A Change in Philosophies

 

To say that the past year or so has been an eventful one would be the understatement of the year.  It has certainly been an educational one - for me, anyway - and that education has resulted in a few changes in me, my personality, and how I choose to interact with others.  And I wish I could say that these changes have all been for the better, but that would be a lie.  Not all of them have been bad, but not all of them have been good, either.  

The good changes first.

I found myself and, more importantly, I found my self-worth.  I discovered that you don't have to be a part of a group in order to have self-worth, and the opinions of others don't mean a fuckin' thing.

I take actions to protect myself both physically and emotionally, with one of those actions being to severely limit the number of people I let into my intentionally small circle of friends.  "Friend" is a word I've never used lightly to begin with, but I use it even less now.  As for "brother," well, that's a word I never used until I got involved in Freemasonry, and after those so-called "brothers" in the Masonic lodge turned on me last year I hardly ever use it now.  There are only five men that I now call "brother," and I'm okay with that.   

Now for the bad changes, "bad" being a relative term.

The big thing that's changed about me is how I treat other people.  I was always taught to treat others as I would have them treat me, first by my parents (specifically my father who was a Mason) and then by the teachings of Freemasonry (which is where my father got it from).  

Once I got involved in Freemasonry I started doing something that I never did before.  Before I became a Mason if you treated me badly, I returned that treatment to you.  Once I took my obligations and learned the teachings that my father had learned I stopped doing that.  If you treated me badly I didn't return that treatment back to you; no, I turned the other cheek and treated you with respect and kindness.

Those days are over now.  My treatment at the hands of my former Masonic "brothers" has shown me the hypocrisy of that group, and I now no longer wish to be associated with either it or them.  I've reverted back to my old ways of treating others exactly how they treat me, but with a big difference.

Treat me badly and I'm gonna give it back to you twice as badly as you gave it to me.

If that sounds mean or vindictive, I can't help that.  Part of finding my self-worth was realizing that NO ONE had the right to trample on me or treat me badly, and my former lodge "brothers" taught me that treating those who had done me wrong with kindness was a fool's errand and would only encourage them to do it again.

Treat me badly now and I'll make damned sure you never entertain the thoughts of doing it to me ever again.

Am I bitter?  Hell, yes, I'm bitter.  I devoted more than 11 years of my life to Freemasonry and the Masonic lodge, and all it got me was insulted, abused, taken advantage of, and ostracized.  Do I blame Freemasonry?  No.  I still believe in the teachings of the Craft, and I always will.  I blame the PEOPLE, the "brothers," who ignored their obligations and treated me badly.  

Let me be clear about one thing:  I treat EVERYONE with kindness and respect, whether I know you or not.  Treat me the same way and we'll get along fine.  I would much rather make friends than enemies, that's for sure, and I certainly don't go around looking for trouble.

But treat me badly, and all bets are off. 

As Walter Cronkite used to say, "and that's the way it is."  Like it or not.

Deo Vindice

IHC  

 

 

Why I Fly the Battle Flag

 

And that's pretty much the answer to the question as stated in the title of this blog entry.  I fly the Confederate Battle Flag - and the First National 'Stars and Bars' flag - for the same reason, that reason being PRIDE.  

 

I realize that this is a concept that non-Southerners (meaning Yankees) either can't or refuse to understand, that concept being that I'm proud of the South and of being a Southerner. And whenever I tell people that, if they're a Yankee they'll immediately say the same thing that every ignorant (ignorant as in uninformed, not stupid) Yankee always says at this point:  "How can you be proud of a government that defended slavery?"

 

Well, it's like this - I'm not.  I'm not proud of the Confederate government at all, nor am I proud of the fact that seven of the eleven seceding states (South Carolina being among them) specifically cited the preservation of slavery as one of the reasons, if not the main reason, for secession.  But neither am I proud of the fact that the UNITED STATES government failed to outlaw slavery at the formation of our country, and then did nothing about it for EIGHTY FIVE YEARS.  And even then, they did nothing about it until the Confederacy forced their hand with secession.  So if you want to talk about not being proud of something, let's talk about how the United States not only condoned slavery but made money off of it until 1861.  (And then we'll talk about how the Yankees treated the Irish during the same time period as they were fighting to free the slaves, followed by how the US government treated the American Indian tribes.  THAT is gonna be an interesting conversation!)

 

When a non-Southerner sees the Battle Flag the first thing they think is, "Oh, that person must be a racist!"  You can thank the KKK for that - them, and the liberal media that propagated the idea that everyone who flew the flag was a Klansman and therefore a racist.  The truth is that only a small percentage of Southerners are Klansmen these days, and most of the people who fly the Battle Flag fly it because they're proud of their Southern heritage.

 

What heritage, you ask?  Simple - the heritage of doing what's right, standing up for what's right, and fighting to defend your family, friends, and land.  THAT is why the majority of Southern men fought - not to preserve slavery, but to defend their homes.  And you have to keep in mind that in those days, "home" meant your state and/or your land, not necessarily just your house.  You also have to keep in mind that in the 1860's people had a much higher sense of loyalty to their state than they did the still-new Republic.  This is why Robert E. Lee turned down command of the Union forces in early 1861 - he knew that Lincoln was raising an army to invade the South, and he refused to be a part of it.  The South was his home, and he was going to defend it.  

 

From "Battle Cry of  Freedom: The Civil War Era" by James M. McPherson:  "A Confederate soldier captured early in the war put it more simply. His tattered homespun uniform and even more homespun speech made it clear that he was not a member of the planter class. His captors asked why he, a nonslaveholder, was fighting to uphold slavery. He replied: 'I'm fighting because you're down here.' " 

 

And that's why the average Confederate soldier was fighting.  I have three ancestors who fought for the Confederacy, and none of them were slaveholders.  One of them was a farmer, and I'm not real sure what the other two did for an occupation, but I do know that none of them owned slaves.  They fought to defend their families, their homes, and their states; they fought against overwhelming odds from the outset, knowing that they would probably lose, but they fought anyway because it was the right thing to do.

 

That is why I fly the Battle Flag - to honor them and show my pride in both them and the South in general.

 

And if you can't understand that, then I can't help you.

 

Deo Vindice

IHC