The Battle of Evermore

 The Battle of Evermore

By Bobby Neal Winters

Queen of Light took her bow

And then she turned to go,

The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom

And walked the night alone.

--Led Zeppelin

Today, as you read this in the paper, it is Election Day.

If you’ve been living in a cave you might’ve missed that.

This Election Day has the hopes and fears of all the years--to coin a phrase--pinned on it. The fate of the Whole World, Existence of the Earth its very self, hangs in the balance.

Well, not really.  

Not that you shouldn’t vote--I sure am--but the fact of the matter is that whoever is President of the United States isn’t going to make as much difference as you might think.  

The Apostle Paul said: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Led Zeppelin said: “The Skies are filled with good and bad, and mortals never know.”

What I am saying, in my probably over-dramatic way, is that the truth of what is done by our leaders is far beyond our reach. What is the Truth? What’s a Cover-up?

I just don’t know.

I worried about it a lot.  I’ve cared about it a lot.  But I’ve gotten tired of being angry all the time.  It’s time for me to quit worrying about saving the world and begin working on saving my soul.

That’s probably over-dramatic too.

What can I do?

As I cannot save the world, I can become a better person.  And this is not limited to me, it is something anybody can do.  The great thing about this is that the worse you are now, the more opportunity you have to improve yourself.

When I was a boy, it was normal for people to throw trash out of the window of the car as we went driving down the road.  That is unthinkable to me now.  However, I still see trash along the side of the road.

If you are doing that and you want to really improve the world, you can stop doing that.  It’s a small thing, but it’s a thing you can do.

Another thing, which isn’t so small, actually, is to get to know yourself. Think about what you do and why you do it.  Have a talk with yourself about it or have a trusted friend you can talk about it with.  Figure out what you are feeling and why you are feeling it.  Just knowing can sometimes help.

Once you get a measure of control over yourself, it can open up a new world about making yourself a better person.  If you make yourself a better person, guess what, you’ve made a better world because you are part of the world.  

Maybe others will see your example and follow it.  Maybe they won’t, but at least you will have done something.

Bobby Winters, a native of Harden City, Oklahoma, blogs at redneckmath.blogspot.com and okieinexile.blogspot.com. He invites you to “like” the National Association of Lawn Mowers on Facebook. )