“1: the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason

4: caution or circumspection as to danger or risk”

(source)

Lies in Wait: “Fig. stays still and hidden, waiting for someone or something” (source).

IN THE WAR OF 2021

In the global war of 2021, an arguably unpredecented, tangled mess of physical, mental, emotional, psychological, and spiritual asymetric attacks, it is easy to get angry.

Righteously angry.

It seems that not only is lawlessness the “order” of the day but every petty tyrant hustling his fifteen minutes of power and fame is having his way, or hers, unchecked and unbalanced.

The genius of this “decentralized” brand of warfare is that, like shattered glass, the danger is here, there, and everywhere, not just in one specific location.

It’s not only the fog of war we are dealing with but also scattered chaos and confusion, chess-game-level deception, massive betrayals, 24/7 propaganda, and, this year, medical mayhem, too.

So if we don’t get angry, we haven’t been paying attention! Right?

There is, of course, a place for anger.

In a previous post I suggested that anger is one of the early stages of “grief in a time of revolution.”

For, if you think about it, in war, especially the one in which we are now engaged that some call freedom versus slavery, we also experience great loss–not so much the loss of a loved one to death, though wars certainly involve that kind, but the loss of freedom, safety, and trust in all those in leadership we voted for in good faith and trust to make sure our freedoms remain.

Seems like that system is broken.

Maybe for good?

We had better find out.

Unfortunately, it seems it’s going to take this war we’re in to do so.

And it’s a natural human reaction to want to bust some things up when it gets this bad and this all-evil-inclusive.

But the wisdom of ages indicates (and history reveals) battle efficacy comes not so much in the fire of a just cause but in the light produced by it.

In other words, when emotions calm down, we succeed by taking note and taking action guided by the wise words of those who have gone successfully before us, a few, quoted above–although it might take time to get from here to there.

Because it’s our turn, now…

Truth, organization, and self-control is our victory.

In maintaining it is our strength.