat itself and others would have to fight for themselves, others would do it all over again he knew.
Will they listen to us, have they truly learned? Leon questioned himself.
He began to fear for his children, then for the whole world, the planet he was now gazing upon from his dining room window, wondering if they could keep the hope of free life alive, if they would carry it on; the fight had been won twice now. Though his fears subsided as a cool nighttime breeze began to draft through the open windows of the house.
He looked back down, straining his eyes at the screen of the laptop sitting on the table in front of him. He was writing, something important, something powerful, something that many people were just now beginning to truly wonder about. He was the only one who could conceivably do it right, if at all.
Others had tried in the last few years but no one knew the complete extent of what really was, the intricacies and the powerful moments of understanding; they took their guesses and tried to make it work but only Leon and those who were with him through the whole ordeal knew what it really meant now. He had started writing his story in the years prior, but now he realized the need for it to be finished, to be told.
He began to type furiously, the words forming in his mind rapidly, all the memories, all the reality, everything coming back to him now. There was so much to say and yet so few ways to say it, it had been a long few years in the beginning, it was not a short story, that much he knew for certain, but it was a good one, and people, he reminded himself, love a good story.
He continued.
* * *
“Living in the past”
-Leon James Nelson
Some people look back on the past and are happy, some sad, and some, well, some simply survived. I’ll explain in a bit but first let it be known what and who, where the whole story starts.
It was valentines day, 2012, the year that the earth was to come to an end, at least that's what all the ‘experts’ said. The whole world stood still and shook with the anticipation and fear of whatever was to come. They knew no better, and why should they? The brainwashed society that they had once condemned enticed them, dragged them in and swallowed them whole, masking everything that they once were, or could ever hope to be. They too, were stuck in the middle of the chaos and madness of such uncertain days.
It was about so much more than the 2012 prediction, however. This was about freedom, democracy, life, and everything that so many once stood for; that now many simply gaze upon with wandering eyes, hoping for something better, convinced that their lives are never good enough, their ‘pursuit of happiness’ not ending happily enough for them, their liberty a willing sacrifice; they were convinced that society owed them so much more.
Nothing was safe, no one was secure, the times were changing rather rapidly, too rapidly perhaps? No one could tell for certain where the current entangled mass of society was moving, nonetheless many, although not enough, knew that it was nowhere good.
Anyone with more than a simple preconceived notion of life knew that it was all a lie, that the 2012 myth- among others- had been debunked a thousand ways over. Most myths and rumors and small talk, however, had yet to even settle in let alone be tossed out like yesterdays garbage. The zombie like society of America tended to plunge into the scare tactics and bias rather easily, with no persuasion or rational needed. One soft, secret whisper in a dark alley by some miserable, incoherent drunk suddenly becoming tomorrows big news, the fate of the world resting in the hands of the ignorant.
The problem with all these lies and unfounded tall tales was that it was becoming few and far between to find someone who had enough free thinking spirit left in them to live above and beyond the ills of this ever evolving society, to question that around them, to take charge and stand up for what was right and true. Truth, however, lies in the eye of the beholder, and no one was willing to take a chance that their truth might in fact have been the right one. ‘What if?’ is a rather risky game to play in the real, uncensored and unprotected world of self non-control.
The start of this new sadistic existence begins with the installation of fear into a whole society. The theory is simple, in order for someone in a position of power- such as a president- to control wholly an entire nation and a whole society, a group of armed, trained, and unknown men is needed to be the strong arm, the actual power behind the movement and shift towards control; all under the mask of protecting the people, saving the children, doing the right thing. They know, put it into a positive sort of light and people will lay down their lives to it, support the idea wholly; keep it hidden away and people will fight it for all it’s worth. It is now known, If such a group isn’t stopped, it will, in due time, take over wherever it can and assume control of the whole populace, all the power resting in the hands of one agency, one man, the President.
However, the genesis of such a group is only phase one of the installation of fear into society. The next phase is the act of actually taking control of as much as possible, preferably everything. This will be done in the facade of something worthwhile. Everyday life will be taxed, regulated, and controlled by those in power to the point that the new government essentially holds all power in every way; nothing is said, done, or committed without its knowledge or consent.
The final phase is that of conformity. Having all the power and control is great as long as all the people under those in power allow it and agree to it; sovereignty as it was originally called. Those who voice concern or disdain towards this new government need to be either converted or silenced. Many countries have explored this phase throughout the years with varying results, none of them good. A lot are revolutionized from within given enough time, its populace finally growing tired of living in such oppression, hoping for something better, remembering their past. Some find it, many do not.
There were a few, a rather small faction though, that knew that this could not be allowed to happen in America, ever. This was a rebellious group that was willing to wage their own war against such an agency, any agency that threatened their existence, their freedom, their rights, thier sovereignty.
In an ideal situation, the revolution can be done without even the threat of violence; Ghandi took on the entire British empire’s hold in India this way with eventual success. However, once in a while, a group comes along that will fight back harder, rougher, and stealthier than passive resistance could ever stop. This is the most frightening idea, the idea of having to wage a war against another's own sadistic idea of freedom in order to truly be free.
In the beginning of the takeover, however, when people panic, give into the fear, and loose control of who they are, they venture into dangerous places, reduced ways of living that would normally make ones hairs stand on end and blood boil. Because of this fear, people in their old lives then turn to those in power, begging for relief from their own hapless existence; it will be granted.
Those in power will give in, but at a very steep price, following the very old axiom; there is no free lunch. The price of admission, the old society of freedom and accomplishment has now been removed, replaced by a slave culture; reduced to animals, sheep and their shepherd; reduced to servants, slaves and their masters.
2012 was certainly not the most romantic year ever, the years hadn't been in quite a while, but time marches on, leading the way to a whole new existence; a vague, dreary existence of euphoria and disdain, leaving nothing in its aftermath but the old, grim memories of that which used to be.
Despite all the promises, however, the fear came easy, with little help needed from those in power; society led the way to its own downfall, its own demise. It was such a quick and easy change.
Society in general, it seems, likes a good panic, and likes it often. Looking back just the last few centuries, many examples have come and gone. First, the great depression of the 1920’s and 30’s; the great world wars, the wars to end all wars, World Wars I and II; the cold war and Cuban missile crisis of the 1960’s; the petroleum and environmental crisis of the 1970’s; Y2K during the new millennium; terrorism in the 2000’s; the great 2012 scare; and then came the political and socioeconomic fears of the world happening around, the world to come.
It was always sufficient, at the very least, to drive those paranoid enough to listen crazy. This time, no one could venture to even the darkest corners of life without being bombarded with the ‘facts’ and ‘scientific evidence’ that the Myans were right, that the world was in fact going to cease to exist in just a few short months. Or in another time, that some new theory is wrong, that in fact some new scientific breakthrough will save everybody and launch them into a newer brighter future. Or that such and such a person is no ‘terrorist,’ merely a slightly morally banked individual. Everyone was told to rest assured that those in power were in control, that they had nothing to worry about, nobody to fear.
Of course, the proof of these ‘facts’ was always shoddy at best, most of it complete and utter nonsense, the kind that even the youngest child could gaze right through and mock, but anyone who dare to speak out against the ‘truth’ was suppressed and slandered almost instantly. All were trapped like the infamous rats in that great maze, conform or be killed was the unwritten rule.
The Orwelian nightmare was in full swing; it is not too far out of reach of our current generation- as their predecessors foolishly believed- before the tragic days of repression and enslavement are thrown upon the land like a fire blanket, smothering everything in sight, concealing it, hiding its new found shame, never to let it be free again.
It was a very frightening time, a time when logic and reason were seen as inferior to anything that felt right and popular at the time. Those who knew didn’t stand a chance against those who pretended to know for them. The lies of the new ways would pile up deeper than anyone could think to control. If society felt good about itself it was all worth it, regardless of how any of it worked out in the end or how it got there in the first place. No one cared about who they hurt, killed, or crippled; it did not matter to them as long as they got what they wanted out of it. Those in power would trample many millions before the anger and resentment took charge.
It has been seen that with each new and different panic in society, those in power ‘took charge’ of society, they politely stole more and more from those lives to protect them from themselves, to ‘move society forward.’ With each new move, society as a whole jumped on board quickly and quietly, having faith in those that they had charged with protecting them, keeping them safe, never realizing what they were truly giving up in return; no free lunch.
In the early 20th century came the war to end all wars, World War I. Four years of intense suffering and degradation, the clash, the pinnacle of world tyranny, without any noticing our own internal tyranny welling up from inside. The first time that the world had seen so much death and destruction, so much hate and anger. The first time that people were scared for real. It did truly seem that the world was to come to an end, sadly though, the worst was yet to come.
After this war, America learned about ‘reform’ movements. This worked out okay in the beginning, but soon after led to the entitlement culture of the 1920’s, perpetuated soon after by the self-centered society that led to the Progressive movement; the idea was essentially to take away from those who- at least in the eyes of those in power- needed no more, had plenty, and give it to those who supposedly had a ‘real’ need for their free lunch, a strange Robin Hood masquerade at best.
Not long after World War I came one of the greatest causes of the continuation of the United States’ Federal power grab, the great depression. Total failure of the US as well as world banking systems. The United States, along with most of the rest of the world- many of whom were dependent on our financial stability- was thrown into a state of disarray. It was here where the American society started the horrid trend of external dependence, a rather troubling ‘let someone else deal with it’ mentality that would soon be the reason for the eventual take over of essentially everything; complacency, the veritably silent killer.
This was the newly created ‘needy greedy’ state of society, people’s slow turn to total and undivided dependence on the higher ups, the government, for every little shred of need in their lives. It was a desolate, despicable, and silent enslavement for them. Most people, in the last few years of freedom, did truly believe that it was the job of the Democratic Progressive party, among others, to micromanage their lives, to tell them what they could and could not do, where they could and could not go and how they could and could not get there, what they could and could not eat, and so on. This led to the welfare state that so many became accustomed to; the government giving all at the expense of the rest, a nightmare to those who know.
After the great depression, the entitlement programs started, giving rise to the ‘me’ culture that most took for granted. Everybody felt that everybody around owed them something in return for nothing. Those in governmental power saw to it that everyone got what they wanted no matter what end it took to get there.
Little more than twenty years later, the United States found itself in another grand war, World War II. Though by this time America was trying its hand at isolationism, the United States was pretty well forced into the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. The United States entered the war and fought hard, teaming up with those who were considered the good guys in the fighting.
The United States soon put a very abrupt and violent end to the war in August of 1945 by dropping the first two atomic weapons to ever be used in warfare. This started a very new and frightening time in world history, the atomic era.
Though the war was over, many problems sill hid away, ready to pop out at a moments notice. World War II did do one positive thing for the United States, however, it put an end to the depression. In spite of this fact, the national debt had expanded almost five times, and those in power started the trend of overspending for everything, yet proclaiming that all of the countries financial problems were well under control and solved nonetheless.
After the second great world war, World War II, America learned to open its borders to trade, eventually leading to dependence on others for our own goods. We learned eventually to depend on others so much that we were unable to sustain ourselves past any fairly primitive need. Everything that we bought, sold, or had anything to do with was created and shipped from elsewhere. Production soon came to a near end, essentially nothing created from within, overseas was the way to do it, or at least that is what everyone was told. Shifting political climates and the in’s and out’s of ‘free trade’ bombarding the everyday life made many unsure of this ‘fact.’
After the cold war, Americans learned distrust and fear, to fear what they did not understand, to rely on those in power to tell them what to feel, think, and do. Society learned to cower and hide away rather than stand up and fight in the end. Arbitration over show of force; pacifism over protection.
The 70’s environmental movements, along with terrorism led to many new regulations and laws, most of which no one knew in their totality. So many rules, laws, and regulations in the end that it was lucky if even half were being enforced throughout the course of a day. Anyone could be a criminal in one of millions of ways, a problem that was not fully understood until these millions of laws were actually enforced.
Of course, the American society failed to realize what they were giving up, they got free lunch why should they care how they got it? Most neglected the fact that in many ways, in many aspects of life, they could take care of themselves. Responsibility, though, declined with each new wave of panic; people preferring to rely on those in power to be responsible for them, to tell them what to do. A dangerous proposition that no one would truly realize until the end, until it was too late.
At first, perhaps, this deference of responsibility and control was not absolutely bad. Those in power worked with it in moderation. It did not take long, however, for them to realize that all that power was indeed fun, changing and controlling the lives of many millions at no expense to them, in fact many became quite rich in the process; they wanted more!
Power inevitably leads to some form of corruption in life, a rather indisputable fact, a truth to those who know. This corruption leads the drive for more power and more control. There will always be a rationalization for it, the right lie applied in the right time to make it happen, unless someone intervenes.
**************
A great and powerful man once said that if you tell a lie often enough people will believe it. Make it known, make it robust, give it power, and it will gain truth in due time.
That man then went on to slaughter millions of innocent people. And, in truth, for no other reason than he simply did not like them, he saw them as inferior in every way; and the most impressive part of it all, in a sadistic and perverted sort of fashion, is that he convinced many others to not like an entire race of people as well. Power of persuasion, or more simply, just power.
That man was Adolph Hitler, the great ruler of Nazi Germany, a rather great and powerful nation. That is until such a great nation learned in a rather barbaric fashion that power does in fact corrupt, and that ironically the very same corruption that made a man and a nation so powerful for a time led to its own catastrophic downfall.
Hitler's hatred was his ultimate corruption of power. He used his position to force his agenda ahead. Had he not been elected and placed in the position he was, never the ruler of Germany, never in charge of so many millions who would do anything he forced them to do, the holocaust would most likely have never happened. Sure, he could have made a fuss and written his book, but until someone with that particular corruption was in place to drive it forward, it would have been a mere dream for him. Many millions would still be alive, never subjected to such atrocity; unfortunately, history tells a different story, a wretched one.
The unfortunate truth: many terrible things have happened under the guise of something great. Many great men have risen out of the death and destruction that lies in their devastating wake. Their lives advanced in some crude and pitiful way at the expense of countless others, people who did nothing wrong; never saw anything coming, never deserved it. A despicable proposition, but one that has been repeated throughout the ages nonetheless.
Greatness, it seems throughout history, is viewed as a state of being, a condition, rather than any sort of personality trait. One is great so long as those around them are willing to live in such a state of understanding. The moment that those around a great man realize something better, the great one, at best, suddenly becomes nothing, is stripped of his status; or is at worse considered some sort of enemy, the center of everything that those around him criticize and hate.
Greatness, however, can be measured one of two ways. Historically, humanistically, greatness has been measured simply by power. The more power and the more followers one can gather up, the greater one is, regardless of what they do with this power and greatness. A quantitative measurement of greatness, strictly number based.
The second, and more proper method, at least in the minds of those who know, is to measure the greatness of someone by looking at what is done with their talent and power, by looking into a person rather than observing the superficial appearance of that person. It is worthwhile to note, that through this view, greatness is actually seen as a personality trait, rather than a temporary state of being. This typically is marked by someone who is compassionate, altruistic, someone who dares to care enough to do the right things in the right times. It usually takes the world a long time to credit any greatness to such a person; they are usually long dead before any positive attributes are attached to them, though not always. But such a person is a crown jewel of history, somebody worthwhile remembering. This would be the qualitative measurement of greatness.
Although rarely used in this world today, if ever, this measurement can be used to see someone who can trudge the darkest depths and still come out alive and on top; someone who can drive people to do the right thing no matter how unpopular that might be.
* * *
Leon stopped typing, it was already almost three in the morning, he needed some sleep before the day began. He closed his computer and got up, walking to the window again, looking out and gazing. The world outside looked so normal, so right, it was still difficult for him to fully realize and accept where he- among others, though he played a major part- had brought it. He brought an entire nation to its knees and altered it, changing the course of history.
What is normal anyway? he thought quietly to himself heading back to the bedroom, where his wife lay asleep in the bed, slumbering away into some sort of cognitive bliss.
Leon Nelson is one who is considered great by his second, more accurate definition of greatness. He had the power and will when no one else did to set things right again; at least as right and back to normal as it would ever be in his lifetime.
Greatness
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary safety deserve neither Liberty nor safety” - Benjamin Franklin
Leon sat alone at his kitchen table, cleared from the evening meal, pondering. It had been a long many years since he had done this very thing, free time was a blatant new addition to his life, one he was still not fully aware of or fully able to utilize. The past twenty or so years of his life were now becoming a blur, a quickly fading memory. Though, what he was now doing was a quaint necessity really, he reminded himself gently, the past needing to be remembered before it is forgotten.
Leon looked up for a moment, out the one large window in the room, looking out to the night sky, all the stars, all the grandeur, all the memories. He thought of his children, Jimmy and Jillian. They were young, this was now their time, this life, this world, it was now up to them. What Leon had done for them- for everyone- would not soon be forgotten. It couldn’t be forgotten, he thought, nothing in life is that static, everything moves too quickly. Sooner or later, it would all happen again, history would repeat itself and others would have to fight for themselves, others would do it all over again he knew.
Will they listen to us, have they truly learned? Leon questioned himself.
He began to fear for his children, then for the whole world, the planet he was now gazing upon from his dining room window, wondering if they could keep the hope of free life alive, if they would carry it on; the fight had been won twice now. Though his fears subsided as a cool nighttime breeze began to draft through the open windows of the house.
He looked back down, straining his eyes at the screen of the laptop sitting on the table in front of him. He was writing, something important, something powerful, something that many people were just now beginning to truly wonder about. He was the only one who could conceivably do it right, if at all.
Others had tried in the last few years but no one knew the complete extent of what really was, the intricacies and the powerful moments of understanding; they took their guesses and tried to make it work but only Leon and those who were with him through the whole ordeal knew what it really meant now. He had started writing his story in the years prior, but now he realized the need for it to be finished, to be told.
He began to type furiously, the words forming in his mind rapidly, all the memories, all the reality, everything coming back to him now. There was so much to say and yet so few ways to say it, it had been a long few years in the beginning, it was not a short story, that much he knew for certain, but it was a good one, and people, he reminded himself, love a good story.
He continued.
* * *
“Living in the past”
-Leon James Nelson
Some people look back on the past and are happy, some sad, and some, well, some simply survived. I’ll explain in a bit but first let it be known what and who, where the whole story starts.
It was valentines day, 2012, the year that the earth was to come to an end, at least that's what all the ‘experts’ said. The whole world stood still and shook with the anticipation and fear of whatever was to come. They knew no better, and why should they? The brainwashed society that they had once condemned enticed them, dragged them in and swallowed them whole, masking everything that they once were, or could ever hope to be. They too, were stuck in the middle of the chaos and madness of such uncertain days.
It was about so much more than the 2012 prediction, however. This was about freedom, democracy, life, and everything that so many once stood for; that now many simply gaze upon with wandering eyes, hoping for something better, convinced that their lives are never good enough, their ‘pursuit of happiness’ not ending happily enough for them, their liberty a willing sacrifice; they were convinced that society owed them so much more.
Nothing was safe, no one was secure, the times were changing rather rapidly, too rapidly perhaps? No one could tell for certain where the current entangled mass of society was moving, nonetheless many, although not enough, knew that it was nowhere good.
Anyone with more than a simple preconceived notion of life knew that it was all a lie, that the 2012 myth- among others- had been debunked a thousand ways over. Most myths and rumors and small talk, however, had yet to even settle in let alone be tossed out like yesterdays garbage. The zombie like society of America tended to plunge into the scare tactics and bias rather easily, with no persuasion or rational needed. One soft, secret whisper in a dark alley by some miserable, incoherent drunk suddenly becoming tomorrows big news, the fate of the world resting in the hands of the ignorant.
The problem with all these lies and unfounded tall tales was that it was becoming few and far between to find someone who had enough free thinking spirit left in them to live above and beyond the ills of this ever evolving society, to question that around them, to take charge and stand up for what was right and true. Truth, however, lies in the eye of the beholder, and no one was willing to take a chance that their truth might in fact have been the right one. ‘What if?’ is a rather risky game to play in the real, uncensored and unprotected world of self non-control.
The start of this new sadistic existence begins with the installation of fear into a whole society. The theory is simple, in order for someone in a position of power- such as a president- to control wholly an entire nation and a whole society, a group of armed, trained, and unknown men is needed to be the strong arm, the actual power behind the movement and shift towards control; all under the mask of protecting the people, saving the children, doing the right thing. They know, put it into a positive sort of light and people will lay down their lives to it, support the idea wholly; keep it hidden away and people will fight it for all it’s worth. It is now known, If such a group isn’t stopped, it will, in due time, take over wherever it can and assume control of the whole populace, all the power resting in the hands of one agency, one man, the President.
However, the genesis of such a group is only phase one of the installation of fear into society. The next phase is the act of actually taking control of as much as possible, preferably everything. This will be done in the facade of something worthwhile. Everyday life will be taxed, regulated, and controlled by those in power to the point that the new government essentially holds all power in every way; nothing is said, done, or committed without its knowledge or consent.
The final phase is that of conformity. Having all the power and control is great as long as all the people under those in power allow it and agree to it; sovereignty as it was originally called. Those who voice concern or disdain towards this new government need to be either converted or silenced. Many countries have explored this phase throughout the years with varying results, none of them good. A lot are revolutionized from within given enough time, its populace finally growing tired of living in such oppression, hoping for something better, remembering their past. Some find it, many do not.
There were a few, a rather small faction though, that knew that this could not be allowed to happen in America, ever. This was a rebellious group that was willing to wage their own war against such an agency, any agency that threatened their existence, their freedom, their rights, thier sovereignty.
In an ideal situation, the revolution can be done without even the threat of violence; Ghandi took on the entire British empire’s hold in India this way with eventual success. However, once in a while, a group comes along that will fight back harder, rougher, and stealthier than passive resistance could ever stop. This is the most frightening idea, the idea of having to wage a war against another's own sadistic idea of freedom in order to truly be free.
In the beginning of the takeover, however, when people panic, give into the fear, and loose control of who they are, they venture into dangerous places, reduced ways of living that would normally make ones hairs stand on end and blood boil. Because of this fear, people in their old lives then turn to those in power, begging for relief from their own hapless existence; it will be granted.
Those in power will give in, but at a very steep price, following the very old axiom; there is no free lunch. The price of admission, the old society of freedom and accomplishment has now been removed, replaced by a slave culture; reduced to animals, sheep and their shepherd; reduced to servants, slaves and their masters.
2012 was certainly not the most romantic year ever, the years hadn't been in quite a while, but time marches on, leading the way to a whole new existence; a vague, dreary existence of euphoria and disdain, leaving nothing in its aftermath but the old, grim memories of that which used to be.
Despite all the promises, however, the fear came easy, with little help needed from those in power; society led the way to its own downfall, its own demise. It was such a quick and easy change.
Society in general, it seems, likes a good panic, and likes it often. Looking back just the last few centuries, many examples have come and gone. First, the great depression of the 1920’s and 30’s; the great world wars, the wars to end all wars, World Wars I and II; the cold war and Cuban missile crisis of the 1960’s; the petroleum and environmental crisis of the 1970’s; Y2K during the new millennium; terrorism in the 2000’s; the great 2012 scare; and then came the political and socioeconomic fears of the world happening around, the world to come.
It was always sufficient, at the very least, to drive those paranoid enough to listen crazy. This time, no one could venture to even the darkest corners of life without being bombarded with the ‘facts’ and ‘scientific evidence’ that the Myans were right, that the world was in fact going to cease to exist in just a few short months. Or in another time, that some new theory is wrong, that in fact some new scientific breakthrough will save everybody and launch them into a newer brighter future. Or that such and such a person is no ‘terrorist,’ merely a slightly morally banked individual. Everyone was told to rest assured that those in power were in control, that they had nothing to worry about, nobody to fear.
Of course, the proof of these ‘facts’ was always shoddy at best, most of it complete and utter nonsense, the kind that even the youngest child could gaze right through and mock, but anyone who dare to speak out against the ‘truth’ was suppressed and slandered almost instantly. All were trapped like the infamous rats in that great maze, conform or be killed was the unwritten rule.
The Orwelian nightmare was in full swing; it is not too far out of reach of our current generation- as their predecessors foolishly believed- before the tragic days of repression and enslavement are thrown upon the land like a fire blanket, smothering everything in sight, concealing it, hiding its new found shame, never to let it be free again.
It was a very frightening time, a time when logic and reason were seen as inferior to anything that felt right and popular at the time. Those who knew didn’t stand a chance against those who pretended to know for them. The lies of the new ways would pile up deeper than anyone could think to control. If society felt good about itself it was all worth it, regardless of how any of it worked out in the end or how it got there in the first place. No one cared about who they hurt, killed, or crippled; it did not matter to them as long as they got what they wanted out of it. Those in power would trample many millions before the anger and resentment took charge.
It has been seen that with each new and different panic in society, those in power ‘took charge’ of society, they politely stole more and more from those lives to protect them from themselves, to ‘move society forward.’ With each new move, society as a whole jumped on board quickly and quietly, having faith in those that they had charged with protecting them, keeping them safe, never realizing what they were truly giving up in return; no free lunch.
In the early 20th century came the war to end all wars, World War I. Four years of intense suffering and degradation, the clash, the pinnacle of world tyranny, without any noticing our own internal tyranny welling up from inside. The first time that the world had seen so much death and destruction, so much hate and anger. The first time that people were scared for real. It did truly seem that the world was to come to an end, sadly though, the worst was yet to come.
After this war, America learned about ‘reform’ movements. This worked out okay in the beginning, but soon after led to the entitlement culture of the 1920’s, perpetuated soon after by the self-centered society that led to the Progressive movement; the idea was essentially to take away from those who- at least in the eyes of those in power- needed no more, had plenty, and give it to those who supposedly had a ‘real’ need for their free lunch, a strange Robin Hood masquerade at best.
Not long after World War I came one of the greatest causes of the continuation of the United States’ Federal power grab, the great depression. Total failure of the US as well as world banking systems. The United States, along with most of the rest of the world- many of whom were dependent on our financial stability- was thrown into a state of disarray. It was here where the American society started the horrid trend of external dependence, a rather troubling ‘let someone else deal with it’ mentality that would soon be the reason for the eventual take over of essentially everything; complacency, the veritably silent killer.
This was the newly created ‘needy greedy’ state of society, people’s slow turn to total and undivided dependence on the higher ups, the government, for every little shred of need in their lives. It was a desolate, despicable, and silent enslavement for them. Most people, in the last few years of freedom, did truly believe that it was the job of the Democratic Progressive party, among others, to micromanage their lives, to tell them what they could and could not do, where they could and could not go and how they could and could not get there, what they could and could not eat, and so on. This led to the welfare state that so many became accustomed to; the government giving all at the expense of the rest, a nightmare to those who know.
After the great depression, the entitlement programs started, giving rise to the ‘me’ culture that most took for granted. Everybody felt that everybody around owed them something in return for nothing. Those in governmental power saw to it that everyone got what they wanted no matter what end it took to get there.
Little more than twenty years later, the United States found itself in another grand war, World War II. Though by this time America was trying its hand at isolationism, the United States was pretty well forced into the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. The United States entered the war and fought hard, teaming up with those who were considered the good guys in the fighting.
The United States soon put a very abrupt and violent end to the war in August of 1945 by dropping the first two atomic weapons to ever be used in warfare. This started a very new and frightening time in world history, the atomic era.
Though the war was over, many problems sill hid away, ready to pop out at a moments notice. World War II did do one positive thing for the United States, however, it put an end to the depression. In spite of this fact, the national debt had expanded almost five times, and those in power started the trend of overspending for everything, yet proclaiming that all of the countries financial problems were well under control and solved nonetheless.
After the second great world war, World War II, America learned to open its borders to trade, eventually leading to dependence on others for our own goods. We learned eventually to depend on others so much that we were unable to sustain ourselves past any fairly primitive need. Everything that we bought, sold, or had anything to do with was created and shipped from elsewhere. Production soon came to a near end, essentially nothing created from within, overseas was the way to do it, or at least that is what everyone was told. Shifting political climates and the in’s and out’s of ‘free trade’ bombarding the everyday life made many unsure of this ‘fact.’
After the cold war, Americans learned distrust and fear, to fear what they did not understand, to rely on those in power to tell them what to feel, think, and do. Society learned to cower and hide away rather than stand up and fight in the end. Arbitration over show of force; pacifism over protection.
The 70’s environmental movements, along with terrorism led to many new regulations and laws, most of which no one knew in their totality. So many rules, laws, and regulations in the end that it was lucky if even half were being enforced throughout the course of a day. Anyone could be a criminal in one of millions of ways, a problem that was not fully understood until these millions of laws were actually enforced.
Of course, the American society failed to realize what they were giving up, they got free lunch why should they care how they got it? Most neglected the fact that in many ways, in many aspects of life, they could take care of themselves. Responsibility, though, declined with each new wave of panic; people preferring to rely on those in power to be responsible for them, to tell them what to do. A dangerous proposition that no one would truly realize until the end, until it was too late.
At first, perhaps, this deference of responsibility and control was not absolutely bad. Those in power worked with it in moderation. It did not take long, however, for them to realize that all that power was indeed fun, changing and controlling the lives of many millions at no expense to them, in fact many became quite rich in the process; they wanted more!
Power inevitably leads to some form of corruption in life, a rather indisputable fact, a truth to those who know. This corruption leads the drive for more power and more control. There will always be a rationalization for it, the right lie applied in the right time to make it happen, unless someone intervenes.
**************
A great and powerful man once said that if you tell a lie often enough people will believe it. Make it known, make it robust, give it power, and it will gain truth in due time.
That man then went on to slaughter millions of innocent people. And, in truth, for no other reason than he simply did not like them, he saw them as inferior in every way; and the most impressive part of it all, in a sadistic and perverted sort of fashion, is that he convinced many others to not like an entire race of people as well. Power of persuasion, or more simply, just power.
That man was Adolph Hitler, the great ruler of Nazi Germany, a rather great and powerful nation. That is until such a great nation learned in a rather barbaric fashion that power does in fact corrupt, and that ironically the very same corruption that made a man and a nation so powerful for a time led to its own catastrophic downfall.
Hitler's hatred was his ultimate corruption of power. He used his position to force his agenda ahead. Had he not been elected and placed in the position he was, never the ruler of Germany, never in charge of so many millions who would do anything he forced them to do, the holocaust would most likely have never happened. Sure, he could have made a fuss and written his book, but until someone with that particular corruption was in place to drive it forward, it would have been a mere dream for him. Many millions would still be alive, never subjected to such atrocity; unfortunately, history tells a different story, a wretched one.
The unfortunate truth: many terrible things have happened under the guise of something great. Many great men have risen out of the death and destruction that lies in their devastating wake. Their lives advanced in some crude and pitiful way at the expense of countless others, people who did nothing wrong; never saw anything coming, never deserved it. A despicable proposition, but one that has been repeated throughout the ages nonetheless.
Greatness, it seems throughout history, is viewed as a state of being, a condition, rather than any sort of personality trait. One is great so long as those around them are willing to live in such a state of understanding. The moment that those around a great man realize something better, the great one, at best, suddenly becomes nothing, is stripped of his status; or is at worse considered some sort of enemy, the center of everything that those around him criticize and hate.
Greatness, however, can be measured one of two ways. Historically, humanistically, greatness has been measured simply by power. The more power and the more followers one can gather up, the greater one is, regardless of what they do with this power and greatness. A quantitative measurement of greatness, strictly number based.
The second, and more proper method, at least in the minds of those who know, is to measure the greatness of someone by looking at what is done with their talent and power, by looking into a person rather than observing the superficial appearance of that person. It is worthwhile to note, that through this view, greatness is actually seen as a personality trait, rather than a temporary state of being. This typically is marked by someone who is compassionate, altruistic, someone who dares to care enough to do the right things in the right times. It usually takes the world a long time to credit any greatness to such a person; they are usually long dead before any positive attributes are attached to them, though not always. But such a person is a crown jewel of history, somebody worthwhile remembering. This would be the qualitative measurement of greatness.
Although rarely used in this world today, if ever, this measurement can be used to see someone who can trudge the darkest depths and still come out alive and on top; someone who can drive people to do the right thing no matter how unpopular that might be.
* * *
Leon stopped typing, it was already almost three in the morning, he needed some sleep before the day began. He closed his computer and got up, walking to the window again, looking out and gazing. The world outside looked so normal, so right, it was still difficult for him to fully realize and accept where he- among others, though he played a major part- had brought it. He brought an entire nation to its knees and altered it, changing the course of history.
What is normal anyway? he thought quietly to himself heading back to the bedroom, where his wife lay asleep in the bed, slumbering away into some sort of cognitive bliss.
Leon Nelson is one who is considered great by his second, more accurate definition of greatness. He had the power and will when no one else did to set things right again; at least as right and back to normal as it would ever be in his lifetime.