LOOKING UP…WHAT DO THEY SEE

by | Feb 2, 2022

The boys knew they would be attacked, they sat holding their guns while the last of the grenades were doled out. There were a couple of them trying to figure out a strategy that would give an advantage against the enemy.

“We can’t just go head to head with them” said one, “That just hasn’t worked, we have to set up an ambush”. There was only a slight  moment of silence. Someone muttered (too loudly)

“That is a great idea genius, except we have no idea which way they’ll come from, we can’t spread out in all directions, we’ll just get picked off if they send a full force in any one direction”.

Everyone was quiet for a beat, then another of them said.
“Lake to the north and we have booby trapped the brush around camp both east and west. I’m thinking they’ll charge in from the south, and they’ll have to use the bridge to get there. If we hustle now we can set up an ambush”.

The leader stood up, “Ok then, take half the boys and set up your ambush, if you’re wrong, and they don’t use the bridge, double back and see if you can get behind them, the rest of us will set up defensive positions here.”

Everybody stood up and grabbed their guns. The guns, a mix of models, all showed much wear, non of the soldiers uniforms matched; a ragtag bunch this was.
The ambush team made it to the bridge, the terrain was so open it seemed that there was nowhere to hide, but they smeared mud on faces and hands, and stuck grass and foliage all over themselves, and then found the biggest bush to crouch behind; and waited.

It was a massacre. The entire enemy force lined themselves up on that bridge, they didn’t try to space themselves out; didn’t even hustle. The grenades flew, landing at both ends of the bridge, but among the soldiers as well; then the gunfire, oh the carnage. Any enemy not blown up by grenades was penetrated by the hundreds of bullets (all with different sounds) that emanated from the throats of the attackers. “D-D-D-D-D-D “ B-R-R-R-R-R—R, BOOM, BOOM,BOOM; BANG, BANG.

The enemy now stood dejectedly on the 3×12 plank that was the bridge, it spanned a deep drainage ditch. There was no blood, just one group of boys standing on a plank looking dejected; and another (smaller) group with giant grins cracking the drying mud on their faces.

One of the boys on the bridge complained about how hard the grenades were thrown (the grenade was a hollow wooden spindle with a stick in the hole for a handle, so light it was difficult to throw). One of the muddy faced gang, trying to get the long grass dug out of his shirt collar (before he itched to death) shouted out.
“Oh God, he was in a battle, and he got hit with a piece of wood; better run home to mama!”
Everybody laughed, even the kid rubbing his shoulder grinned. It was an epic day.

It really was an epic day, the play of us boys was very fluid. Sometimes it didn’t work, most days it was fun, some were epic. Before we head down the trail to see where we’re going, let me just fill in a little, since I attempted that little mind trick in my story.

1. The “booby traps” were barbwire lengths we cut out of an old fence we found buried in deep grass along the old sewage lagoon (I had an epic childhood). We simply wove these into the swamp willow that nearly surrounded our camp.

2. This was in the days before airsoft or paintball, everything was imagination. Our guns were wood, old plastic Tommy guns, defunct (we hoped) bb guns, and many cap pistols (usually, sans caps). That is why just meeting head to head never worked. “I shot you” (says mr. righteous) “No ya did’t, ya missed” (says mr. smug)….I rest my case. But a decisive victory (like on that day)…was epic.

3. Imagination. That is where were headed, but I just want to take a swing at something before we get started. I never worried about the “violence” in video games. Nothing was more violent than those war games we played. Digital blood, on a screen, doesn’t hold a candle to the emotional, mental, and physical energy we put into making those games…epic. Something else is causing these school shootings, because, a healthy normal person knows….it’s a GAME.

4. Last point. “War” was an elaborate game we played as “older” boys, I remember as a younger lad we played games that required more acting than following complicated rules. Cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, pirates; these were all games that required a basic knowledge of a simple genre. Then the game would simply degenerate into whooping around, chasing one another. Oh, in our minds, we played out the heroic stories we saw in the movies, watched on television, or read in books. We played a roll that felt right, and we played a part in the Cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, war; all taboo play now, from what I hear. The “woke” have even canceled dodgeball. Ever wonder why?

Life is a struggle, life is complicated, we need to grow our coping tools at a young age. Because life is often messy as well, we need to believe in righteousness at a young age. The culture used to give that to us, in the form of simplistic entertainment; a superhero giving hope to the citizen, the dangerous cowboy that rides into town, the steely-eyed missile-man that saves the planet. Those heroes, and those old stories guided our culture. They us through this matrix of good and evil. Was it perfect? Far from it, just like our children’s games, it was often; fluid.

As kids, though, the fluid was always kept under the reign of the cultural norms. Fair play, sportsmanship, give and take, lead and follow, discipline, mercy. In moments of weakness we always knew when we had put on the black hat (and did something low) it comes natural to us. However, because we believed in right and wrong, we chose to wear the white hat, and take on all the responsibility that comes with being the good guy.

In a session around the fire of the Anomie Patrol we talked about heroes, it was the first episode of season 2. We talked about the importance of the right icons for our ideals, I said “THEY” took our heroes away. Now ask yourself why this is important.

This (our concept of right and wrong; played out through our hero stories) is one of the first places the enemy attacked, it was a bombing run. The progressives debased, degraded, and, debunked, our deepest held beliefs.

“Good stories there Ranger, but where are you takin’ this”; might be a question right now. What I am saying is “THEY” (the “progressive” globalists) got us arguing about the use of a few words, all the while they were destroying a library of experiences that is formed by play when humans are children. Gotta keep your eye on the prize. The idea is freedom: the sovereignty of the individual, that is the prize. Everything in our culture is being morphed into the idea of a Borg like collective.The narrative is about how a (supposedly benign) “top down” control can morph society into a utopian paradise of equity.

I am my own person, my home is my castle. Governments have not only forgotten that idea; but have brutalized it. Why? We have forgotten the old paths, we have forgotten the reasons that so many have died in battle. We try, as a society, to remember the men. We pin on a red poppy, we commemorate the fallen soldiers. But, it’s not only about the men that died, it’s the reason they died, that is being erased from our society. Those good men were ground up in the gears of war for an idea. The idea of the sovereignty of each man. The idea that all mankind is equal under the law, but that each man is is also an individual.

The concept of “equity” is not the same, each person should have the same starting point, but equity gives the impression that all should come out the same; it doesn’t work that way. Some people are driven, some have great talents, others are drawn to a simple life, or are just plain lazy. Not every person desires to be rich (or they’re not willing to sacrifice things in order to be monetarily successful).

Equality under the law means that no one should be held back, it doesn’t mean that no one will fail. The concept of freedom doesn’t mean the cancelation of “bad luck”, or that life holds guarantees of any kind. The concept of freedom is about not being oppressed by a tyrant, who will tell you how to live 24/7, and even tell you what to think.

I am not so naive that I don’t understand that past rulers didn’t pimp the freedom idea like the whoremongers they are. Rest assured, God has tallied all the lives butchered, the young men who died, so a leader could save face, or simply reap glory. God also sees the desperate last stands of a beleaguered people who have their backs against the wall. All will be hung in the balance of true justice in the end.

I’ve come to see this struggle as a battle of attrition. The battle lines between those that wish to be left alone, and those who can’t stand leaving anyone “alone”. The “people with a plan”, God save us from them.

We need to raise families, we need to keep our kids out of government schools, we need community. The problem is that in order to build families and community, what is the foundation? May I suggest, that we can repair old foundations? Maybe the old Christian foundation isn’t so bad. The most persecuted faith on planet earth right now is the Christian faith. Take that into account.

In the end, I must ask the question, what happens when the boys no longer get together to play “games”. What happens to a generation that has no heroes, no icon that fuels the imagination to be better, stronger, braver. When every hero has been “de-bunked” and all the bravery somehow vilified, what is there to aspire to?

I believe this is the new age for the storyteller, this is when all men must aspire to be the hero. We must rebuild from the ground up, and inspire younger generations to see freedom as the prize. There is nothing more inspiring than to let people know that they are a unique creation, and loved by almighty God. This concept is what the enemy wants to kill above all else, it is an anathema to the evil one. This is what we must protect and promote.

The concept for this new meta verse gives me the creeps. Stay in the real world, be someone a child can look up to, try to get better everyday. Understand this is a spiritual war, ground yourself in the words of the Bible, and see this life as an adventure. If you work at it, this game is……epic.
-Ranger

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