Slaying
of
The
“Innocents”

 

Once there was a beautiful baby boy…
A sweet and innocent child of joy
But one the World had to destroy

A kid from whom much was expected
So, his sweetness & innocence had to be rejected
To fashion a kid, Capitalism better reflected

So, the Rulers of Fate held him aloft
And piece by piece, they killed him off
Preparing him for battles to be fought !!!

From innocent child … to a ferocious Hero
Vanquishing the legions of Rome… alone
And cremating their bodies in the City of Nero

 

In the writing of this book and in the telling of the tales herein, I rediscovered a kid who had to overcome the “innocence” and “fragile-ness” of childhood to steel himself up for emotional nimbleness in life’s “rough and tumble” World of Confrontational Capitalists.

In writing, I was accorded a second chance to take another glance at an awkward, strong-willed kid, driven by fate and circumstance, a kid who always took a note as he struggled to stay afloat so he could…

• Respond with physical courage where (at first) in the battle of “fight or flight”… he became undone with urge to run.
• Respond with spiritual courage where (at first) he felt only self-doubt… with the fear of failing and bailing out.
• Respond with “physical stamina” where (at first) the flesh was weak, the battle bleak and the kid’s spirit exhausted by the emotional cost of tempest-tossed ambition and the ever-rising bar of competition.
• Respond with “spiritual stamina” where (at first) there was only low self-image, and a voice whispering in the ear… to throw in the towel and run from the fear.

But, eventually, there was a transfiguration, more like a transformation (if you will) of gradualness from childhood innocence and fragile-ness to a man of courage and benevolence who would no longer cower to the power of bullies… as they sought to crush his Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness.

It was then (with a growing confidence in his vision of “right and wrong”) that the kid stood strong, held his ground and stared the bullies down… as the fight for what is right became as natural as the breath of life. It was then the kid discovered that he descended from evolutionary line that would not come undone, be overrun nor chased out of the Sun… the DNA of an evolutionary link that embraced the strongest of survival instincts, a confrontational combativeness that saddled him with a ferociousness that took over and moved the kid over the threshold of courage and into the affray, night or day, to repel whatever threats were found along the way.

But, luckily, the kid was also born into a family of Golden Rule “checks and balances”… where the DNA slash Heredity of Fierceness was not the only game in Town. Nurture slash Environment also whispered in the kid’s ear telling him to be a man of “Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge (Catholic Central H.S.) and “a man for others” (University of Detroit H.S.) and live a life of compassion, acceptance and forgive-ness (the most powerful force in the Universe) and show a little love for all of God’s children (Message of the Man in Sandals)… lessons long in the learning, but (as you will soon see) endlessly longer yet, in the living.

Today, this book takes us from 20th Century tragedy to 21st Century comedy, only because the 20th Century world I was born into and became of age in… was (shall I say) a much more forgiving world of “second chances” than today’s 21st Century world of “zero tolerance”—with its emphasis on punitive measures of beatin’ you down rather than yesterday’s emphasis of (patiently) lifting a Kid up ???

But, I ask ??? Is it not also true that, over the forgiveness of time, yesterday’s tragedies have become today’s comedies ??? Well, of course they have !!! Childhood frivolity and fun ??? I had some. Youthful moments in the Sun. But, my early years ??? Mostly a Marathon, on the Run…getting things done—education, building character, increasing stamina and preparing for the Battles of Justice yet to be won.

Fred Lauck
Copyrighted