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The quiet countryside shook with the thunder of a fighter plane that cut through the air, awakening the threat of war that holds the cold of death that has, over the eons, seen the ice of many a winter .
Ian looked up, seeing his 88-year-old neighbor, Andre, walking up the path. Andre chatted, then shared a letter from his father.
“Dear child, Before active duty, I wrote these words, in the event that I died. I hope that they might invade your heart as does my body now infuse the earth.
Child, listen to what is within your heart that makes your gut churn and brain burn. Our spirit is honed by our reactions to what we love and want to protect. Our generation wanted you to be able to live life respecting yourself, others and the world. During the Great Wars, countries united as a singular power, not to seek greatness, or to oppress others so they could be exploited, but to defend freedom as we understood it and idealized it should be.
I wonder how your world has changed. Are there still imperialists who want to control the wealth of the world to make it conform so it can be exploited? or fascist dictatorial leaders who use militarism for forcible suppression of opposition and to subordinate individual interests? do communists still want to make everyone equal except those who are not ? do monarchs still claim a divine lineage? do authoritarian leaders still seek self-respect by gaining approval of the masses without earning it? is social hierarchy still based on the economy?
I was taught to respect the temptations of offerings placed at the Devil's Table, where trickster Gods such as Papa Legba, or Loki, come to play cards.
Reject supernatural pretension and childhood dreams. Gods of the present usually fade away, are dethroned, and dissolve into nonentity or become hideous Devils. Observe that the horns of Pan were placed on the brow of Satan.
Michael Angelo carved Moses with horns, at St. Peter's in Rome.
Horns unify spiritual forces that attract those who support and oppose any given God. Satan finds refuge in the most ill-furnished hovels of minds.
The Byzantine image of the Man of Sorrows, born of Our Lady of Sorrows, suffered wounds, grief, being rejected, despised, and death, to offer man redemption. Sadly, people do not always learn by another’s sacrifice.
I hope tears for those who offered their lives as a sacrifice have melted the the ice-cold heart that war requires, and created floods that have heaved the heavy stone weights to form the Table of the Devil. Here you are invited to play the hand you are dealt. A trick to winning is to place a mirror behind the table, to read the Devil’s cards. Make our death have meaning. Create a better life for the future. Play well.
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My stories usually present facts, supported by science as we know it, that are often spoken of in myths. Both can help survival in an ever-changing world.
More stories from Katherine D. Graham and writers in Fiction and other communities.
Reader, https://shopping-feedback.today/writers/tales-from-beyond-the-haunted-letter-challenge I penetrate your body and soul with the cold mists of the morning and evening fog. As light fades, I stop new growth. I move through the trees of life and wisdom, with my vaporous scythe, removing leaves and anything in my path. Your turn will come. I am forever near, prepared to strike down you, and those you love. I carry the chill of death, of what was and what will be. You dare say foo.
By Katherine D. Graham3 months ago in Fiction
Step One: Lose a child. Not what anyone wants to happen and nothing you can do to change it, but you can go through steps to becoming happy again. You can go through steps to loving again. You can go through steps to become a new you because after losing a child you will never be the same person you once were.
By Tabitha Hinkley3 days ago in Fiction
Quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche "He who wrestles long with monsters should beware lest he himself become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. Man is not destroyed by suffering, but by the meaning he makes of it."
By LUCCIAN LAYTH5 days ago in Critique
Comments (5)
Thank you for taking the time to do another!
Thank you for your entry, Katherine.
Nice philosophical view to the challenge...interesting reading,
Wow this is absolutely disturbing. Moses with horns. Exactly what is needed for a holiday spooky theme. Satan find refuge in most ill furnished hovels of minds. If that doesn't scare you I don't know what will. Nicely done for the challenge.
"Sadly, people do not always learn by another’s sacrifice." Ah, that is sooo true!