Texanation

A climber clings to a sheer cliff face, fingers pressed onto a narrow ledge. Above the climber, a steep mountain arises; below him, a deep chasm awaits the tiniest slip.

Humans have climbed a long way from the hills below. We have achieved wondrous things in art, science, mathematics, and medicine. We like to think we’re at the pinnacle of our great journey as reasoned, rational beings.

Savages claw at our ankles, pulling us down, threatening to dislodge our hold on the knife-edge of civilization. They murder, they rape, and they destroy. They see a thing, and if they can’t eat it, or screw it, they piss on it.

Barbarians use piety as a mask, shrouding their evil with the exemption of righteousness, thereby relieving themselves of responsibility. They use the language of the victim. God told me to do it. Society made me this way. I’m poor. Nobody will give me a chance. You take more than your share. I have no choice.

Ignorance is the blanket which comforts the savage. The cruel and brutal abhor education. They revere vulgarity and praise illiteracy. Apologizing for them makes them stronger. Misguided empathy feeds their hunger for more blood.

Savages breed in every dark corner, throughout every social strata. They molest children. They murder innocents. They shout down and heckle the speech of others. They hold the weak in contempt and they prey on the good will of the decent. They destroy civilization.

These vicious monsters can’t be appeased. Unless those who preach ugliness through deed or dogma are silenced, their cycle of ignorance and brutality will continue. Every olive branch will be burned. Every helping hand chopped off. Every dollop of gold consumed until there is no gold left in the land.

Barbarians want to pull us off the ledge. Our choice is to release our grip and fall onto the rocks below, or kick them in the teeth. Savages want to kill us. We can bow our heads for the sword, or whet our blades to cut hard and fast.

Stand up. Face the fiends. Look them in the eye.

Don’t let them win.