“Strategy does not allow a nation to walk through the garden of war and politics unscathed. Strategic planning informs a nation of what it can do and can endure once it’s been pricked. Through planning, a nation can learn what it can endure and the depths of their adversary. It’s not about the plan. It’s about the planning.”
– Nicholas Torres, USAF, AMU Grad Student
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*Nicholas is one of my classmates and has given me permission to quote him.
It takes a stronger testimony of and faith in what you believe for you to show tolerance rather than to show intolerance.
No government will ever reach perfection, therefore their success must be evaluated on how well they return to law after war messes everything up.
Propaganda works on those willing to listen either from fear or from prior conviction. It can plant seeds of doubt, however seeds of doubt turn into trees of knowledge for any willing to explore rather than be led.
No matter how good a narrative is, if it only looks at one side of the story it still falls short. Spoils may go to the victor, but history of conflict written by the victor sadly seldom tells the whole story.
Knowledge is never forgotten once gained but it may hide in the crevices of your mind until stirred to remembrance by review.
People keep talking about the ills of our government, about our liberties being at risk and about how bad the nation is now. But I really wonder how many of them have ever studied any history – real history, the kind that goes beyond even the freshman level American History course of most colleges. Before they spout off about the loss of rights, do they really do their very best to understand the basis upon which those rights were created or do they simply agree with the masses screaming foul?
I often wonder if the propaganda material of 1770s and 1780s is all the people of today know about and whether they understand that not all the Founding Fathers agreed on the propaganda. The one thing they did seem to agree upon was creating a Constitution that did not hem us in but rather grew with us, adapted as we adapted, and outlived the political rhetoric of any one generation.
Lastly, I wonder if the spouting masses of today have any real idea of how much compromise those Founding Fathers put into not just the Constitution, but into the governance which then had to follow in order to provide for the protections the Constitution promised. Or how many times it took the threat of war before they would step down from their soapboxes and agree to compromise.
Maybe it is our turn to set aside the soapbox and pick up a scholarly history book, one that challenges our notions rather than simply tells the mythical side of the story.
The snow comes in from out of nowhere…
blustery winds blowing the snow …
the snow begins to cover the ground…
complete whiteout developing…
morning calm and sun returns…
Morning temperature -o.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Beautiful but a bit cold. The lack of wind is the great blessing of the morning.
A new year and four new classes on military and diplomatic history. As a new way to ensure mobility rather than atrophy due to the endless hours at the computer, my kids and I plop down in front of the TV and watch history documentaries and lectures. So how you might ask does that help avoid the atrophy? Well by spinning yarn of course!
Last semester I survived four classes but my spinning suffered. This semester I intend to find a better balance. So far it is working quite well, but the challenge will come as the four term papers come due.
I am currently spinning singles for my daughter to use in weaving projects.
200th pithy pondering for 2012, a great way to send off the old year and herald in the new…
Pithy Ponderings 