Life Between 0 and 1

As we approach Thanksgiving in the United States, I’m left thinking about all the service men and women that won’t be home to spend time with their families. Our country is on the precipice, a fork in the road, of deciding whether we’re going to be a positive force in the defense of Freedom or be a negative force in the oppression of those that threaten that Freedom. They are polar opposite actions and one has dire consequences that I don’t think most Americans are prepared to handle let alone process.

I’m reminded, again, of a poem that had a fundamental impact on me after reading it the first time. It is an amazing piece that evokes the stong emotional response to what death means. The poem, written by Dylan Thomas, is generally known to have been written for his father. Some of the lines in the poem, now that I’ve read it again, can be used to describe the United States.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

“Old age should burn and rave at close of day”, our country is 240 years old.

“Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright”, all the men and women that died for our freedoms.

“Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight”, the attacks on 9/11, ISIS.

It is worth reading the entire poem and deciding for yourself who or what it can be about. My interpretation of this poem is in the form of a warning to us, the people of this country. We have an opportunity, a choice, to change the direction of our country so we don’t go gently into that good night and rage, rage against the dying of the light that is the United States of America.