Quotes For Martial Artists To Live By

[gregimotis]

The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.


Mark Twain

[Tant01]

Hang on...


Propaganda is indeed repetitious, but so is a belief restated. I have to assume that by assaulting my beliefs and calling them "propaganda," you are assuming your own repetition is just your belief. Or perhaps we just both believe what we've said, and have stated it before. Maybe you ARE experiencing a little denial, and the way you combat that is to downplay what I have lived for, calling it "propaganda." Who's to say?

.....


,.....
You're assuming I disagree with my government. My government is composed of people I put there to represent me. It was my vote, and likely yours too, that allowed them the authority to make those declarations. In the war I fought, I happened to believe strongly in why I was there, and I'd have gone again if they'd have let me. My basic human freedoms were enhanced by my experience, and my way of life was confirmed in majestic ways. I was a soldier, and since I wasn't a "victim" of my government's despotism, I guess your argument there is flawed.


.....

By virtue of the fact that you'd debate things like this with such passion, you obviously DO have things in your life you'd fight to defend. Also by virtue of the fact that you train daily in fighting arts, it is clear you have not dismissed violence as a way to handle problems. Therefore, you should have been comfortable enough knowing that my description didn't fit you to spend so much time defending it, and you should have known that I recognized these things in you early on, or I'd have never wasted time talking toyou about any of it. I didn't say "Bodhi is less than a man," I said that people who have never known anything worth fighting for in this world are not. If that doesn't fit you, then simply read on.

Finally for tonight, I am not suggesting we try to make the building stronger by burning it down. What I am s(u)ggesting is that perhaps some buildings should not be built in the first place. I am suggesting we rid ourselves of those things that seek to harm us. Like your own body protecting itself from disease by attacking harmful things with its immune system, or like you calling an exterminator when your house is infested with termites. How, Bodhi, can we make the building stronger by letting the destructive little insects eat it into sawdust? Maybe you can't, and maybe it puts your family out on the street, but God forbid we kill the poor little bugs, right?

I am saying that my motives are pure in choosing (not blindly following someone) to fight for my beliefs, and for my country. You don't have to appreciate it any more than you apparently appreciate the sacrifice of others who gave more that I. But it doesn't make my choice wrong. And it doesn't make my place in the world any less valid. You asked how to teach my kids about peace while being willing to kill? Because I have lived both sides of my nature, I can speak intelligently about them. I am not regurgitating theory or pontificating about things I've only read or heard about. I can tell them honestly and from first hand experience, the consequences of the choices they may face. And I can also tell them that I've made some tough calls for what I believe, and that there are truly times in life when negative consequence (including my own suffering or death) is trivial compared with the greater good it can bring. Again, I'd be thankful, if not to the people who prove it every day, then to the fact that it's real, for beliefs that allow people to make great sacrifices to protect those who will never thank them.

Loving it...

Somebody should be writing this stuff down, oh... wait... There ya go!

Mike Brewer, consider this post stolen. I'll give ya credit whenever I share it!
(if you don't mind) I'll even run it through the spell checker so it's all nice and neat! Thanks!

Raymond G.

[bodhisattva]

It's ok Mike. You can murder people from other nations all you like. I won't stop you.

You can even make it out to be a selfless act, if you so desire.

But I'll _always_ pipe up and remind people that we are talking about murdering humans so a few others can grow more prosperous and more powerful.

Always.

---

When the real war begins, the war fought by starving masses tired of going without healthcare and working 14 hour days just to squeak by.. when that war starts.. I'll be fighting.

Hope you're there too.

--

Your beliefs must make you feel very safe and secure.

What's that they say about those that insist on trusting authority so they can feel safe and secure?

--

You're a great writer mike, but you're just passing on the same crap we've heard for centuries. None of it is original or knew - it is the same stuff they were telling centurions in the holy roman army. It was untrue then, it's untrue now.

"counting men like sheep to the sound of the war drums"

[GonzoStyles]

A little history to add to this post not wanting to open any political can of worms or questioning or deriding anyones beliefs

google these please

1 Smedley Butler USMC

one of the greatest Americans of all time yet little known if you have never heard of the "Bonus Army" then you need to bone-up on your American History. If anyone actually looks into this I would like to know their opinion.

2 Abraham Lincoln Brigade

while the rest of the world Praised Mussolini for making the trains run on time, and Put Hitler on the cover of Time (or Life I forget which one)
these people had the vision to see the direction the world was headed in.
their only reward? to be questioned by Senator Joe Macarthy at the hight of the "Red Scare"

[Tant01]

It's ok Mike. You can murder people from other nations all you like. I won't stop you.

You can even make it out to be a selfless act, if you so desire.

But I'll _always_ pipe up and remind people that we are talking about murdering humans so a few others can grow more prosperous and more powerful.

Always.

---

When the real war begins, the war fought by starving masses tired of going without healthcare and working 14 hour days just to squeak by.. when that war starts.. I'll be fighting.

Hope you're there too.

--

Your beliefs must make you feel very safe and secure.

What's that they say about those that insist on trusting authority so they can feel safe and secure?

--

You're a great writer mike, but you're just passing on the same crap we've heard for centuries. None of it is original or knew - it is the same stuff they were telling centurions in the holy roman army. It was untrue then, it's untrue now.

"counting men like sheep to the sound of the war drums"

[/QUOTE]
You never know what you're really fighting for. That information is on a "need to know" basis.

So you can never really go to war about something you believe. You can only go to war because you the bs the media tells you.

Which is mostly propaganda.

--
War is definitely making the building stronger by burning it down.
Because war is not an act that makes it so the building is never built.

It only tears down.

It's ok. You can support murder, rape and theft all you want.

You can even make it a patriotic act if you want.

And no, I won't appreciate that you murdered for me. Not at all.[/QUOTE]





Hmmm...Reminds me of that fat good for nothing Michael Moore. You both have a good sense dramatic comedy without much sense for reality... I wish he'd just give up his US citizenship and go preach his hate where the 500 pounders are raining down on like minded folks... You see our soldiers are sworn to protect the national interests from ALL ENEMIES both foreign and DOMESTIC... What exactly is a domestic enemy? Who(m?) ever the President declares them to be...

[chalambok]

Please Confine Ego-stroking And Private Conversations To A Separate Thread. Read The Title And Play The Game.

[GonzoStyles]

Tant01 alot of History nevers goes down in our schoolbooks, go and look up the two subjects i posted before you to see examples of what I mean.

Politicians have become a seperate class in the world, gone are the days when are leaders were heros, men to look up to (T Roosevelt, Kennedy), today they are forked tongued proffesional liars that believe their own hype and that goes for both partys.

the men behind desks in America and worldwide who decide it is good buisness to support people like Saddam , Suharto, and Pinochet are never held accountable. the rulers in places like Suadi Arabia, Nigeria, and Haiti are manufacturing hate against the US as we speak, all with the support of US politicians.

Who thinks it was a good Idea to sell WMD to someone like Saddam in the first place?

Who thinks it is a good Idea to have a multi Billion dollar trade deficit with communist China North Koreas #1 supporter?

no one in their right mind does!

yet this was and is the type of moves our leaders make only to have our soldiers go and risk their lives to save us from the enemies our government makes.

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it is a
democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no
voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and
exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

-- Hermann Goering, 1939

I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on
which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived -
yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.
What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax
Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of
the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace,
the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that
enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for
their children-not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and
women - not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.

----J.F.K.

[gregimotis]

Gentlemen,

This is an important conversation for our country right now, but could you please agree to move it to open access? This is the longest lived and most interesting thread on the board - it won't survive a political hijack without your help.

[JosHetEi]

The Spartans don't ask how many there are but where they are! --Spartan Proverb

[Garland]

yeah...and look at what happened to the spartans at thermopylae.

[Garland]

A man once said in praise of the general principle of Woodrow Wilson;
"there is a man who would as a judge, send his own brother to the gallows, and then die of a broken heart."

[gregimotis]

"Never do something you sincerely do not want to do. Never confuse movement for action."

Earnest Hemmingway



(This in answer to a friend who felt they should spend less time writing and more on their 'career'.)

[chalambok]

"Secrecy is as indispensable to human beings as fire, and as greatly feared. Both enhance and protect life, yet both can stifle, lay waste, spread out of control." - Sissela Bok

[THT]

"If your temper rises, withdraw your hand. if your hand rises, withdraw your temper." By: I forgot but I'll edit it in later

[chalambok]

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin