At Odds

I wanted to write a little bit about myself today, and about the nature of conflict. No matter the issue, its importance or relevance, or even the context, I just seem to have a contentious nature. Perhaps it is a result of my being so devoted to Ares. Maybe the fact that I'm a Scorpio, a sign I've often seen associated with Ares, at least in passing. Maybe I'm just a jerk; I can't be certain.

I had an interesting discussion/heated debate with my religion teacher recently about the nature of man. I contended that the nature of man was conflict, whereas she felt the nature of man is harmonious. We then watched part of the film 'The Gods Must be Crazy', which follows the actions of a tribe Central African bushmen in the Kalahari desert. The band of 15 or so bushmen gets along astronomically well, have no concept of ownership, and enjoy unlimited resources. The nature of their existence seems to validate my professor's hypothesis. Then came the wrench - a singular, non-renewable resource is  discovered -- an empty glass Coke bottle. Now, these people have never experienced a substance harder or more durable than bone, as there are no naturally occurring rock formations in range fo their territory. They quickly find many uses for the bottle, from music to tanning leather. The problem of only having one bottle quickly causes strife as the tribe experiences jealousy, shame, theft, and internal violence for the first time. This might be seen as leaning towards my hypothesis of man as a being in conflict.

Now, let's bring this back to Ares. Ares in the ancient world was probably the least-loved god of them all. Ares embodied conflict, from the noble to the spiteful. Conflict didn't sit well with people, and definitely does not today. I've heard more than a few people declare that "violence solves nothing". I can't help think that this sentiment is not only factually incorrect, but morally dangerous. Imagine for a second if human beings had never discovered or experienced conflict. Not only would we live in a bland, culturally stunted society, but I don't think we'd ever be entertained. Conflict doesn't just spice up politics; think of your favorite books, television shows, and even music. The whole sum progress of the human experience is derived by conflict against nature, against ideas, and against each other. Ares can teach us that this is a good thing. Unfortunately, modern Western culture has taught us that conflict is to be avoided. Ares drives home the idea that without conflict, even a little violence, life can not be just, nor can it be fully enjoyed or experienced.

Please don't take this as a blanket condonement of violence and general ass-hattery. There is a time and place for everything. Even Ares tones it down once in a while (like his daughter's wedding). You can't just take things sitting down, either. When a pair of giants trapped ares in a bronze jar just to mess with him, he was rightfully ticked off. Following the rape of his daughter, Ares killed a son of Poseidon as recompense, and was acquitted of wrong-doing by a tribunal fo the Gods. Don't be a wet noodle- stand up for yourself, because in reality, no one else will, not entirely.

Now I don't know about you, but I'm going to keep promoting a healthy dose of conflict and controversy. I'm going to do my best to keep it sincere, too, because although I deeply value sarcasm and satire as vehicles of truth, I want to follow the example of my god in being unambiguous and forthright, even if it makes me more enemies than friends.

Been a While

So it's been a while since I last posted. I apologize. Life has a way of getting busy fast. Unfortunately, that's not much of an excuse; not writing has been as much a product of my laziness as lack of time, if not more so. I guess I'll cover some of the time I've missed below.

Since my last entry, a lot has happened, most notably, Veteran's Day. As I'm sure 99% of you are aware, Veteran's Day (also known as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day outside the US) marks the day WWI ended for all intents and purposes. Being a recently separated vet, I'm not really sure how to take Veteran's Day. While many people will go off thanking me for my service, I don't really my service as a sacrifice, not like others have had to pay.

For instance, my war was fought from afar. The other day I was at the VA hospital in Ann Arbor, and as I was waiting for my ride to show up, an elderly black gentleman sat down on the couch next to me. He had a hat with the words WWII Veteran across the brim, the whole thing ringed in miniature medals, including what I'm pretty sure was the POW medal. He was speaking to one of the employees about how his traipse across Europe, from the beach at Normandy to occupying Berlin. He talked about having rancid food for Christmas dinner in the Ardennes, but it's what he didn't talk about that made me think. Being black, he probably served in a segregated unit, and was often assigned the most dangerous missions, because white soldiers were considered more valuable. When he came home, he probably wasn't treated as the returning hero he was. It's men like that that make me uncomfortable to be thanked on Veteran's Day, because I'll never have it that hard.

On the other side of things, I've been closely following the Occupy movement, writing about it for my classes, and debating about the issues all over campus for all who want to. I'll let you keep your own opinion and I'll keep mine, at least for another post later on. I'm sure either way it will turn out, Ares will smile with glee at the strife of it all.

Oh, and for those of you in Hellenion, I do hope you enjoyed Ares' Libation this month. I've been debating joining Hellenion for a little while, but as I only know folks there through the internet, I don't really know if joining yet another organization would be beneficial for either party. I mean, seeing as I haven't been keeping to my commitments here well, I can't imagine I'd do much better there. I am already a (bad) member of Neokoroi, and haven't done much there, except one entry to He Epistole, due out in the Winter issue.

Oh, as a final note, I'm sorry I never got those survey results out. With only 21 responses, I didn't feel I could make any accurate judgments about the data. I wish I could have had more data, or that the data were more easily used. Unfortunately, I think I was too lenient with how I allowed people to answer the questions, and that led to a lot of answers which I would have had to throw out. I would just publish the answers sans identification data, but I'd consider that highly irregular, as I'm sure the respondents would as well. Maybe if Ares worship picks up, I can eventually get enough responses to do something. Til then, we'll just have to wait.

Anyway, I hope you all aren't too disappointed that you've had to wait this long to see anything from me. Gods willing, I can find some time to get off my ass and continue writing. Until then, Hail Ares!