Mightier Than the Sword

"To hold a pen is to be at war"

Voltaire (Francois-Maire Arouet) to

Mme d'Angental, October 4, 1748

Yes, and I am at war with myself. Who isn't? To be human is to be in conflict. Good vs Evil, Life vs Death, Love vs Hate, Male vs Female, Right vs Left, Knowledge vs Ignorance, Existence vs Essence.... no one is spared... Priests, Pimps, Prisoners, Prostitutes, Politicians, Professors, Partisans, Patriots... everyday is jihad.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words do permanent damage." according to shock jock radio host Barry Champlain in Oliver Stone's Talk Radio. 234 years ago Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, a 48 page pamphlet that gave birth to the American Revolution. It was published anonymously, the author, simply an Englishman. 75 years later Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto which sowed the seeds for the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 even though he had been dead and buried for 34 years. Did Paine or Marx have any idea that their writings would shape the world of the 20th century? Probably not. They were both outsiders to the revolutions they fostered. At times both men lived in various forms of exile and poverty and both men died in obscurity.

If Paine or Marx were alive today how would they reach the people? There was a time when publishing was about getting the work into the hands of people even if it had to be given away but in today's world publishing answers to the bottom line. Would they have become bloggers? Is it possible to start a revolution in this format? Being the newb that I am, I think it is. I'm not at all saying I am anywhere near being a revolutionary writer in the league of Paine and Marx or even in the league of writers for the National Enquirer. I'm just another dude out there with a blog...but I intend to inflict some damage. I intend to "not go gentle into that good night" and to "rage, rage, against the dying of the light" (borrowed from Dylan Thomas).

I'm taking a big bite and I may very well choke on it but nobody ever said it was going to be easy. I need to find my legs so I will start with that eternal question of questions, "Who am I?" We all have many labels but what is our true identity? Think about it.