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| "Hulle wat nooit van moord aangekla word nie" deur JOHAN VAN WYK [boodskap #4660] |
Ma, 01 Mei 2006 14:25  |
bouer
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hulle wat nooit van moord aangekla word nie
hulle wat nooit van aanranding aangekla word nie
hulle wat professioneel die werk verrig
hulle wat die maskers van die staat dra
die heersers van die gulag-argipel
hulle wat naamloses se nommers vergeet
hulle wat die bevele gee
hulle sit spekvet saam met ons in die kerk
ons het nooit die gevangenis besoek nie
Johan van Wyk
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| Re: "Hulle wat nooit van moord aangekla word nie" deur JOHAN VAN WYK [boodskap #4704 is 'n antwoord op boodskap #4660] |
Wo, 10 Mei 2006 03:19  |
Jonas
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Ek het die ondergaande van 'n vrind in die VSA ontvang - en miskien is
dit relevant:
Subject: Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
Jill Edwards is a junior math major at the University of Washington. In
brief, Edwards, a member of the UW student senate, opposed a memorial
to UW grad "Pappy" Boyington. Boyington was a U.S. Marine aviator who
earned the Medal of Honor in World War II. Edwards said that she didn't
think it was appropriate to honor a person who killed other people. She
also said that a member of the Marine Corps was NOT an example of the
sort of person the University of Washington wanted to produce.
What follows is Gen. Dula's letter to the University of Washington
student senate leader:
To: Edwards, Jill (student, UW)
Subject: Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
Miss Edwards, I read of your 'student activity' regarding the proposed
memorial to Col Greg Boyington, USMC and a Medal of Honor winner. I
suspect you will receive a bellyful of angry e-mails from conservative
folks like me. You may be too young to appreciate fully the sacrifices
of generations of servicemen and servicewomen on whose shoulders you
and your fellow students stand. I forgive you for the untutored ways of
youth and your naivetéé.
It may be that you are, simply, a sheep. There's no dishonor in being a
sheep - - as long as you know and accept what you are. Please take a
couple of minutes to read the following. And be grateful for the
thousands - - millions - - of American sheepdogs who permit you the
freedom to express even bad ideas.
General Brett Dula
Sheepdog, retired
----------------------------------------------------------
ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS
By LTC(RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER,
Ph.D., author of "On Killing."
Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so
because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy
things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our
time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship,
persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains:
What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living
for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval
Academy November 24, 1997
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:
"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle,
productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This
is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the
aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is
that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one
another.
Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent
crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time
record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million
Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime
is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year.
Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat
offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less
than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation:
We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is
still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent
people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or
under extreme provocation. They are sheep.
I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me, it is like the
pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it
will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without
its hard blue shell.
Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, And
someday the civilization they protect will grow into something
wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the
predators.
"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves
feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out
there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it.
There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds.
The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep.
There is no safety in denial.
"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to
protect the flock and confront the wolf."
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive
citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy
for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive
sociopath, a wolf.
But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your
fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone
who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of
darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed
Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep,
wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is
what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil
in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is
why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire
exits throughout their kids' schools.
But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police
officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more
likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire,
but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial.
The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too
hard, and so they chose the path of denial. The sheep generally do not
like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the
capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog
must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who
intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and
removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a
representative democracy or a republic such as ours.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that
there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell
them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready
in our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep
would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint
himself white, and go, "Baa." Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire
flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough
high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not
have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids;
they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under
attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways,
the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of
them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the
wolf is at the door.
Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded
hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt
differently about their law enforcement officers and military
personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?
Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a
sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a
sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the
perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the
night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young
sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little
older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed,
right along with the young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep
pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day.
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is,
most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those
planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could
have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a
difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have
truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You
want to be able to make a difference.
There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but
he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is
able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent
of the population.
There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted
of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory
crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement
officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted
victims by body language: Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of
awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when
they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.
Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically
primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can
choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and
more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was
honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall,
was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone
to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he
learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as
weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll,"
which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to
confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation
occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents.
-- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves,
ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.
Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of
police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep,
real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are
wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a
human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious,
moral decision. But as Edmund Burke once said, "There is no safety for
honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men."
If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay,
but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and
your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to
protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the
sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest,
safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the
warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every
day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic,
corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well
concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt
holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some
form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police
officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there
is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears
to massacre you and your loved ones.
I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the
break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church.
The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in
church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me
about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in
1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the
church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that
officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been
carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw
himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the
eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with
yourself after that?"
Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer
was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would
probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and
would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in
their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire
sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact
that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be
safeguards against them.
Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often
their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog
quietly asks himself, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to
live with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you
had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that
day?"
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically
destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is
counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and
horror when the wolf shows up. Denial kills you twice. It kills you
once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you
didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful
thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time
because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically
shattered by your fear, helplessness and horror at your moment of
truth.
Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11
book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to
terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive,
but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers
think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced
with new violence is all the more unsettling." Denial is a
save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print,
for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level.
And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his
life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes.
If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you
step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending
that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a
lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry
a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and
say this to yourself..."Baa."
This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no
dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a
matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject,
head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior.
Few people exist completely on one end or the other.
Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in
America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took
a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the
warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which
you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the
degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and
psychologically at your moment of truth.
At the end of the day, "If It Weren't For The United States Military,
And The Pappy Boyingtons Of The Day There Would Be NO United States of
America"
bou...@rogers.com wrote:
> hulle wat nooit van moord aangekla word nie
> hulle wat nooit van aanranding aangekla word nie
> hulle wat professioneel die werk verrig
> hulle wat die maskers van die staat dra
> die heersers van die gulag-argipel
> hulle wat naamloses se nommers vergeet
> hulle wat die bevele gee
> hulle sit spekvet saam met ons in die kerk
>
> ons het nooit die gevangenis besoek nie
>
> Johan van Wyk
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| Re: "Hulle wat nooit van moord aangekla word nie" deur JOHAN VAN WYK [boodskap #4712 is 'n antwoord op boodskap #4704] |
Wo, 10 Mei 2006 14:26 |
bouer
Boodskappe: 4803
Geregistreer: Desember 2003
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Jonas skryf
> Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so
> because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy
> things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our
> time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship,
> persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains:
> What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living
> for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval
> Academy November 24, 1997
Ou Bill Bennett is nou stil, veral nadat hy in die
sop beland het vir een of ander korrupsie. Hy het
in die jare van Clinton en die eerste paar jaar van
die Bush regime altyd met sy skynheilige gesig
gesit en "konserwatiewe waardes" preek. Nou
hoor mens nie soveel van hom nie. Ek dink die
hele katastrofe van George Bush het uiteindelik
sy mond gesnoer.
Ek hou veel meer van sy broer, wat Clinton
as sy advokaat gekies het toe hy in die moeilikheid
was.
Gloudina
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