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Tag:conflict (p. 1/1) | Vox Clamantis In Deserto

What I Became Because of You

In Star Trek S4E12 (“The Wounded”), the Enterprise crew are forced to cooperate with Cardassian leadership to stop a rogue Federation captain from destroying their fragile peace. The Cardassians’ presence aboard the ship is barely tolerable, but after dialogue with his wife, Chief O’Brian is later able to articulate an especially perspicacious explanation for his animosity.

“The only people left alive were in an outlying district of the settlement. I was sent there with a squad to reinforce them. Cardassians were advancing on us, moving through the streets, destroying, killing. I was with a group of women and children when two Cardassian soldiers burst in. I stunned one of them. The other jumped me. We struggled. One of the women threw me a phaser, and I fired. The phaser was set at maximum. The man just incinerated, there before my eyes. I’d never killed anything before. When I was a kid, I’d worry about swatting a mosquito. It’s not you I hate, Cardassian. I hate what I became because of you.

So I wonder, how many of us become bitterly angry at a spouse or a parent or a corporation when the interaction fundamentally changes an idealism that shapes out identity? Do we really hate or are we morning the loss of our innocence?

Life Struggles

Why do those who have never experiened soul-crushing struggle think themselves equipped to mentor those who are working through their issues?

On Righteous Boundaries

We made too many compromises already, too many retreats. They invade our space, and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther! Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek VIII

Which calls to mind this other memorable performance from the TV series.

On Eating Shit

If you must eat shit and die…be grateful that you received a last meal. Vox

How The Mighty Have Fallen

I was just watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, S3E13 “Déjà Q” when Guinan says, “how the mighty have fallen!” That reminded me of a spoken word prelude in a 1990s Cindy Morgan song and got me to wondering about the origin of that phrase so I Googled it thinking it might have been Shakespeare. To my surprise it turned out to be from the Bible! “How the mighty have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!” 2 Samuel 1:27 (NIV)

The Time a Cop Touched My Junk at a Club

A few months after the “double standards” occurrence, I was again at the same club and speaking with two ladies. Something in the conversation prompted a third to disclose that she was municipal police (and although the club was not in that city, municipal police in this state have extended jurisdiction for the entire county in which the city partially lies, which did include the county of this particular club). No fan of cops (and definitely not white cops), I excused myself from the conversation and went on my way. Over the course of the eveningContinue Reading

Umpires and Referees Are Better Impartial Observers Than Police

It occurs to me just now, and I will develop this more in the future posts, but sports officials are better observers in their professions than police are in their professions. Just by way of comparison, what percentage of video replays show a referee or umpire was incorrect in his (now her as well) initial assessment of split-second events? What percentage of body and dash cameras show police were dead wrong on events that crescendo over a period of minutes? Yes, there are