MEDITATION 3: Little Big Man and Marcus Aurelius: The passing of the trains

Some men who speak strongly with words may be weak in action. Today we’re a world filled with critics who’ve never done a damn thing. The creation of social media makes it easier for a million men to complain about what they dislike, while many make no movements to create solutions to problems that many people would like.

Reading literature is often a poor substitute for doing something useful when it’s done by people who don’t take real steps to make good change in this world; in fact, we are dumber and less brave for it.

One of my favorite movie scenes comes right out of the movie Little Big Man. While the movie was an anti-establishment movie it had some great moments in it that I love. One of those great moments is when actor Chief Dan George gives a moving speech while actor Dustin Hoffman stands by and observes him.

The Chief shouts up to the sky, “Come out and fight! It is a good day to die! Thank you for making me a human being!” The Chief stares at the sky and his life doesn’t end as he expects it to. It begins to rain and they walk off to have dinner. There are real men today who possess the character of the Chief. They have lived a long time, experienced much, seen the world change and are ready at any moment to go.

The movie ends with Jack thinking about the coming of the modern world (the 20th century) and the ending of the era of the open plains. He looks at the situation with sadness. He is a man who cannot change. He lives in the past like most warriors who live in the past of a heroic, bygone era and the world changes without them moving in it.

The pen replaces the sword, preaching replaces action, cowardice replaces heroics and liking a post replaces throwing our physical weight behind a movement. The cultural pushes come from lunatics and we can only watch in dismay at the stupidity of suburban rebels who’ve never experienced a nation in destruction yet want one destroyed anyway.

We cannot just sit and watch the passing of the trains, or the falling of the rain.