“THE ROAD TO SURE EXTINCTION”
by OPOVV, ©2015
(Apr. 25, 2015) — ACT I
As the curtain rises we hear Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suites 1 and 2. The stage is dark except for one spotlight on a chair, center left stage. After “Morning” is concluded, a middle-aged actress enters from stage right dressed in a Greek toga. She sits, then reaches down and holds up a poster with the word “HISTORY.” The music proceeds but as background. She puts down the poster.
Lady: “Futility would be to compare today with yesterday, for time is the Great Eraser of the cosmos. As Newton reminds us, our time today, the here and now, has been made possible only through the trials and tribulations of those who walked the path of life before us.
“Tonight we’re going to examine where we are, and when I say ‘we,’ I mean not only us living human beings, but also those ideas that were formulated by those who came before us who we hold dear.
“We live in interesting times, but what makes today more interesting than this same day a thousand years ago is based on our world view or, I should say, how we view our place in our vast universe. It hasn’t even been 100 years since we discovered that our galaxy, the Milky Way, with its billions of stars, is just one of billions and billions of galaxies in the universe.
“Yet, today, when a mother holds her newborn, it is with the same tenderness and love that a mother thousands of years ago felt when she held her newborn.
“Situations may change; conditions may change, from famine to plenty, from disease to pestilence and war, but the human condition, in other words, our state of mind, hasn’t changed an iota in one, or many, thousands of years.
“WE may view outside stimuli through our understanding of science, which includes our understanding of nutrition and our deciphering the physical world in which we visit, as it were, during our short lifespan, but our bodies and how we think have been, for all intents and purposes, left pretty much intact. We very well may be taller than those who roamed the savannas of Africa, but that doesn’t make us necessarily smarter.
“That said, the advantage that we have over others who came before us is that they lived and died so that we, too, can live and die. They lived so that we may live, and they died so that we, too, can die knowing that our lives have meaning: those who live after us will honor us for allowing them to build upon our legacy in continuing our species. We humans have survived some pretty harrowing conflicts since we first came upon the scene of life on this planet.
“The works of Shakespeare are especially intuitive, as are many a manuscript that have survived the ages, the Bible being one such book. Perhaps our greatest achievement has been the printing press, but if that were true, then why has the world become more dangerous and chaotic than it was before the advent of the printing press? Same to be said of woman suffrage in the United States: surely a mother wouldn’t send her son off to war.
“And yet the idea of the possibility of the people of the world to live in peace, of all humanity to be as diversified as they wish, yet hold dear the Golden Rule, still lives on to this day.
“And that leads into my closing: there are no guarantees in life, only death. The whole world appears lost and the stars look further away than they ever have during the last 100 years. Even though it has been said a thousand of times before, we are at the crossroads of survival, for today there exists the very real possibility of a true proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, from nuclear blasts and radiation poisoning to anthrax, smallpox, Ebola, Sarin gas, mustard gas, and, perhaps worse, the endless line of people willing to die for the opportunity to maim and kill as many of their fellow human beings as possible due to, perhaps, at least in part, the enabling effect of Western Civilization in considering Islam as a legitimate belief system, even though it has subjugated women in a subservient role for the past 1,400 years.”
Curtain lowers. Music ends. End of Act I.
ACT II
Curtain rises to the music of Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song, Op. 62 No. 6” and sits in the same chair; lighting is the same. As the music ends he reaches down and holds up a poster with one word written on it: “TRUTH.” As he starts to speak, the background music of Beethoven’s “Overture Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72a” is heard.
Gentleman: “We hear the word ‘truth’ often enough, but what, really, now, is the truth? There may be ten eyewitnesses to a car accident but you very well may get ten different versions of what really transpired. Maybe there’s a bit of truth in each of them. Maybe it’s a collage of mumbo-jumbo and if it’s assembled correctly you’ll arrive at the truth. Then again, maybe not.
“You see, truth is elusive. It has been said that people don’t recognize the truth because of preconceived notions; because of previously arrived-at conclusions that no amount of facts (truths) can sway; and, most likely, they just don’t care enough to expend the needed effort to admit, even to themselves, that they were completely wrong.
“Take, for instance, Obama’s Birth Certificate. As soon as he was to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in the 2008 election, the spin was that he was born in Hawaii, and they even came up with a COLB (Certificate of Live Birth). The trouble is, the COLB and a Birth Certificate are two entirely different documents, the first being, basically, worthless in applying for a passport, for instance.
“Nevertheless, the Democratic Party pushed the COLB, which got people curious. It turns out that the COLB was a fake and that Obama was never vetted. The White House then released a Birth Certificate to replace the fake COLB, but it turned out that, too, was a fake.
“The point isn’t so much that Obama never having been vetted; the point is that nothing’s been done about it. Why, even PRAVDA has reported Obama’s numerous aliases, fake COLB and Birth Certificate, fraudulent Selective Service Registration card, and stolen Social Security number. As a matter of fact, were you aware that, by 2009, most of the world knew that Obama was an usurper and that the election was rigged through massive voter fraud? It seems as if everyone knew but us Americans.
“Not so long ago, the world looked upon America as made up of its people. They admired our strength of character and generosity. Immigrants were processed according to the letter of the law and either became citizens or were deported back to wherever they came from. The immigrants who did become citizens learned English and the vast majority improved their situation in life through hard work. Some had dreams of becoming a small business owner, while others had visions of being a ballerina. America made those dreams possible.
“But during the last six years, the world’s vision of America has become completely different. Today America is looked upon by its government and not by its people. Today an American, any American, is considered a government employee, maybe not directly collecting a government paycheck, but by accepting Obama as its de facto president and the destructive internal policies (Obamacare) and foreign policies (Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, the Pacific Rim, basically every square inch of our planet) doesn’t bring altruistic feelings to the forefront of how other people look upon any American anywhere at anytime. Wrong impression, but try telling that to them after how we changed from being the ‘Beacon of Liberty’ to just another Third World failed welfare State.
“Long ago, during the Golden Years of the Roman Empire, there was a slave who became a gladiator of the First Rank. He escaped and started a revolt. It has been written that maybe he wasn’t such a ‘Robin Hood,’ but that’s not the point. The point is that his name conjured up an impression, a thought, the idea of the possibility of fighting a crooked and oppressive government that allowed bad things to happen to good people.
“The gladiator’s name was Spartacus, and even today his name is recognized as someone who just got fed up and wasn’t going to take it anymore. But even had Spartacus had access to the printing press and handed out pamphlets decrying the injustices of the government until the cows came home, nothing would’ve changed. Words can be construed as arrows made of shadows, and there’s not a government in existence that’s fearful of shadows.
“Words, nonetheless, are a powerful tool. It all depends on how they are used. Take, for instance, the so-called ‘Revolution for Peace’ during 1960s America. Protest songs and marches supporting the North Vietnamese takeover of South Vietnam were in vogue, which suited the American military because all they wanted was the opportunity to test new weapons in battlefield conditions and to develop new tactics to use the helicopter that, in reality, replaced the horse: the name of that game was mobility.
“In the end, the American military got what it wanted, the M16 and a cavalry that used the helicopter instead of a horse. Looking at the macro view of the world chess game, one can make a case for the planned NVA/Chinese takeover of Southeast Asia. But that’s not the subject at hand. The subject at hand is the concept of an idea that remains constant.
“Throughout history there have been leaps and strides in science, to be sure. But of the human condition: none, and maybe that’s a good thing: it keeps us firmly planted in the dimension of reality. How we deviate from reality is what we are led to believe through the printed word and by other means of communication. After the women got the vote in America, the cry went up that ‘War is Over,’ only to discover that despots and bullies are still part of the real world and must be dealt with in the old and proven way: not by shadow bullets (words), but by real honest-to-God bullets, missiles and bombs.
“Deception is a very strong weapon. The printing press made possible that all people were on the same page, but that didn’t materialize. The Bible was sent all over the world, but the message of the ‘Golden Rule,’ for one reason or another, didn’t catch on.
“Today, Americans are bombarded by subliminal messages, and they haven’t a clue, which is the whole idea about subliminal messaging in the first place: don’t make them aware.
“In closing, thank you for your courtesy in being such an attentive audience. Let me just wrap it all up: the Idea is that it’s possible that all the peoples of the world can live in relative peace, and by that I mean not live day by day with the gnawing fear of being nuked, gassed or taken hostage so your beheading will be on Al Jazeera television.
“If you take anything away from our play tonight, take this: words are indeed powerful, but in order to protect your family, hanging signs out of your windows proclaiming “HISTORY,” “TRUTH,” and “I BELIEVE in the GOLDEN RULE” is no substitute for real bullets. Men, if your wife and daughters aren’t carrying a lightweight .357 Magnum in their purse, then you’re not a responsible husband and father. For those of you who live in ‘gun-free zones:’ would you want your daughter or wife raped by a gang or would you prefer your daughter or wife blow the gangbangers straight to hell?
“Your choice. Same with somebody breaking down your door at 3:00 am, crashing in to kill your dog and maybe other members of your family, including yourself, or do you protect your castle and blow them away?
“The Idea is freedom. Keep it alive. It’s up to each of us to do so.”
The gentleman stands as a U.S. military Honor Guard marches on stage. The spotlight shifts to the American flag. The sailor holds the American flag. Richard Rodgers’ theme song for “Victory at Sea” is played at loud volume. The music ends as another spotlight shines on the gentleman.
Gentleman: “The Idea is as old as our most ancient memories. We, as a distinct species on this planet, have a choice before us. Do we work as a team, men and women, or do we take the road to sure extinction, where stupidity is the rule, where selfishness and ignorance trump rational thought and reason; where we let imagination rule, or do we punish those who dare to dream of reaching the stars? Are we going to back ourselves in a corner or leave the maze behind us?
“Many irreplaceable libraries have been totally destroyed because of ignorance and pure evil and stupidity. The libraries in Alexandria and of Southern Spain held knowledge that has been, perhaps, lost forever, thanks to the tide of Muslim hoards destroying everything and everyone in sight. And it’s happening now.
“The days of shadow bullets have long passed.
“Goodnight.”
As the curtain is lowered, Bach’s “Easter Oratorio, BWV 249: Sinfonia is played.
FINI