The Present is No Time for Unity
Published in Marietta Daily Journal August 20/21, 2022
I’ve
had only two fights in my life and I won both, not because I was strong or knew
how to fight, but because a sense of justice lit a fire in me and rendered me
momentarily uncontrollable. That’s not
to say that I lost control of my emotions or my senses. It means that my three
opponents could not control me. A burning desire to instantly right a wrong was
all that enabled me and produced success.
Fight
one. We had all had enough of Jimmy Bailey. It was an outdoor P.E. class. It
was the eighth grade which means I was thirteen or fourteen.
Jimmy
Bailey was a bully. I watched him push and shove others around. When he struck
Otis Massey, I knew I would have to do something. Otis was extremely timid. His
family was even poorer than mine. When “the Bailey boy” without cause or reason
walked up to Otis and hit him in the ribs, something came over me. I rushed
over and struck Jimmy Bailey in the face with the heel of my hand. He reeled,
sat down, and began to cry. I’ve no doubt that shock served to correct him as
much as my sure blow. Fights were fairly common so our teacher, the football
coach, did nothing. As for Jimmy Bailey, he changed his ways.
Fight
two. In college I was known as Bill Ladd’s roommate. Bill Ladd was my best
friend and was tall, dark, and handsome. Although he could have whipped a bear,
he was a gentle giant known all over the campus for his looks, personality, and
athletic ability. I was pleased to walk along in his shadow. Knowing his
character, I was pleased and eager to defend him as well.
It
was an intra-mural basketball game in the college gym. Suffering from a bad
back I was reduced to keeping stats on the bench for our dorm’s team. At a
point in the game, I happened to look up from my clip board and saw that my heroic
friend had just grabbed a rebound but for some reason had been attacked by two
guys on the opposing team. Jimmy Bailey! Otis Massey! Consciously, again, and
again infused by a lightning strike of justice I threw my clip board down,
slung one of my dear friend’s attackers on the floor and gave the other my
Jimmy Bailey special. Eventually, they both got up to apologize and all was
well.
How
is it that contemporary politics recently returned my mind to Otis Massey and
Bill Ladd? I say it’s because we are
sitting idly by and allowing chaos, violence, double standards, and sheer
tyranny to prevail. Yes, I’m referring to the chaos of transgender politics
that defies human biology, messes with the minds of children and allows men to
control girl sports. I’m referring to the violence of our major Democrat-run cities
that is seeping out into small town and rural America, to the overlooked
violent “summer of love” and the obsession over goons who stormed the Capitol
and who could have been thwarted but weren’t. I’m referring to the double
standards applied to Hillary Clinton, Hunter Biden, and other Democrat
operatives versus those applied to former President Trump and God knows how
many of his present and former associates. I’m referring to the tyranny of an
administration and its party that has already legislated that IRS agents be
increased by 87,000 to ferret out our pocketbooks, and to the outrageous border
crisis that our not so nimble president cares nothing about. I refer to the
dying yet still poisonous and poisoning media that hates Donald Trump so much
that it will overlook the corruption of our president and his family. About
half the voters in 2016 voted for Trump, yet his enemies continue to hope that
one more attack against him will be their charm.
It’s
time for lovers of freedom not just to vote but to solicit others in any way
they can to fight the present tyranny. When unity is impossible, victory is
necessary.
Decades
ago at Meridian (MS) High School, long after Otis Massey and Bill Ladd, six
excellent coaches just for fun held Saturday classes for male faculty to teach
them self-defense. I learned from these
great coaches how to defend myself. I appreciate the skills they taught us;
however, I still don’t believe that physical readiness is as reliable as a
sense of urgency brought on by the recognition of a need and a deep desire for
freedom from tyranny. That need is now.
Roger Hines
August 18, 2022
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