Do as I say not as I do. The dirty work and the power of suggestion.

Life nowadays in the land of the free and home of the brave.

Admit it.

Sometimes.

You just want to go outside and scream your lungs out, kick a wall, flip a table on its side.

About where we are. Now.

Saying you’ll do something may take one kind of courage.

Actually doing it requires a different type.

Real bravery lies in deeds, not words.(wjb)

Consequences and accountabilities to follow.

Never mind?

Nope.

Do as I say, not as I do.

The Brave Mice.

By Aesop

”An old cat was in the habit of catching all the mice in the barn. One day the mice met to talk about the great harm that she was doing them. Each one told of some plan by which to keep out of her way.

”Do as I say,” said an old gray mouse that was thought to be very wise. “Do as I say. hang a bell to the cat’s neck. Then, when we hear it ring, we shall know that she is coming, and can scamper out of her way.”

”Good! Good!” Said all the other mice, and one ran to get the bell.

”Now which of you will hang this bell on the cat’s neck?” said the old gray mouse.

”Not I! Not I” said all the mice together. And they scampered away to their holes.

Been there.

Done that.

Power of the mind.

Power of suggestion.

Things that go bump in the night are usually just bumping around inside our own heads.

And sometimes not.

Fear of noise in the night is a very old and natural thing. It’s how you react to it that matters.

Under “normal” circumstances.

There is such a thing as false courage, which may rise from our own vanity. There are some dangers we should rightly fear, and we shouldn’t be embarrassed about a proper wariness about them. (wjb)

We become brave by doing brave acts. Dispositions of character, virtues and vices are progressively fixed in us through habits.

Bad habits can be too.

By being habituated to despise things that are terrible and to stand our ground against them we become brave, and it is when we have become so that we shall be most able to stand our ground against them..🇺🇸

Stanging ground against threatening things is not to be confused with fearlessness or a “bout” of screaming, kicking and table flipping.

Courage can inspire.

Courage can shame.

It is a pendulum.

Designed to exhaust.

Back.

Forth.

Back.

Forth.

Back.

Forth.

Back.

Forth.

The Dirty Work.

Power of suggestion.

Silent abuse suffered in an acts of nonviolent protest directed at rousing the public conscience against injustice.

A top down kind of “movement”.

Life today in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Reason.

Practicality.

Calm.

Replaced by tipping tables and shouts and screams.

Lack of eloquence when the voice becomes hoarse and the tears dry-up-kind-of defeat. The mere inclination to do the right thing is not in itself enough.

We have to know what the right thing to do is.

We need wisdom.

We NEED wisdom of a wise leader.

To give our courage determinant form.

Intelligent direction

North.

South.

East.

West.

We need the will.

Need to be willing to fight back.

Courageously.

Side by side with courage.

Someone courageous.

Aristotle opined-“Courage is a settled disposition to feel appropriate degrees of fear and confidence in challenging situations.”

It is a settled disposition to stand one’s ground.

Acting bravely when we don’t really feel brave.

Life today in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Doesn’t always “look” like life is one of having it all, “having it all together”.

Appearances can be deceiving.

Under normal circumstances, what is normal anyway. But under normal circumstances most, or many of our imagined troubles never happen.

Mountains out of molehills.

Silent or silently screamed.

Same difference.

Same result.

Cruelty has a way of hiding behind the “best” of us.

Avoid foolish cowardice.

And a smooth talker.☺️

The sky is falling.

The sky is falling.

Full moon or no full moon to follow.

Better get used to it?

Nope.

Not on my watch.

Sometimes if you can touch it the world explodes into tiny bits.

And sometimes,

Not.

Plato.

Was on to something.

So was Socrates.

…. on to something.

To the fearful.

Of the fearful.

The real brave.

The suggestive brave.

Courage can be a knowledge of what is really to be feared.

(Just ask your local actuary😳)

Evil.

Moral evil.

If moral evil is the only real evil, than the so-called evils that fortune and men inflict upon us—poverty, sickness, suffering, and even death, are not to be feared. If they are faced in the proper spirit, they cannot make us morally worse creatures.(wjb)

Ogres beware.

Devices be damned.

It’s a fine line.

Between truth and

consequence.

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Predicting life.

Predicting death.

Sinister.

You betcha.

Foundations of strength.

Found deep within.

Scream shouts, flipped table and the “like”, the likes. The likes of which we have never been here, this way before.

Evil actions of other men cannot harm us morally.

Unless we allow them to.

The real fear.

Injustice to others.

Before you hide behind the door, the barn, or the barn door.

Stop it. (Lk)

When we lay our heads down at night, we should ask ourselves….

What can I do better tomorrow?

To hold less fear within ourselves.

Socrates thought the one true fear to be injustice to others.

”He who likes will kill me and get my money”.

Slow burn.

Fast and quick.

Either way.

Lacks the courage of conviction.

Your choice.

Your move.

Your day in court of your own life.

In the life of public opinion.

To state your case.

Privacy has kinda gone by the wayside.

Blowin’ in the wind even.

All the full moons in the world will not light up the sky enough to repair the damage.

Damage is done.

Lives move on with silent hints, whispers, dirty work suggestions,

all while someone’s hands stay,

”clean”.

The hints, whispers and suggestions begin to weigh on the mind and the only real release, result may be flippin’ the table or flipping the bird.

Silence is not always golden.

Happy Independence Day.

Today—Salute to the real and the brave Soldiers and fighters.🫵🏻

Keep up the good fight.

Please.

And.

Thank you.