DEEP AUTUMN FLOWERS: PROGRAM

Ghosts of Tom Paine: Decadal Review of Bush v. Gore (2000) [Post of Dec. 12, 2010]
INITIAL POSTS (June 2010):
Immoral Maxims of An Unjust Judge: Rhetorical Repartees and Constitutional Arguments Discrediting and Refuting Both the Quips and Substance of Antonin Scalia's Legal Opinions. Several Components: Maxims & Repartees; Appendices; References
ADDITIONAL POSTS
Spiritual Intersections: Nietzsche's Aphorisms and Jesus Words (August 2010)
Henry Clay (Oct 2010)
PLANNED POSTS:
Essays on Distinctions and Tensions between literal, parablefull, metaphorical and mythological religious language



OCCASIONAL POSTS"
Book Reviews (Supreme Court; Friedrich Nietzsche…)




Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Black-&-Black,Black-&-White,White-&-White and the Colors Beyond the Rainbow

Long Title: Black on Black, Black on White, White on White; Pink&Yellow&Tan&Red&Brown; Various True Colors Beyond the Rainbow.

During our lives, each of us may and must at some time must be significantly involved with various other individual persons who are of (1) a different sex, (2) of a different age, (3) of a different land, (4) of a different culture, (5) of a different station who normally have somewhat different physical attributes. It is both our common and individual task while we are on this planet to find ways to make the sometimes difficult task of living with these differences into a positive witness on behalf of humankind. At bottom, when one of us enslaved — none of us is free; when one of us impoverished — none of us is wealthy; when one of us imprisoned — none of us is a complete citizen. Our own contributions to our common weal are, apparently, quite mixed. However, beyond those obvious horizons I can see much more clearly than the mind can know that each of us can turn towards making our homes, homelands, and homeworld into a promise of heaven beyond our wildest dreams.

During my own life it has seemed to me that the two most important public distractions that have served to cheapen and poison our real promises and real problems as American human have been the categories of wealth and race. In future posts  I hope to address such issues more directly. Other human beings are and will be drawn to different problems, goals, and dreams. This, however, is my outline of the most salient political/cultural/moral problematics, ghosts, ills, and shadows that beset my world.


A longer version, more precise in my own mind, but perhaps not quite as hard to the point.

During our lives, each of us — on both an individual and common journey — may and (almost always) at some time must be or become significantly involved with various other individual persons who are of (1) a different sex and/or (2) of a different age and/or (3) of a different land and/or (4) of a different culture and/or (1) of a different station and/or (1) with both obvious and notable different physical attributes. It is both our common and individual task while we are on this planet and when our descendants will be on this planet and any other planet to find ways to make the sometimes difficult task of living with these differences into a positive component — into a witness — of the life and history of humankind. At bottom, when one of us enslaved — none of us is free; when one of us impoverished — none of us is wealthy; when one of us imprisoned — none of us is a complete citizen. As far as I can see, none of us has made a completely positive or completely negative imprint upon our imperfectly shared destinies. However, beyond those obvious horizons I can see much more clearly than the mind can know that each of us can turn towards making our homes and our homelands and our homeworlds into a promise of heaven beyond our wildest dreams.

During my own life as a boy in Eastern Kentucky, a young man in the Southern United States, and a teacher mostly within the United States (with short stints in other lands and climes) it has seemed to me that the two most important distractions that have served to cheapen and poison our real promises and real problems as Americans and as citizens of this God-shapened world have been the categories of wealth and race. In whatever time I have left on this planet I hope to address these and other issues further when I have strength, time, and focus. I am quite aware that all other human beings are and will be drawn to different problems, goals, and dreams. This, however, is my outline of the salient political/cultural/moral problematics, ghosts, and shadows that beset my people, my country, and my world.

Hier stehe ich — between the earth and sky, between the no longer and the not yet.

Lon Clay Hill, Jr. [20 Dec 2017]

(The German is from Luther, the two prepositional phrases are my own and from Friedrich Nietzsche, respectivelt)