Patriot Realm

I have often pondered why mankind decided to go after the humble whale. After all, the whale was out there, in the ocean, minding his or her own business and wasn't really causing any problem. Unless you were a seal, krill or plankton. In which case, you probably had a civil rights claim or two. 
Yet this gentle giant ( as far as humans are concerned ) was not bothering anyone. All the whales wanted to do was what they have done since God first had a great idea " I think I'll make a whale. "  and the whales just cruised around, having babies, blowing bubbles and migrating to warmer places and having a jolly old time.  

So what did the poor whale do to us? Well, let me tell you a whale of a tale and how the Industrial Revolution saved it.

“We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.”

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

How many times in our lives has it been said or thought that things could not get worse, weirder, more absurd, more dangerous, more immoral, more brutal, more controlling, more restrictive, more perverted, more murderous, or more insane? Can those thoughts even be considered in this day and age of complete and total lunacy? What has happened to mankind, and can it all be blamed on brainwashing and indoctrination by the ruling class over the rest of society? 

I am motivated to write this article after reading a post online elsewhere where a person said that he was culling his " followers " from his social media. 

Why? 

Because they couldn't argue their case. Instead, they were resorting to ridicule, abuse, insults and one-line comebacks, instead of pointing out why they held an opinion that was worthy of consideration. 

Herein lies the problem. 

You see, today, people have lost the ability to debate. To argue their case. To defend their position. To exemplify why they are right. How they came to their conclusion, where they found their information in order to form their opinion and when they came to form their opinion in the first place. 

We were to be a crew of three, John, Adriane and myself. Adriane, however, using her keen feminine wisdom suggested we post an ad on the bulletin board in the American Church seeking a shipmate. An American student who was living in Paris for the summer made quick response.

Mary was a smart and pretty girl of twenty-one from an upper, middle class, Washington family. She was to return at summer's end to an executive training position with General Electric. Mary, obviously bright, had competed for that chance among several hundred applicants. We advised her to consider the proposition overnight. The following morning Mary arrived with her bag packed and ready to go.

Born 113 years ago, Douglas Bader would grow up to be a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilot and flying ace responsible for more than 20 aerial victories during the Second World War.

But his success stalled in August 1941 when he was forced to bail out of his plane over France, and he was subsequently captured by the Germans, ending up at Colditz prisoner of war camp until its liberation in 1945.

My father passed 8 years ago on the 4th of August. Needless to say. it will be like so many other days, a day of loss. Just before dawn the other night, there was the hint of a thunderstorm. Not big. Just a rumble in the sky and some distant lightning.

Mum ( Redhead) lay snuggled in bed with her male manx cat and he purred and asked for a reassuring rub on his belly and a kiss. A nudge from his head to remind her that he was there. 

It took me back to the days when Dad used to say to wake up in the early hours and ask Redhead " Would you like a cup of tea? " and they would sit together and chat and enjoy the dawn hours together, with a nice cup of tea.