A Whisper in the Wind
Before there was America, there was darkness and before darkness, there was Rome. Imagine a people in an era where strength was entirely decided by how well you could fight, defend yourself and recover from loss. That alone is a tall task, but it becomes even harder when you realized that the only way you will be able to continuously fight, defend yourself and recover from loss, is if you have superior logistics, tactics, agriculture production, government, engineering and a people who bought into the mission of your state. Rome did all of this for 2,000 consecutive years and across the millennia its face and even location would change, but never the idea of aspiring to greatness set by past Romans.
However, that is not to say that there were not immense hurdles to jump. These hurdles were similar to the one that the United States had to jump on 1/6/21. On that God forsaken day, the US Capitol was stormed by insurrectionist who reduced themselves to a state of being primitive. These heinous rebels did all of this in the name of Donald Trump under the justification that he alone was the solution for what is wrong in this country. On this note, I will travel back to the late 2nd century BC. The Roman Republic had suffered a series of devastating setbacks to enemies from Central Europe. Tens of thousands of Roman lives had been lost in these defeats to invaders and the nation was reeling but coming to save them was a man by the name of Gaius Marius, a man so great he earned the title “the Third Founder of Rome”. (That is probably the best nickname I have ever heard) Marius instituted new reforms to the Roman legions, encouraged civic duty in the nation and raised morale throughout the Republic. In Rome there was a sacred law that no person could serve as Consul (which is the equivalent of President in today’s terms) for more than one term. However, due to the great damage that the invaders of the north did to Rome’s psyche, the people elected Marius seven times in a row. The ultimate defender of Rome helped bring its downfall, because what this did was to forge the attitude that one man could lead Rome and that he would know what was best for all its people.
After Marius, came Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a man that believed he alone knew best. Sulla humbled Rome by marching an army on its capitol, all so he could remain in power. Sound familiar? Sulla realized he hurt Rome and after this, he tried for the rest of his life to correct his one great mistake and he set forth institutions and processes to try to stop one man from ever having that much power ever again. That obviously did not work because just four decades later, the most famous man who ever lived, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and conquered Rome. Caesar became dictator and he set up for Octavius Augustus, his heir to become the first Emperor of Rome. All of this happened within 60 years. That should be mind boggling because that is all the time it takes for greatness to fall.
I am not saying that America will be like the Roman Republic, but I am saying that we are undertaking in behavior that is definitely reminiscent of the Roman Republic. One must wonder if our time is ticking down and not up. The United States is more than just a birthplace for its citizens. It is like a whisper; and a whisper is precious. A whisper is something you say only to yourself or when you tell your closest friend something in confidence. You wish to protect a whisper because you fear that if you say it too loudly, it may vanish and what you guarded so fiercely may never belong to you again. That is what the United States represents to the rest of the world. This nation is a whisper since all people want their nation to be regarded by others as something precious and worth defending to the bitter end. It is a high privilege to be regarded as a whisper, but it is a burden in itself, because so much suffering can follow if this privilege is wasted.
At this moment in time, the United States is undergoing a state of change. Whether this is positive or negative for the world as a whole remains to be seen. Do we recluse ourselves into a position where integrity and the pursuit of a better tomorrow for all is thrown to the wind for the sake of a single individual? Or do we remind ourselves the value of a whisper and why it above all other things, must be protected? This is a question that will soon have an answer. All forecasts, predictions and assumptions made by experts on the future should be set aside. They no longer are worth anything because everything has changed. What we thought could never happen has occurred and what we have longed believed could never be changed, is being assaulted. Rome made its peace with the world long ago, and while it was a great memory for history and may have been the height of human accomplishment, it is just that, a mere memory. This American experiment is still very much in progress and our peace has not yet been settled.
1/20/21
