My name is CS Cage. Further detail as to who I am is irrelevant. Truly understanding my words will require you to judge them not by who I am, but by who you are. In this age where everything is suspect, and news outlets biased, without knowing who I am, I am leaving you free to weigh my thoughts and truths solely against your own values and feelings. Others have suggested that my words need to be read. I was, at first reticent and only wrote to put my thoughts on paper. I have thought to myself occasionally, that our country’s fall from its former heights of values has reached an unstoppable rate of decline. Even if our society slammed on the brakes, moral inertia would still have long since extinguished the light from what should have been a lighthouse, a beacon, to the world guiding them to an example of a free and truly wonderful people.
I considered moving, leaving for some place, smaller and insignificant to the world powers to live in peace and quiet, but I really do love my country. I love its history and its pride. I love its purpose, determination, and its inventiveness. Most of all, however, I love its freedom. I love the First Amendment. I love a society that not only rejects censorship, but recoils from it. So, in part thanks to Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I have decided to share my thoughts. I have decided that like Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and Benjamin Franklin before me, it is not enough to think and harbor concerns, but that these must be voiced, heard, and above all else, discussed.
There are many problems in our country. Much of this comes from selfishness, greed, and a lack of consideration in our behaviors. Some of it comes from distrust, fear, and panicked first responses. I cannot change any of it. Let me say that again. I cannot change or fix the problems facing us today. Only you have that power. The colonies did not break from England because Thomas Paine wrote “Common Sense”, nor because Patrick Henry declared, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”, nor even over the many essays and pamphlets written by Benjamin Franklin. These actions sparked discussions, the sacred exchange of ideas between two or more people, and that is what brought about our independence.
You see only we have the ability to change our own views and offer them to others for consideration. That is the very essence of a dialectic. That is a very specific word that means an exchange of ideas. It is specific because it presupposes respect and civility while rejecting anger and offense. It includes the understanding that when all is said and done, we do not have to result in an agreement or even a compromise. It means that the importance is in the journey, the discussion, the exchange of ideas, not in the destination.
With that in mind, I would like to invite you to join my dialectic as I take the time that has been granted to me to consider, to contemplate, and to compose essays from my unique viewpoint. If you like what I say or even if all it did was make you pause and reflect, even if you disagree with my conclusions, please honor any goal of promoting discussion by passing on and sharing my words with others. Thank you, welcome, and please enjoy my Dialectic Window.
CS Cage