On Another Earth - The Coming Times

The Coming Times

On Another Earth

I see a military leader and somehow he looks ridiculous

For he is barking orders and striding around

And no one, not a single person is paying him any attention

And the spit is coming out of his mouth

He does not seem to notice or care that no one is following him

He is leading a charge into battle

He is consumed with this task

He is engrossed with this his task

It does not occur to him to realize that no one is following him

He is doing his part

He is not concerned whether are others are doing theirs or not

And so he leads

And no one follows

No, not a single one

And this disturbs him not

For he notices not

His task, his role consumes him

He lives in his own self-created world this man

And he is a great general leading a major offensive against the enemy

I don’t know if he knows who the enemy is

It matters not

His offensive is what matters

He has his strategy all laid out

He has gone over it in his head a million times

The strategy is brilliant; it is perfect

If perfectly executed, it is sure to succeed

He can hardly wait!

And so he goes issuing the orders

That specify the different parts of the strategy

And he issues a certain set of orders to this part of his battalion

And another set of orders to another part

For they have a different role to play

Yes his plan is multi-pronged; it is complex

And is bound to confuse and confound the enemy

He is excited the man is

He is having so much fun!

Who is as brilliant as he!

What wonders and glory he will accrue!

Why he will be a hero!

And off he goes to the

third

battalion

To give them their set of orders

He is careful to not let the different groups know of each others’ orders

For secrecy is of utmost concern

He is the concertmaster

Each will play their part as he directs them

And the whole thing will come together beautifully

Well orchestrated

With a glorious and dramatic finale!

Oh yes! It will be glorious!

The body count will be high of course

For what glorious battle was ever won without a high body count

Yes that is part of the game

The necessary pain

A small sacrifice indeed to make for such glorious achievement

And the man continues to bombast and strut around

He is happy he is

Happy he is in his own world

As he continues the execution of his battle plans

He is feverish with excitement

He consults with others

And yes there are others

I am seeing other older men who consult with him

They take themselves most seriously

They listen most attentively to this man

And yes, they see he is brilliant

Possibly insane, but brilliant nonetheless

Why had they not thought of such a plan

Why it is sheer genius!

And they are envious

How could a lunatic such as he come up with a greater plan

Than they were ever able to devise

It rankled yes it rankled

And they broke rank

The men split off into various groups and sub groups

Each one determined to come up with a plan that would rival

And yes best the man’s plan

For they were jealous

They wanted the glory!

Why leave his name for the history books

They wanted their names known to posterity

And so off they went

Each group and subgroup went off to their own corner of the world

And ruminated and strategized

And while none came up with a plan that was as brilliant

As the original man’s plan

They did come up with some quite clever plans indeed

Yes they were quite pleased with their own versions of their plans

And some of them were proud that their plan would result

In a lower body count

And some of them took secret pride that their plan would result

In a higher body count

For they knew which of the two, the history books would note

And so it went

These men, and yes, they were mostly older men

Competed as it were

Each one claiming to have the best plan

And they would actually compare and contrast each other’s plan

To see which one was most effective

And they began to have contests these men did

For these men were not insane

These men knew quite well that no one would follow them

People were just no fun anymore

And did not want to play in their delicious games anymore

No matter

They still got to play their part

No one would deprive them of their pleasure

No, no one

And so the men kept on

Into their tottering old age they kept on

And the people around them looked upon them and allowed them to be

They were harmless after all

They were allowed to strategize and to plan and to scheme

To their hearts’ content

Yes they were allowed

There was no harm in allowing them to do so

They even allowed the

first

man, the insane one

Who shouted out his orders to one and all

Not realizing that no one was listening

Not realizing that no one was hearing

Not realizing that no, not a single person, was following his lead

Yes they even allowed for this man

For again he was harmless

For the people of this world

Had long ago made a quite startling discovery

The had discovered that they could ignore such men

And nothing would happen

Absolutely nothing!

It was quite amazing actually

One just ignored them

The way one ignores old women who feed the pigeons at the plazas

It was as easy as that!

Who would have thought it!

And so the people of this world

Gradually implemented their newfound discovery

It was hard at

first

It was hard to believe that all that bombast had absolutely no power

Why no power at all

It was exciting to discover that the power was all in the hands

Of each and every single individual

Yea each was free to do as he pleased

And if he chose to not follow this bombastic man to his own death

To the death of others

He was left to this his choice

And the people of this world increasingly so chose

Individual after individual after individual

Chose to not follow these so-called generals

The generals kept on being generals

For they did enjoy it so!

But the individuals of this world chose to go about their own lives

Marrying and creating families and building cities

And making music and doing all sorts of things

But no, they did not follow these generals

And no, they did not kill each other

And no, they did not die for these generals

No they did not

They chose not to

And there was not a thing the generals could do about it

No, not a single thing