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WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM MEN IN BLACK ABOUT 2008 |
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Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
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Friday, 04 January 2008 |
Nope, this is not an alien joke like Alien Al, much
less one regarding the PIAPS, who was born only 3½ months after Roswell.
It is about the history lesson taught so arrestingly by
Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K in Men In Black.
2008 is going to be a stressful year for a lot of
folks. The fate of America, the fate of
Western Civilization, the fate of mankind, will be decided this year - as far
as folks who enjoy being Drama Queens are concerned.
As we plunge forward into the fateful unknown of 2008, let
us, then, take a deep, calming breath and listen to the soothing words of Agent
K.
His partner, Agent J played by Will Smith, is freaking out
as a newbie man-in-black, unglued over the alien threat that will destroy the
Earth in the next half-hour.
Agent J: Man, we ain't got time for this... I don't know whether or not you've
forgotten, but there's an Arquillian Battle Cruiser that's about to...
Agent K: Kid, there's
always an Arquillian Battle Cruiser, or a Corillian Death Ray, or an
intergalactic plague that is about to wipe out all life on this little planet,
and the only way these people can get on with their happy lives is that they... do...
not... know about it!
Welcome to the history of the
world.
The more you read and understand
history over the vast human panorama of six thousand years of civilization
(starting in Mesopotamia in ca. 4000 BC), or the more history you've actually
lived through, the more perspective you gain on the present, and the more you
dismiss predictions of catastrophe for the future.
I'd like to show you a picture
taken in what is today the focus of all America, Iowa:
Three generations of Wheelers
are buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Mechanicsville, Iowa. From left to right:
My great-great grandfather
Charles Truman Wheeler (1806-1874) and his wife Ettalinda (1808-1895), my
great-grandfather Charles Earl Wheeler (1851-1927) and his wife Ella
(1855-1932), and my grandfather Lucien Charles Wheeler (1878-1950).
(Next to Lucien is his brother
Jeffrey, 1889-1948; his wife Flora and
both my parents are interred at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California.)
At the start of Charles Truman's
life, Europe was slaughtering itself in a debauch of death. The Napoleonic Wars from 1799 to 1815 killed
over six million soldiers and civilians.
When a young boy, the British Army burned down the White House and
sacked Washington DC in the War of 1812.
At the end of his life, he saw his country tear itself apart in a
maniacally murderous Civil War.
Charles Earl witnessed the
horror of the Civil War as a young boy and that of the Great War (World War
One) when old, a war in which his son Jeffrey was poison gassed by the Germans
in France, crippling him for life.
Lucien, as the Chief of the
Secret Service Presidential Bodyguard, watched over the lives of four
presidents (there's a picture of him with Teddy Roosevelt in Chavez in Chile). He witnessed up close and personal World War
One, the Great Depression, World War Two - and saw at the end of his life an
America stronger and more prosperous than ever.
So - do you think they are
rolling in their graves over what America has become today, over the threats
and dangers America faces this year and in those to come?
Not a chance. They are shaking their heads wearily and
saying to us, "Whatever problems and threats you face now, they are a walk in
the park compared to those we knew, so would you please be quiet and let us rest
in peace!"
This is not to carelessly
dismiss the danger to America of the PIAPS as POTUS, or of Islamocrazies and
other apocalypses. It is to put the
history we are living through today in perspective. It is to know that there has been, is now, and always will be
some form of Arquillian Battle Cruiser-Corillian Death Ray threat to deal with.
And it is to know that there are
never ideal silver-bullet solutions to magic-wand them away.
Which means not pining for a
Prince Charming to come riding on a white horse and rescue us from the scary
dragons like we're fairy tale princesses.
Reality predicts that we're going to end up with at best far and frustratingly
less than glittering perfection in the White House next year, and quite
possibly something truly awful.
But no matter what happens, we
and America will get through it. Trust
me on this. Trust America on this.
2008 is going to be weird
roller-coaster year. Victories and
disasters, hopes fulfilled and dashed.
Iowans deal what may be a mortal blow to an evil witch and pump up a
Preacher Boy Socialist at the same time.
Every week from now on may bring something exciting and something scary.
So we need to be like Agent K,
not Agent J until he learned to keep his calm in a never-ending struggle. The battle will never be over. The liberals, the fascists of the left, the
forces of darkness, will never give up trying to pick our pockets, seize our
freedoms, and diminish our humanity.
So neither must we ever give up,
ever get disillusioned, ever panic and freak out. Stay resolute, stay determined, stay optimistic, and stay
cool. Sleep well, for the struggle
continues tomorrow - and every day after.
What matters in life is never giving up.
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