Remember, restoration alone brings victory.
This page is dedicated to the consequential and universal truth:
Mercy triumphs over Judgement.
There is a reason the words, “Remember, restoration alone brings victory” flank each post. Because without restoration, victory is not victory; it is a seed for a greater destruction, a deeper sadness, and the feeling of being utterly alone. If whatever we are fighting for does not include restoration, we have, and we are already lost.
Though my prose often takes the form of the assertive, aggressive & dangerous side of the tension held within progress, it is my attempt here to say again that restoration alone brings victory. If I fear anything, it is the misplacement of those bold, important & needed truths above mercy, forgiveness, and total restoration. Furthermore, it is my firm and passionate belief that we must all dare to hold the tension between, stubbornly fighting for what we believe in while remaining so open-minded that we might have our minds changed in real-time. I am convinced that for us to achieve anything that looks like enlightenment, we must have close friends that we call fools due to what we perceive to be their idiotic & ridiculous views.
We might only restore what we are unafraid to approach. This begins in word. Whatever we refuse to talk about we will ultimately seek to destroy. Remember: “You don’t deserve to live” always begins with “you don't deserve to be heard.”
If we want true progress, we must each, with great fortitude, hold the tension of restoration in its proper place.
Below are excerpts of my writings around this universal truth:
Righteous anger is a lesson in restoration. It is not what it has long been misrepresented as; rightful destruction.
To be righteously angry is, yes, to be all things that are anger, but it is also intertwined with the spirit that leaves the 99 for the 1. It exists because of the vast diversity of love. The truth of how wide, how long, how deep, and how great love actually is would offend the wisest among us. Love is better than you think and greater than you would have it be; there is nothing it does not touch. It is only with our highest exploits of narcissistic delusion that we think we have hemmed love into any form of simplicity. Indeed, there is a time and a place for everything under the sun, and there too love is found.
Righteous anger is the battle cry of love. Its time comes when the dedication of our ways has bent towards wrong with such consistency that the path of the inevitable victory of goodness is narrowed down to a degree of wrath. Righteous anger exists because of freedom. For in bondage, there is no restoration, only indoctrination. It is by the pain of wrath that we, in our freedom, are given a chance yet anew to restore that which is just. Righteous anger is love’s plea towards the free will of man, it is a plea that we might right the course.
Righteous anger is mercy triumphing over judgment. It is the last stay of execution. It is relationship's last surge for connection. It has one and only one end goal, to make right what has gone wrong in such a way as to put back in place that which has, and those who have missed the mark.
Righteous anger is love’s great charge towards complete & total restoration. It is why the gates of bondage will not hold. It is why darkness trembles. And for those who possess it, it is an encounter in forgiveness, it is the abandonment of pride, it is the abolishment of Jonah's fall, and it is the first test of meekness. It is what makes true kings.
Because we are human, everything we do is wrapped in emotion. Righteous anger is void of hate, it is outrageously for those who find themselves in its storm. Hate is filled with an emotional rage that seeks to end its opposition by & through all means available. Righteous anger is the re-calling of destiny, and it is the re-establishment of promise.
Righteous anger wins so that it might seat those defeated at the victor’s table.
It is the way of the true warrior.
It is the banner of the true victor.
It is the cry of the mother, and it is the heart of the father.
Relationships are built upon common ground, and on this common ground, we interact within these four categories:
Agree to Disagree
This is where we allow one another to be diverse and different, where we value our fellow man above our supposed correctness. This form of common ground relationship is the root of progress and brings the best out of us all.
Agree to agree.
This is the most basic function of any relationship at any level. It takes nothing special to agree where we already agree. This form of tolerant relationship is also sustainable, though it leaves something to be desired. In this state, humanity is fragile, and tensions rise.
Disagree to agree
When tensions have risen for too long, we arrive here at the cold war of relationship. Where even where we agree, we refuse to connect so that we might progress together. This form of relationship is unsustainable and is usually the staging ground for those jockeying for position to wipe out their opponent.
Forced agreement.
This is where the cold war turns hot. This is where the side that came out on top in the disagree to agree stage expects and demands agreement to their positions. People do not long stand this duress. This form of relationship is pure volatility. This is where match and gas play. When our shared lives take this form, we must watch out for every horror of history to be repeated.
Though it is indeed different between individual people where we currently stand as a broader society agreeing to disagree hasn't been on the table for quite some time. We have moved well beyond this place of progress. Sadly agreeing to agree is also in the rearview mirror. We are shamed and canceled for speaking with thought criminals even on the aspects of agreement. Our public servants refuse to vote on the 70% of a bill where they see eye to eye.
If you haven't figured it out yet, the next several years will undoubtedly present an ever-increasing amount of evidence.
Division is the goal, and Common ground is the battleground.
There is only one right side of history. Honoring our fellow man. Agreeing that it is ok to disagree. Loving that in our differences we create new possibilities for progress. Humbly knowing that iron only sharpens iron only where sparks fly. Our greatest pride should not be in our correctness but in how we allow the other to build upon the same foundation and plant in the same garden of our long toil. Our pride should be in our assurance that in our own shortcomings those who live differently might in them possess that which we have clearly neglected.
People only follow titles when their hearts cease to leap from the lack of courageous leadership. Our ruling class may have the titles, they may have name recognition, they may have every other worldly advantage, but they can't beat courage.
The anecdote, as always, is courage. Selfless courage.
We each have within us this resolve. A resolve that only we know. A resolve so unique that only in those midnight moments of holy clarity where honesty can’t be eluded might we know if we have been true to our heart’s ever-surging cry toward courage. We must be true. We must make up our minds that the buck stops with us. We must take back our beautiful common ground. We must die on the hill of restoration. Because if they take that they take everything.
Be a real man, be a true woman, face the wind, part the wave. You are that courageous one. It is you. If you are reading this, it is you.
People are not your enemy. If you have an enemy, it is the ideas that they hold, not the person themselves. This distinction might seem self-evident to many but you could make the argument that this truth is thee issue of our time. Our agreement with or against this statement shapes the very foundations of our worldview because our agreement with or against this statement shapes the tactics and methodology of our pursuit of progress/victory.
If the ideas are the enemy, then it is the ideas that are the problem, and therefore to defeat these ideas, they must be confronted and combated. To fight an idea, you must draw that idea out and defeat it in the open under the sun. It is in the open and in the light where bad ideas lose. If your ideas can’t win in the open, I am not telling you that you might not have good ideas; I am promising that you have bad ones.
And while the lack of willingness to openly debate ideas is a red flag that both your methodology and rationale are in need of maintenance, the pursuit of shaming and banning ideas out of existence is far beyond a red flag; it is a sign no less significant or illiberal than a white hood. Efforts to ban ideas don't need to be proven to be authoritarian or tyrannical; that is what they are, no further evidence is needed.
The open exchange of ideas is thee way forward, it is a cornerstone of civilization and the linchpin of progress.
Restoration only comes when ideas collide. Everywhere we ban access to information we promote division over restoration
Incredible unity is ONLY created because of incredible division. Only when we are so separated in passion, principle and practice can a remarkable unity even exist. If we all agreed, it isn't unity; it's conformity. True unity can only stem from our di-fferences, our di-versities.
Remember, there is no more thorough destruction of your enemy than to make them your friend.
Equality comes from culture more than it comes from government. Politics has always and will always look to culture for its marching orders. Equality comes more from we the people, than any ink on paper in Washington. So when many drift with shifting winds of fear and favor that move the goalposts of equality, dare to be an immovable pillar of stone. With chin high and voice loud, dare to champion equality.
In this incredible diversity, we must have equality. Diversity without equality is the opposite of morality. Diversity without equality harkens back to separate but “equal.” Diversity without equality is tyranny.
Our test comes when our preferred side holds a majority of societal favor. What will we do with it? Will we excuse each act of unequal treatment with the faux grace adorned by every perpetrator of injustice? Such men and women use their perceived correctness as sufficient validation for unequal treatment.
Or will we stand in the breach for those who possess less favor and demand equality both in the court of public opinion and under the law? It is this courageous equality that times like these demand in order to avoid the ever-repeated horrors of history. It takes intentional bravery to bear the tension between our perceived correctness and our opponents’ right to equal treatment.
It is up to us to restore equality. It is up to us to reject conformity and demand unity in diversity.
Our ruling class will never hold itself accountable.
It is up to us.
It will ever be we - Samuel S. Adams
Dear Foe, how long have you been friend,Distant Foe, closer come, I see me,Dark Foe in light, brother be,It has always been you, it has always been me. Oh nigh hidden Foe to filled soul,Hindered perch on that hill,The first frozen plunge, in shock still,If always me, it is clear it can never be we.Shaded eye, bright mirror, same blood run,Together first in hate, self Imprisoned,Bound together risen, Foe, why can’t I see,It will ever be you, It will ever be me. Hates cords turned, wrought strength untold, Eyes lift to follow the string,One to one, we have to see,It has always been you, it has always been me. In rivers rage, Foe, you have to see,It took the age, Foe, I am freed,Together smashed cages, it is time to leave,It has always been you, it will ever be we. —————————————-