Charlie's Blog

There are occasions, I have found, where want for the future somehow crosses paths with nostalgia. Where what-was becomes the ideal for what-can-be. Where we look back at the journey--these miles walked--only to ask ourselves if this journey is indeed progress, are we marching steadfastly toward a goal? If so, are we getting closer to that goal? Or are we marching simply because there is a drummer as a dancer in a music box twirls impotently when the key is turned?

That place, the longing, the warmth of what was, all the good that was lost in the name of progress... learning... growth... All the demons slain only to find the corpses of angels at our feet. Blind hope leading the charge into oblivion. The steady onward rhythm of boots drowning out the beauty that we once had and we march to war every day. Against what? Does humanity march forth daily from our hovels and our mansions to battle with words, with sticks, stones, steel, and silicon; Do we wield the very elements only to battle ourselves and others only to leave early on Friday to beat traffic? For what? Is it worth what we lost? For some it may be but that is not the question to ask for it is folly to question the unchanging. Unchanging because as long as there is humanity we will march. We will war. We will take our victories and mourn our sacrifices--but not for long lest we question what we lost. But I have found the sacred place. The crossroads where these two paths: "Past" and "Future" converge for just a moment. It is a place for evaluation, for decision, and for action. This crossroads is called "Present".