PTSD

who's calling whom and for what, exactly?*

A short one this time--a few thoughts on the President of the Galaxy's** recent speech.

So, when he said this war is "the calling of our generation", do yous reckon he meant his generation aka a bunch of old men pretty ready to retire off into the nearest tropical island and chortle over their activities or did he mean the generations after him? In other words, is it my calling too? Or, should I get my dad and mum some armoured gear and tell them to go off to the nearest recruiting post and sign up for the crusades?

And, what about this being a "struggle for civilisation"? I thought we had all become civilised already? Isn't that what being able to use knives and forks makes us? The last time I checked, we could do that and carry on a conversation at the same time. I'd say that's enough civilisation but now he's telling us to struggle? It's almost as though being civilised actually requires more effort than I'm willing to put in. After all, I'm already teaching and writing (neverending) articles and hanging out with friends and dissertating. And now to be told I'm part of the "decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century" and should actually do something? I'm confused.


* My dictionary defines "calling" as "an inner urge or a strong impulse, especially one believed to be divinely inspired to accept the Gospels as truth and Jesus as one's personal saviour". By this definition, I think I'm officially excluded from this calling business as I don't think Jesus is my saviour. Though, Jesus, mate, if you're listening, I'm open to offers.


** The President of the Galaxy requires, as our esteemed source of information Wikipedia puts it, "the incumbent to attract attention so no one wonders who's really in charge".

posted by Priya @ 10:11 PM