denis_p

Despite your deeming me noble, and the promise of remedial sword play lessons, I fear my swashbuckling skills will always pale in comparison to my passion for articulation. I am told that in some circles a pen is considered mightier than a sword. I can only hope to find noble employment in such a place before I am the cause of any further unintentional bloodshed, mostly my own. Thankfully I still have eight toes evenly divided among my feet so I can almost walk a reasonably straight line. Who knew getting blood out of chainmail could be so difficult. Ugh.

Thank you denis.  I completely agree with Ben Franklin on this.  I have used this quote myself.  It is difficult to be open as we and other "Western" countries are.  This in many ways allow these hate filled idiots to do what they do.  I am not and never have been a fan of political correctness.  These jihadist seem to forget what is in their own religion.
 
I do not know the Koran or Qu'ran as it is sometimes said, but there are plenty of instances where what we know as the Golden Rule is evident within Islam.  If only they would follow it.  The Prophet Mohammed stated this many different ways according to many sources.
 
None of you has faith until he loves for his brother or his neighbor what he loves for himself.
 
You will not enter Paradise until you believe and you will not believe until you love one another
 
Love for the people what you love for yourself and you will be a believer; behave well with your neighbors and you will be a Muslim
 
These are just a few of the many quotes that are attributed to Mohammed.  The problem and there are those of other religions that have the same problem.  They focus on the part of their scripture, that they interpret to give them an excuse, not a reason, but an excuse to hate. 
 
The Golden Rule, in essence encompasses how we should all act.  If you act according to that, you don't even need something like the Ten Commandments to guide you.  If apply the Golden Rule to the commandments, it covers all of them.  All these people want to do is hate, or obtain power.  They rely on religion to give them that.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
 
 
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759      

Mark C.,
 
I agree that simply "disposing" of the individual terrorist and sending him/her/it to "paradise" is not going to solve the problem, but even a fanatic Muslim "Martyr" values, at least, his boy children. I would hesitate to say, "Kill all his children" along with himself, but it MAY come to that. An alternative, perhaps, would be to take his children and raise them as Christians? To him, then, his boy children would be dead and he would leave no legacy for the "Prophet". They have no real concern for their wives or girl children.
 
I don't have any magic solutions, but it is fast coming down to them or us. It is obvious that they will not or cannot live on the same planet with the rest of us and these acts of violence and terrorism are going to continue and will grow in monstrosity as time goes by. We think that 9/11 was the ultimate horror and, as terrible as that was, there is so much more they can do to us that would make that act of terrorism seem like child's play.
 
 
Let me put out just one possibility. Remember, many Muslims are as technology up to date as we are. How about a nice Ebola plague right here in our country. It would be easy to do and easy to bring it home to us, they need merely to step across the border anywhere between California and Texas, posing as poor Mexicans. Even Canada is easily bypassed in the north. I have read that there is certain factual evidence that people from the "sand countries" have already crossed from Mexico and are living here right now. I have not actually seen that, but I live in Arizona and see the pack trains crossing the ridge above my home most every night.
 
IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME!
 
 
Charles Bird
Sea Bird

Sea Bird, I agree it is only a matter of time. It may be Islamists, it may be Chechnan separatists, it may be Ukranian rebels, but some group or someone will get thier hands on a WMD and use it. It may be nuclear, chemical or biological but one day it will happen. I really fear for the future of mankind. Resource depletion, over population, our human natures....

There are times I simply want to wall in the middle east, shut down all travel in or out and let them go about happily killing each other.  Afghanistan is known in history as the Graveyard of Empires.  Ask Alexander and the Soviet Union about that.  Any society that can stop the mechanized might of Mother Russia with a bunch of uneducated barbarians chasing around the hills and caves, should never be taken lightly, and should likely have never been armed by the West (yes, CIA, I'm looking at you, too)
 
The western powers are simply too foreign and alien to the radicalized Muslim Extremists.  We live in the here and now, they want to live in the past.  They get angry over a tiny cartoon.  I'm sorry, but God, or his prophets and saints and holy men should be bigger than to be offended by a mere drawing to the point of killing.  If your religious zeal is so easily frustrated, this world will likely be a difficult place to live.
 
I was always told that God is love.  Not that God's people were divided by a centuries old dispute over whether or not Mohammed's heir should rule Islam, the key differentiation between the now ethnic and sectarian groups the Shiites and the Sunnis.  That divide is so deep and so covered in blood that Muslims have been killing each other in that conflict almost since the founding of the religion.
 
Islam, as most practice it, is a peaceful religion, focusing on harmony with nature, respect for your fellow man and protecting the family.  In many ways, despite differences in creed and practice, it is very similar to most Christian sects.  As with all things, it is the crazy ones at the fringes that give bad reputation to those nearer the center.  When the "word of God" is perverted, twisted or "edited" to suit a given individual's rather extreme point of view, suddenly you give people a blank check to do anything they want in the name of God.  Since the Crusades and the Rape of the New World (the Conquistadores), that justification was used.  History is likely full of similar stories. 
 
The question is, can we educate people so they don't repeat history's mistakes, or will showing someone a little knowledge be that dangerous enough thing that lets more radical fanatics think they've got the green light to drop planes on buildings or walk into a newspaper and blow away people who disagree with a given point of view?  I worry, my brothers, that eventually it will come to the point that only extreme measures will be required to counter such extremism.  We're already pretty close.
 
I don't mind telling you, this has me worried.

Kyle...
 
Last Sunday during your live online chat... [thanks again for that] you asked us if we had read 'Re-E'... I was one of the few that had not gotten around to reading it yet as you may recall... [still "...to many stories, not enough time in life to read them all"].
 
Well your words about and passion for 'Re-E' stuck with me and when I finished reading Mondays updates I started to read [really binge] on this intriguing story.
 
I must tell you that I should have started to read this story years ago for I've been missing the chance to read one of your BEST...
 
You have now gotten me hocked... I just hope that you will be adding more chapters of this story and to the Castle...
 
For now I'll just sit here and wait for more, but knowing how you feel about 'Re-E', I pray that I will not have to wait very long...
 
Kyle... Please put writing more chapters of 'Re-E' at the top of your writing to do list...
 
PLEASE... 

Chris,
 
Thank You for sharing this with us...

Chris,
 
Thank You for sharing this with us...

This song holds a very special place in my heart. Whenever I feel bummed out, angry, sad or whatever else, this song never fails to make me feel better. I really want to share that with everyone here and I hope you like it.

You might be  but my pop sure aint    LOL  

I did... I did... LMAO

I did... I did... LMAO

Before we can assume the moral authority over global social questions, we must first clean up our own house. First item that comes to my mind is what we have done to the Native Americans living on reservations. We have turned these people into the equivalent of household pets. We haven't done much better with the poor, elderly, and uneducated among us. For those who need just a "helping hand", we have turned them into the moral equivalent of zombies with their hands out. We have done this in the mistaken belief that we are "helping them".
 
If you find my words harsh and unbelievable, look around you, take a trip to an Indian Reservation, where generations of "benevolent care" have drained a once vibrant race of people of their initiative and replaced it with apathy! Those who came to us for a helping hand" in hard times, have found themselves in a bureaucratic prison of regulations intended to trap them forever in the "hand out" game. Take a good look at our schools, federal regulations have stymied teachers and administrators to the point that many of them have just given up trying to encourage their students to excel. Programs intended to be a temporary assist have been institutionalized in multi-generational social prisons where escape is nearly impossible.
 
 
In other words, we have regulated initiative and creativity out of our people. If you doubt what I say, I suggest you spend some time with the young people of our country, it is heartbreaking to see the dull eyes and lack of interest among our children as they progress towards adulthood. The days of eager and happy children are gone and we have replaced them with orderly, complacent little automatons who do not "rock the boat".
 
It is nearly too late, in another generation initiative and eager intellectual questing among our young will be history. We have already succeeded in in destroying one group of people among us, the Native Americans, and now we are working on the rest of us. In my own lifetime, I have seen our country go from a vibrant, active culture to a population of near zombies with little initiative or concern about what goes on around us. DON'T ROCK THE BOAT!
 
 
 
Charles Bird
SeaBird

here's a small sample. I'm still working on  with my guitars and mixers I got a neighbor to do the drums for me but it's a work not complete. It's David Gilmours "On the Turning Away"  like I said it's a work in progress I haven't even done the vocals yet.  so for a limited time I'll leave it on you tube. the only way to see it is from this link.  Course I always say I suck even though some people tell me different so It's the best I can do.  Enjoy. I forgot to mention those are all my hounds  
 

it appears I am worthy of that offical wierd title LOL 

My 'Aha' moment was late in life, I was 10 y.o. ...
It was the 4th week of my 5th grade school year. On the Monday of that week my class started going down to the school's small library [down being the right word for the library was in the basement of the school and had only small slit windows high in the north wall that really were at ground level] where to our/my suprice the librarian turned off all the lights then lit two candles and sat down in front of us and started reading J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" by the time that the 45 min. period ended I was hooked.
I spent the rest of that week bugging both of my parents to get me my own copy of the book... to my suprise and complete shock [for I could not ever remember my mom doing such a thing before]... my mom took me that Saturday down town to a small book shop and bought me my very first book that I could call my own [i still have that copy plus three others to this day].
For the rest of that fall I would follow along as the librarian read to us... when the end came for the class I then started to reread the book on my own... by spring break I had reread the book another 4 times... and had become a regular in the library... where I soon found Heinlein and Asimov... those three author in a way woke me up to the world of possiblities that where found in books... From then on I've been a avid reader... to the point I have a love/hate relationship with my local 'City of Books'... too many books... not enough time in life to read them all...
The one gift any person can give a child that will keep on giving for a life time is the love of reading.
 
IMHO

My 'Aha' moment was late in life, I was 10 y.o. ...
It was the 4th week of my 5th grade school year. On the Monday of that week my class started going down to the school's small library [down being the right word for the library was in the basement of the school and had only small slit windows high in the north wall that really were at ground level] where to our/my suprice the librarian turned off all the lights then lit two candles and sat down in front of us and started reading J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" by the time that the 45 min. period ended I was hooked.
I spent the rest of that week bugging both of my parents to get me my own copy of the book... to my suprise and complete shock [for I could not ever remember my mom doing such a thing before]... my mom took me that Saturday down town to a small book shop and bought me my very first book that I could call my own [i still have that copy plus three others to this day].
For the rest of that fall I would follow along as the librarian read to us... when the end came for the class I then started to reread the book on my own... by spring break I had reread the book another 4 times... and had become a regular in the library... where I soon found Heinlein and Asimov... those three author in a way woke me up to the world of possiblities that where found in books... From then on I've been a avid reader... to the point I have a love/hate relationship with my local 'City of Books'... too many books... not enough time in life to read them all...
The one gift any person can give a child that will keep on giving for a life time is the love of reading.
 
IMHO

My 'Aha' moment was late in life, I was 10 y.o. ...
It was the 4th week of my 5th grade school year. On the Monday of that week my class started going down to the school's small library [down being the right word for the library was in the basement of the school and had only small slit windows high in the north wall that really were at ground level] where to our/my suprice the librarian turned off all the lights then lit two candles and sat down in front of us and started reading J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" by the time that the 45 min. period ended I was hooked.
I spent the rest of that week bugging both of my parents to get me my own copy of the book... to my suprise and complete shock [for I could not ever remember my mom doing such a thing before]... my mom took me that Saturday down town to a small book shop and bought me my very first book that I could call my own [i still have that copy plus three others to this day].
For the rest of that fall I would follow along as the librarian read to us... when the end came for the class I then started to reread the book on my own... by spring break I had reread the book another 4 times... and had become a regular in the library... where I soon found Heinlein and Asimov... those three author in a way woke me up to the world of possiblities that where found in books... From then on I've been a avid reader... to the point I have a love/hate relationship with my local 'City of Books'... too many books... not enough time in life to read them all...
The one gift any person can give a child that will keep on giving for a life time is the love of reading.
 
IMHO

Best I can figure out it is the number of posts you make. I just recently became a Duke. Where is my dukedom and is there any financial gain from it is what I want to know? LOL    

LOL so how'd I go from a lowly serf to a knight?   

His Imperial majesty, High Emperor Roland, strides forth upon the grand battlements as the trumpets sing out to the citizenry that a grand announcement is to be heard forthwith.
 
The Castle Herald clears his throat and speaks loudly. "Hear Ye! Hear Ye! His Grand Excellency, the Lord and Protector of The Castle, Emperor Roland, wishes to bestow upon thee, His Devine Wisdom!"
 
The Castle Herald steps back as Emperor Roland Steps forward and looks down lovingly onto his loyal subjects. "People of the Castle! It is with great pleasure that I am here to bestow upon one of our own, a Royal Title. This person has shown great personal character and love of our realm. He has shown on numerous occasions that he is willing to defend the ideals that are the very bedrocks of our great wall. At this time, I would ask that Jamie13 please come forward to receive your reward."
 
Jamie13, nervously approaches, after getting a bit of a nudge from Resident Author Tigerpaw. When he comes before Lord Roland, he drops to a knee in awe and reverence. "Jamie13! I have heard numerous tails of your dedication, and heroic deeds insofar as your NUMEROUS posts within the Castle Roland Forums. With this in mind, I have decided to bestow upon thee a rank of peerage within the Realm." Lord Roland Draws his sword, the grand symbol of his authority. The long plastic blade sings out with a grand whooosh. As he touches the blade to Jamie's shoulder, Emperor Roland calls out to he crowd. "You kneel before me Jamie 13. You shall rise, Sir Jamie13, Knight of the Realm, Guardian of the sewers, Commander of the Vermin Army, Conjurer Of the Odiferous Fumes, Inspector of the Privies."
 

http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/mphg-peasants.png
 
 
Oh king, eh, very nice. An' how'd you get that, eh? By exploitin' the workers -- by 'angin' on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic an' social differences in our society!

Well see.. it's like this.
 
WE hold classes once a month with the other authors.  the classes are taught by the resident evil author and master of misdirection.  When i showed him this one, he told me i got a 6 out of 10 for it, and that i should really work harder to hone my craft.  I am sorry for letting my instructor and the readers down, but i promise i will try much harder next time. 

Welcome to "Forever"!
 
It is an honor to have my work appear on this wonderful site, surrounded by the work of so many excellent writers. I can only hope that the time you invest in reading Forever will be time you are thrilled to have spent with Jack, the main character in the story. 
 
Speaking of Jack, you may notice that my name is his name and his name is my name. The first people to read this story picked up on that right away and immediately assumed I was writing an autobiographical tale. Not true - exactly. As a first time writer with no experience and no one to discuss the process with, I decided on two things: 1) write in first person perspective (because someone said somewhere that it was easier to do), and 2) name the main character my name so I could relate better to him. What I didn't realize fully in the beginning was that by doing this, I would interject much more of me, author Jack, into the story than I had intended. But the end results were beyond better than I had hoped, so I stuck with it.
 
So while this is NOT my story, per se, I am story Jack in so far as he has my personality, my point of view on things, my questionable sense of humor, and some aspects of my life history. As the story progresses, I'll drop in here and post from time to time pointing out aspects of the story which are the real me, and those that are pure fiction, if there is interest in such things. Otherwise, "Forever" is primarily a love story, a romantic adventure of two young men who discover what it means to have hope again and to love and be loved in return. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy creating it.
 
I read and respond to all feedback, whether here in the forum or in private email, so don't hold back. Readers' comments are the life blood for an author, I have discovered, and I am no exception. And who knows - as this story is a work in progress, your ideas may find their way into the story someday (it's happened before...grin).
 
Finally, I'd like to give a shout out to Mark C., a fellow member of the Castle Roland realm and main editor to this story. Not to mention he is my very good friend. We met when he offered to help me polish this story, and I graciously accepted his excellent and faithful assistance. I had no idea I would gain a great friend in the bargain. Thank you, Mark, for making this work so much more than I ever thought it could be. Seriously folks, if you're looking for a first-class editor, Mark would be a great asset to any author's work.
 
Jack