The American Frank

I, Specimen.

I, Specimen.

I, the hangman of Saddam Hussein, the one who would be king of kings of Iraq. Iraq – Mesopotamia – the world’s first civilization. He would not be hooded, so he was not; he would be an eyewitness to his own execution, so he was. I circled his neck with the hangman’s noose, and in the next instant, I activated the gallows, and he went from here to eternity. Iraq would not be the world’s last civilization.

We shall not forget. Whatever Saddam Hussein’s crimes were, they were not against his own people, but against humanity, human life. We shall remember his vision for his country was limited by lust for power that brought privilege beyond responsibility, the symptom of an unwell mind. We shall record he wanted to harness nuclear energy as it represented ultimate power. We shall put in writing his art was without heart. We shall recall at the height of his best, what we saw was Saddam Hussein descending to the level of Saddam Hussein at his worst. We shall etch on stone he succeeded mightily at becoming a gargantuan failure.

2007. We shall go on and memorialize we ourselves are equally greatly guilty; we shall remind ourselves not to throw the first stone as we ourselves have been waging wars against humanity, and their number is legion:

Our war for quantity with the personal computer, by which we ignore quality of life.

Our war for equity, which we think can be won with justice.

Our private wars of prejudice, some we are not conscious of.

Our war of error in the name of knowledge – the race to the moon, the race to Mars, the race to the edge of the universe and sanity – we shall recount that it is so much money spent on the rich.

Our war on ignorance using the IQ (intelligence quotient), measuring only critical thinking, instead of using the EQ (enlightenment quotient), measuring also creative thinking, which we forget; measuring also the spiritual, which we ignore.

Our war on Faith, which we call Reason. We shall try to forget Yankees have had the ludicrous position of rejecting the very moral spirit of their own Declaration of Independence announced to the world on 4 July 1776 saying in part, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.’ We shall recite to them all those inalienable rights were derived from their Creator, which they acknowledge in one of the greatest documents of history. We shall gently urge them, having declared their independence from the British Empire, not to declare their independence from God, not to declare God has nothing to do with Government.

2007. We shall learn to live a life of paradox. We shall look at the glass, clearly, and inquire:

Who is to gain if we pain for the true, the good, the beautiful?
Who is to receive if we give love?
Who is to be healed if we forgive and forget?
Who is to be comforted if we apply mercy?
Who is to be enriched if we give generously?
Who is to be encouraged if we point in the direction of hope?
Who is to be strengthened if we advocate for others?
Who is to be rewarded if we sacrifice for the disadvantaged?
Who is to be magnified if we think highly of others lower than ourselves?
Who is to be persecuted if we revile people?
Who is to be impoverished if we steal?
Who is to be Caesared if we play the role of Brutus?
Who is to be Hiroshimaed if we play with nuclear fire?

We.

Ultimately, we is i. The naked i.

Copyright by Frank A Hilario 31 December 2006. (Image of the statue of Michelangelo’s David, slingshot over the shoulder, considering whether or not to confront Goliath. From all-things-photography.com/.)