“The pen is mightier than the sword.” My perception and insights to this quote follow. ‘The sword is only a tool of power to the man who holds it. The empowerment of the tool can only be implemented as long as the individual has the strength to wield it.’ The old phrase, “A man who lives by the sword, dies by the sword,” is soundly noted and appreciated. Within the history of the world we have had men who have been called ‘great conquerors’, they lived, ruled and many times as not, died by the sword
The pen on the other hand, has forged Nations, has given us the ‘knowledge and wisdom’ to survive life and time as a civilization. It has brought the ‘whole of the people’ within the history of the world the ‘answers’ and ‘strength’ to survive life’s struggles, trials and tribulations.
Mankind since the creation of our presence here on earth, has always had an inbred necessity to be challenged. Those who were physically or mentally depraved, often perished or failed in life, unless another member of society took up the challenge to be responsible for the survival of said person.
Life today is chaotic and some what crazy, almost pathetic for those of us who love and respect life for both its weaknesses and strengths. Life is like a pyramid. Today those in life’s capstone are on a constant diligent search for what those in the base possess within their character. Those within the base of life are insistently in pursuit of what those in the capstone have in their closets.
For those within the base of the pyramid, the impoverished, disenfranchised, oppressed and suppressed , our purpose within life has been revealed to us many times over since the beginning of time. We are the strength which supports eternal life here on earth. Our strength has often been suppressed and oppressed through mental conditioning, instilling inferior complexities that deter and hinder our advancement within life’s pyramid. Those within the capstone are forced to reign more and more by the Sword, lacking the character which they seek in the base. They continually embrace materialism.
The greatest power that we possess as a ‘whole’ in the base is within our character. While the power that those in the capstone cherish is in their closets. I give to you the following analogy: In the great stock crash of 29 and the ‘Great Depression’, the following should be taken within the wisdom of all. Those within life’s capstone, who saw their lives come tumbling down around them that day, it was too much for them to bare within their character. Many jumped from buildings, out windows or pulled a trigger. You didn’t see that being done within the base of life. We ate less, stood in soup lines, slept outside…for those from the south who felt that the men to the North had freed them and became servants in their homes. I want it known that many men and women of color, not only took reductions in pay because they knew their employer didn’t have the strength to survive alone. But often, they lived right in the house and took no pay whatsoever. They had compassion for the man with little strength and displayed more humanitarian efforts and traits than those within the capstone themselves. That’s right, if it was not for the strength within our character, our compassion and passion for life itself, there would be no capstone. Such events as these have occurred throughout the history of mankind. I have noted it as far back as Roman times.
The greatest power that we in the base possess that those within the capstone seek and envy is within our character and its traits. We have an inbred ability and talent to change and adapt, to bob and weave. Note taken, you may take a man from the base, a self-righteous, meek and humble individual and place him within life’s capstone and he will prevail. But if you take an individual within life’s capstone and place him within the base with his closets empty, he will perish unless individuals within the base pick up the challenge and help him to survive. There were not people within the base taking their lives in 1929, there were not individuals within life’s base taking their lives when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox . But there were individuals within the capstone who succumbed to the weaknesses within their character.
With this knowledge and wisdom within life’s capstone of the strength within the base of life’s pyramid, there has always been suppression and oppression within surviving life. There has always been slavery. This has been accomplished by restricting the flow and distribution of knowledge and wisdom for those in the base. Our options for a higher education and advancement lack not only diversity, but the level of quality. The need of those who wield the sword and seek a lifetime for our character, to suppress and oppress the mental frame work of those in the base.
Throughout the history of past and present civilizations, there has always been some form of slavery and imprisonment. I don’t believe it has ever been about color, race or creed, but more so, ignorance and weaknesses possessed by those in the capstone. To further the depth of this insight and revelation, I will reveal a fact of our own slavery here in the United States . During the days of slavery throughout our budding Nation. Those who possessed slaves had no conception of the strengths within their characters in the base. They whipped, abused, starved, isolated, raped and preyed upon the mentality of slaves. They sold off their seeds from the loins of their women. They sold off the men within families thinking that they would weaken the nucleus of the Black family. Despite all of these Swords that the slaves suffered from within life, every day when they went to the fields, the smoke houses, the main plantation houses, they all did one thing. They sang their praises to life. This irritated those who possessed them to no end, not comprehending why individuals praised life, when if the shoe was on the other foot, they themselves would not be singing praise or surviving. No matter what type of Sword they created, they could not break their spirit and will.
With this knowledge and wisdom in hand, let us apply it to the ‘life’ and ‘struggle’ today. For those of you who have sought me out in search of knowledge in the stages within the ‘life’ that are often referred to as ‘top dogs’ and OG’s, pay close attention. If your ass is numbing out, let me know and I will sink my teeth a little deeper.
Those within life’s base not only ‘struggle’ to survive the Swords which are wielded today, but we have compounded our burdens by restricting our options and advancement in life. Those of us in life’s base, have become our own worst enemy.
We assist the Swords in draining our characters and resources for advancement. We went from communities and neighborhoods to just ‘hoods’. This was accomplished by the elite and those within the capstone by the erection of projects and slums. My definition of projects and slums follow. “It is modern man’s concentration camp, developed to suppress and detain a certain class of impoverished and disenfranchised citizens, to deter and dishearten their ‘spirit and will’ to advance within life’s pyramid.”
Certain individuals within these environments and developments, envious of what the elite and those in the capstone had hanging in their closets, decided to pick up the Sword and embrace its false strength. We began to limit our options and advancement by placing judgments and boundaries on others within our base. We boxed ourselves in life even further by creating boundaries, ‘hoods’ and ‘turf’. We picked up the Swords for those within the capstone to rid ourselves of our strength, to prey on and further delete the resources within the base.
Every time another life within the base is taken, we lose 2 grains of sand from our strength and within our investment for the future. We lose one grain by the taking of blood. We lose the other through imprisonment within the walls of time. Thus weakening the character within even the ‘hood’. Everyday across this country, grains of sand leave the base, like the sand which runs through an hour glass.
When our mentality shifted to installing boundaries, the strength within our character began to diminish. Weakening the elements which give our character strength. The elements of Roots, Heritage, Wisdom, Compassion and Passion for life itself. When those within the capstone recognized this shift and character trait, they further capitalized on it, by removing the self-implemented Swords from our ‘hoods’ and isolating the ‘Pen’.
The greatest advancement and victory seized within the base of the pyramid is well noted with the Civil Rights and Human Rights victories of the 60’s and early 70’s. These victories were not accomplished by the Sword, but by peaceful movement and the Pen. Seeing that the base had captured the Power of the Pen, they removed some of our greatest leaders and mentors within the base. Over the history of our time the greatness of individuals like Medgar Evans, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Larry Hoover and others were not only isolated, but removed from life. All of these men understood, that one of the ‘Golden Keys’ to the ‘Temple of Life’ was in the peaceful demonstration of the Pen and within singing the praises of life itself. Today, many have tried to advance life by the ‘false’ portrait of power displayed by the Sword and have failed. Their efforts resulting in death, destruction, imprisonment and the advanced weakening of life’s base.
There is a difference between a bad leader amongst the base and a good leader within the base, both distributing the advancement of life by the Sword. One may feel that the Power of the Sword maybe their only option for relief from the ‘struggle’. The other may see the Sword as an effective tool in advancing his own self-serving agenda of capturing what the elite hold within their closets. When the Sword is used to seek relief, it sends a negative portrait of weak desperation. Thus I give to you the organizations of terrorists and ‘freedom cells’ which distribute acts of violence to portray their struggles. In the end, the social realms only perceive destruction and annihilation, not the journey or the portraits of pain and misery which led them to pick up the Sword in the first place.
You can often tell the difference between the two classifications of Sword baring men. One will be righteous in his judgments and decisions, ruling not only with ‘knowledge and wisdom’ but compassion as well. The other will rule by the ‘Sword’ only, with little wisdom and seldom with the exertion of compassion or empathy. A man who wields a sword for the whole of his people or those under his care, to seek peace and advancement, will be a man with a legacy in the history books. But a man who wields the Sword with little thought or consideration for those within his realms or under his care, on a self-serving agenda, will fall when his arms get to heavy to swing the sword himself. He lives by the motto, “It’s a dog eat dog world”, thus displaying no respect for those within the base or life itself.
When a leader directs his cause by the ‘Pen’ his intellect and understanding of life and man will prevail. His strengths of ‘knowledge and wisdom’ will be victorious and leave a legacy for generations to come. He will recognize the weaknesses within those who follow. If he has an individual with treachery and larceny in his heart, the Sword will not touch him. He will not let the individual get any bigger within ‘the life’ itself, he will not allow him to eat from his dish, but have the wisdom to know that the individual can still bring sustenance to his well of knowledge and put water in his dish. On the other hand, The Sword, will rid himself of the individual, displaying the ‘fear’ factor as a message to others, begin his search for another to take his place and rule by the Sword to put water in his dish.
The differences between these two are further detected by their displays of mentality. While one thinks of himself and ‘living for the moment and today’. the other thinks of living for tomorrow and how many from the base will see the sun rise on the horizon. A ‘top dog’ who does not think of our ‘Seeds for Tomorrow’ the youth, the future which will entertain the ‘strength of our character’ in the base, is on a self-serving agenda. He will not care if those who put food in his dish, eat themselves or not.
A man who rules out of ‘fear’ and wields the Sword lacks the ‘character’ which gives strength to the base. He is often insecure due to his lack of ‘knowledge and wisdom’. He is often paranoidal to the effect that he believes that everyone who follows in his foot steps, are after what he also seeks and has in his ‘closet’. His greatest tool to advance his agenda are the tools of ‘fear’ and ‘The Sword’. He often asks others to do the deeds which he himself does not have the strength to carry out or stomach. He uses portraits and vices of negativity to condition and lure his followers or subjects. His subjects not realizing they drain their own strength to fuel their leaders ego and shortcomings, are soon discarded when they also lose strength and the stomach to carry out horrendous acts against humanity and heinous crimes.
The ‘Pen’ on the other hand will look for peaceful tools and options which will further advance the growth of his subjects. He will have compassion and empathy for his fellow man. He will make sure that those within his ‘hood’ also have food on their plates. He will enlighten those within his realms in regards to the vices, weaknesses and false portraits, so they do not fall or succumb to elements which will drain their individual strengths. For when individuals within his community are weak and disheartened, the ’whole’ withers and dies, losing the elements and traits which make our survival possible as we ’struggle’ to advance life. Thus draining his own strength and blessings bestowed upon him by life itself for tending to the preservation of those within the base and life.
Men have always had judgments passed upon them in regards to self worth, materialism, friends, family and spouse. In choosing a spouse, sometimes referred to as ‘your better half’, or ‘within’ the life as “your best line of security‘, the mate is often chosen as a reflection of the man’s self worth in character.
Always remember that your mate should be just as strong or stronger than your own character. For they are not only ‘your best line of security’, but also referred to as your ‘weakest link.’ Often an individual who rules by ‘fear’ and ‘wields the sword’, will choose a mate with greater weaknesses than his own. Relying on that absence of strength to protect his own agenda and make his mate totally dependent on his character and position. Not realizing that a mate who was just as strong, would further advance his agenda and enhance his own strength.
An individual who rules by the ‘Pen’ however, searches for someone with strength akin to their own or more so. They recognize the strength and power within their unity and advance life through mutual co-operation and respect. Men who rule with fear and by the Sword, are not above violence on their own and mates. Men who rule by the ‘Pen’ realize, if they have to abuse the ones they love, then they don’t need them!
Over the years, I have come to the conclusion, that those in the base have more than their share of life’s trials and tribulations visit them. It is due to the strength which they possess within their character. We embrace the challenges, survive, exist and live to dream of peace, an oasis for a civilization. In meeting the challenge, we expound our strengths and self character. We cherish and respect life, all its blessings and failings, beauty and ugliness.
The Sword-v-The Pen…which has the greatest strength? The Sword who does not have the strength to survive a challenge and therefore slays it. Or the Pen, who accepts and embraces the challenge, uses their own intellect and strength in character to successfully overcome life’s challenge?
You decide where your character will take you, whether you will survive long enough to endure life and its challenges, to write your own legacy for the generations to come. The ‘old folks’ have a saying, “You made your bed, now you lie in it!” In this case, it’s between a bed and a coffin…feathers or silk? Legacies…or empty photo albums, b-days, your children’s first steps, prom, marriage, or your seeds giving the gift of life?
Are we not all share croppers in life….we get out of life, what we invest in it. We harvest, what we have chosen to sow…..
I leave you as I came, with a great deal of love and respect for life…..
Lady Gray
Yes, the might of the sword depends on the "physical" of its host. so once the strength of the individual diminishes or dies, that sword possesses no more might; its it can never exercise might. But the might of the pen lives on...
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