Apuleius Books

TROY

Jeff had taught classics before the war and could recite poems by Horace and Virgil from memory either in English or as easily in the original Latin. When he’d read to his class from the Iliad he’d been proud that he was passing on to another generation the same joy of discovery which he himself had felt. Now he was on the shore of the Dardanelles just a bit of water and a short march from Homer’s Troy.

He had been told in training not to fear the sound of incoming artillery fire. “You won’t hear the one that gets you,” he’d been told. The sergeant who told him that had been right. He had not heard the shell nor had he felt an instant hurt when his leg was blown off. He did know he’d been wounded. He had felt the pressure wave that knocked him on his ass and seen the comrade who wrapped his stub in a shirt to hide it from him. He hoped that the wound would end the war for him.

The barrage continued but Jeff was deaf to it for his eardrums had been pierced. He hardly knew or cared who the others around him were or what they were doing. He felt the impact of boots when someone ran past his head, but it didn’t matter. Nor did it matter that the sky was no longer blue and the air was full of dirt and scrap. Jeff’s eyes were rolling and his mind was somewhere far away or thinking of nothing at all.

Homer. The Iliad. So many brave warriors dying without the Christian belief in an afterlife. All had been brave in battle, then they too had lay wounded and facing their end. Like them he knew that it was useless to pray but like a child he was doing so. Oh my God I am heartily sorry…. He was dying a Homeric coward, pleading to be blessed with a Christian afterlife that he had not really believed in since childhood. Now he understood Homer as he had never before. Nothing mattered. Even family honor no longer mattered. Nothing had ever mattered and “darkness descended on his eyes.”

Kevin McCarthy October 11, 2015

Kevin McCarthy had to withdraw from seeking the house speaker post. His unthinking revelation of how purely political the Benghazi inquiry was has taken from his GOP the issue that they planned to never let up on no matter how often Hilary Clinton was absolved of responsibility. Unfortunately it has become the norm in politics (actually it always was) to hammer at an old hat point no matter how often it is debunked or how silly or irrelevant it is. If this turns out to not be an issue based campaign it will not be because there aren’t issues but because for political consultants a slander is easier for a dyed in the wool Republican (or Democrat) to hold onto to defend his choice then is considering real issues. The fact is that few people vote the way they do because of issues. It is much more primal than that. But they can hold onto such debunked stuff as an excuse to feel the way they do.

The arms industry though its mouthpiece the NRA continues to fiercely fight minor (and useless)_ legislation like background checks so that when it has to give in on these it will be able to say that it has done its part. There will be no meaningful limitation on the number of unnecessary pistols and assault type weapons in the USA. That’s business. There will be no elimination of gun shows (Guns are tools not toys.) The sad fact is that too many folk in the west and Midwest don’t give a damn how many people in cities die freon crime, gun accidents or just being in the way during a shootout. Yet they claim to be Christians. Hunters, ranchers, and farmers need a 30/30 rifle and a couple of shotguns. Some others (cab drivers for example) need a handgun but a .22 cal 2-shot derringer type weapon is sufficient for that while not being a weapon that one would try to commit a crime with. I don’t accept it when people in other lands use the excuse that “It’s our culture” and I don’t accept it here. The 2nd amendment is not an unrestricted gift from God. Change. Yes it would take time and for a while “only criminals would have guns” but in time most would be confiscated or rust away (like WW II souvenirs weapons.) Meanwhile, crime is what cops are for, not armed civilians untrained in police work and the law.