Fools Plant Flowers with Courage

Prelude

Who is the fool?

The one who trembles before a trap awaiting to be sprung?

Thus we confer among our selves:

Surely it's not unwise to wear the pragmatist's guise? To be cautiously cognizant of that which are doubtless treacheries in disguise? Isn't this the very axiom that underpins the impregnable stratagems of the supreme logician: caution spares the fool and the wise, certain humiliation and demise?

However the pragmatist is no fool at all; for the position of the pragmatist is that of a man and his measure. Indeed our frailties and our limitations are neither right nor wrong; that they invariably overwhelm bravery in the stifling darkness of the indiscernible, is but the reality of the measure of man.

And though wise and timorous, noble and ignoble... man's measure has never deservedly earned (nor never will)... the contempt, ridicule, judgment... of sage knownothings.

For how many of us... awaiting the inexorable in the arena of life and death... verily succumb to the limits of our measure? For are not those of us who wilt in the abject misery of the unknown... merely human?

Fear and Courage

To face that which we fear is to face fear.

To face that which we fear with courage is to face fear with the temerity of gods.

Yet, lest we feel disheartened and discouraged that we are but pawns in an incomprehensible war between titans, bear in mind this: courage is small; courage is big; courage is grand; courage is invisible.

Case in point:

Small courage: what else but small courage could stir the tulip from slumber, under a blanket of snow, too early in Spring? Big courage: what else but big courage could embolden the chick from an incomparable nest, to recklessly tumble towards predators endlessly on the prowl? Grand courage: what else but grand courage could inflame the king to commit lofty edicts of peace, amidst a broiling throng of bloodthirsty hordes?

Invisible courage: what else but invisible courage... rouses all of us... to walk in our lives and see... speak... feel... to shed the senseless numbness of the automaton's fate... for life?

Are we not all courageous?

Do we not all face small fears, big fears, grand fears, invisible fears... with the temerity of gods?

And do we not all revel in our vivacity, our virility, our passion for life... irrespective of the inexorable, the indiscernible, the harrowing unknown?

For isn't courage... hope?

And isn't hope... eternal? A four letter word that encapsulates that which pierces the bleakest of human experiences... in the darkest hour... in the darkest night... in the darkest of dark places... in the mind... in the body... in the heart... in the spirit?

Fin

With courage:

We will stem the tides of war; we will silence the horns of destruction; we will illuminate the conceits of deception. We will forgive (even that which we believe is inexpiable). We will impoverish our burgeoning lust to destroy our selves and each other amidst colossal clashes, and temper our extravagant fervor to exact terrible retribution and vengeance without mercy or compassion.

For are we not all deserving of mercy and compassion? 

For do we not all have dark realms... within our minds, our bodies, our hearts, our spirits... that have welcomed misdeeds and idolatries? And are we not all deserving of mercy and compassion... for that which we've undoubtedly committed... with our minds, our bodies, our hearts, our spirits?

Notwithstanding... that in the end, there is no freedom from war without freedom... and how free are any of us... if we cannot forgive ourselves... for that which we do... we've done... we'll yet do... who we are... who we've been... who we'll yet be... today... yesterday... tomorrow?

More

Does planting wildflowers in arenas desertified by war... make me a fool? For every today is a new day... and if all of us... make every today beautiful... wouldn't that be a marvel to behold? For what are we guaranteed in life... but today?