Sit; listen to the silence.
Sit; listen to the valor.
Rest, and listen to the whisper of the wind.

The wind carries the message.
The message is honor.
Honor is remembrance.

The past bristles with dignity.
Dignity bristles with strength and courage.
Sons, daughters, husbands and wives, forever rest in a sea of grace.

Tears flow, salutes are crisp and rigid.
Valor and honor is laid to rest.
Alone they are not, forgotten they are not.

We stand beside them and bow our heads.
We sit next to them and look skyward.
We love, we respect, and we humble ourselves in their presence.

The thunder of silence echoes through the hills.
The silence of a passing, the thunder of valor is remembered.
Unknowns they are not, forever being in our hearts.

The wind carries the whisper.
Whispers carry the message.
The message is the silence of respect.

Sit; listen to the silence.
Sit; listen to the valor.
Rest, and listen to the whisper of the wind.

The tiger’s eyes are narrowed.
He sees only prey.
Crouching behind peace, talons are readied.
Barriers begin to fall and the crouch becomes ruthless.
Fangs bare signaling the attack.
The prey moves closer eyes fix on the target.People rise up to halt his attack, but they are stared into submission.
The tiger strikes and the talons slash.
They bow and die.War sees nothing.
War ends when there is nothing.
Peace rises again.
Copyright by Bruce Humphrey  

The Voice of WarRemember the story it tells.
Teaching us of what was;
warning us of what will be.
Listen to it.
Learn from what it says.Cold, heartless to life it is.
It screams in a cacophony of ghostly voices.
Voices of billions past.Waves of agony crash with the tempest it creates.
Waves of peace for the future lace and soften its storm.Hear it.
Bring it close to the ear.
Remember the story it tells.
Listen to its whisper of death.
And the warning of neglect.
 

Standing with my comrades, I look across the battlefield and see a brother. He is not my friend, he is the enemy.
Why?  For my future?  For our future? For his future?
But I must. For what? The future?Terrified inside, proud outside.
Comrades lead me, hold my hand bolster my heart.
My first step is excruciating, but I must go.
Steady, steady, step, step, stronger, stronger, faster, faster.
Death whispers at my ear, but I do not hear it. It stares into my eyes, but I do not see it.Pride pushes me forth, blinding me to the fear.
Staccato sounds erupt, something sizzling comes close.
Men drop like wheat before the scythe.
My friends, my comrades, all are dying.A burning pain grips my chest, searing, searing.
My coat turns red, my hands turn red.
I, I fall, to the waiting Earth.
My eyes see a friend die horribly, a comrade, a brother.Fury ceases the burn.
Rising up I charge forward, I must, I must.
Charge, charge, kill, kill.
More pain, more agony, more red.
Why, why, for my future, for my future.
 Copyright@Bruce Alan Humphrey

An enigmatic voice from the dark whispers in a naïve ear.
It speaks of riches and glory and power.
Riches to buy wealth.
Glory to buy rewards.
Power to buy friends.
But the whisper is a lieThe whisper grows.
It passes from ear to ear turning it from the truth.
Eyes light up with hope for an easy life.
The whisper asks only to be listened to.
To be the leader for a life without strife.Families sprout with the lie for a companion.
It lives with them, directing its biding.
Fathers and mothers teach the young.
The lie now has a foothold on the future.Children listen to the whispers teachings, learning from them.
They teach their friends, who tell theirs, corrupting the innocent.
Race comes forth, perpetuating an idea.
Greed swells, filling the pockets with gold.
Hatred screams as it comes into its own.The whisper turns into cannon shot in crowds.
It races from ear to ear, instantly changing those who are good.
The crowd moves like one living mass.
Changing and morphing into evil.Good speaks softly, but with unrelenting force.
It stands its ground against the evil, dreaming of harmony and the legacy of freedom.
Fathers and mothers teach the young.
Good speaks of peace, serenity, and the bravery of life.Love and knowledge spring from that life.
Knowledge fathers dreams, dreams that build the future.
It pushes, driving the evil away from the naïve then cowers in the corner, where it waits once again.
The naïve are transformed and sent on the path of love once more.
 Copyright@Bruce Alan Humphrey

I am standing in front of a simple wall. Not one of elaborate decoration nor one of a hundred feet high, it’s just a simple wall. But what is etched into it stirs my pride to the point of tears. It’s not engraved with unconnected faces or dates or even men on horseback. It’s engraved with names.
Names of men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that I might stand here with my family. I cry for them, they who will not come back, but have.
For those who visit this simple wall, and those who come back, it brings memories. Memories of life and loves, of triumphs and defeats, and unending friendships.
In my mind, I can hear the gentle notes of Taps wafting over the polished black stone. A final testimony to their courage and valor. As an American, I will always be grateful to them. They and all those who fought and died before them so that my family and I could be free Americans, forever.
Copyright by Bruce Humphrey  

It seems nations must be reminded occasionally that complacency and corruption can sweep over them in a smothering blanket of indifference. Caught in a swirling wind of aimless direction a nation will fall in a chasm of despair. Pride falters and the decline continues. In the end, the nation becomes starved for assistance from the outside. Its people suffer deeply from lack of food and housing. Its citizens become embroiled in a fight for survival. Killing and stealing become a way of life. It’s about time someone stood up and shouted, “Wake up!” Pride is a deeply ingrained emotion but it can waver and be misled by a lack of faith or indifference. It must be nurtured and reinforced periodically or we forget who we are.To halt the decline it takes one person to send it in a new direction of purpose again, a person who will bring back the pride. This is where a true leader takes command. One who will force the indifference back into its box of disparity. Through the written word and speech, that person must be able to direct a nation to its goal of power and spiritual strength. However, will a country follow a person who acts like a human? More than likely it won’t. A leader cannot have the foibles of ordinary humans or that person is open to ridicule, which will undermine their authority.Leaders must know all the correct answers and in the face of a crisis make the right decisions each and every time. They must be strong, but willing to be flexible and compassionate. Compromise is a strong virtue, one that cannot be ignored. It is this willingness to listen and then act on the best idea, which sets a leader on the right path. A person set in his or her ways would fail, as a leader because they would always be at odds with the populace, then force would need to be used to restore order. Force instead of guidance ushers in dictatorship. True leader’s must take abuse while showing poise and hold their head high against the onslaught. Above all respect for another person’s ideas or wishes earns a person more confidence in their leadership than a heroic deed. When pride diminishes, an uninvolved consciousness takes control.
Who cares what they do in the capitol! Does it affect me personally? Does it affect the way I run my day-to-day life?
Most of the time it doesn’t. The main government is charged with the protection of the country. To provide for its health and well being, but it must know when to stand back and let the country grow on its own. If a government continually tries to direct the populace of a free country, it breeds resentment. A law for this a law for that, in name of ‘for their own protection’. We’ll make them do this to save them from their own freedoms. Like a big brother or watchful father to look after them. It seems a government whether consciously or by its actions inadvertently tends to act like a parent. A mom and dad to millions.What if an ordinary adult was treated like that how would they react? Then on the other hand if whom the people elected to office did not make these kinds of laws would the populace have the sense to control their own lives? To police themselves so they do not fall into a state of anarchy? Wouldn’t a state of base, self-seeking, egotistical humans take over large parts of a country in order to further their own ideals for power? Forcing down the common person into a subservient form of life. As humans, we must be forever vigilant about what may lie ahead due to present actions and what has been done throughout history.
Copyright by Bruce Humphrey
 

“We the People”, three simple words written in the books of history that are the binding words of democracy. Their meaning is just as simple. We are the creators of our destiny. We are free to do as we wish, where and when we wish. Free! Moreover, because of our freedom we can speak to the world with our words and ideas. Because of the examples set by those who are free, Freedom, Liberty, and Independence are coveted across the globe.Unfortunately, those three words are hard won privileges. Millions have offered the ultimate sacrifice to preserve it. Slaves across the centuries have hoped, fought, and died for its sweet taste. The lessons learned, however, have left a bitter taste and a foul smell in the pages of history. Wars have ravaged lands and devastated cities. Whole populations were systematically murdered to deny those who pursued it. Those people fortunate enough to escape the carnage had only hope to cling to when their livelihoods were taken from them.
         Hope is the basis of freedom. It is the spark that causes those ideals, which oppressive influences endeavor to suppress, to swell, and stretch against its forced imprisonment. Breaking the shackles that bind it the outcry of Freedom explodes from within racing over the land in a gale touching all whose lives have been shattered by oppression. Spurring them on to revolution and release. Once freedom is established, though, do we use it to enrich our lives or do we allow, under the guise of the newly won freedom, our aggressive nature to take advantage of those weaker or lesser in number than us. Even those who love peace above all else can be driven to injustice, thereby defeating the purpose of freedom. Seems that history records the same ideas and humans follow the same paths.The only real constant is the change in technology, which is used for either the advancement of civilization or its slow destruction. However, the imagination to create this new technology does not change the basic human species. Maybe the aggressive nature inherent in us all clouds our judgment or better still maybe our intelligence clouds our wisdom. Most of us are ready to push aside peace and wage war for peace. Ready to kill at a moment’s notice just because a person looks differently or has a different religion or worse yet does not conform to another’s ideas. Ruthless behavior has been driven into our existence so deeply that it now governs our way of life. “Kill ‘em.” Is it that the freedom that we so richly desire is a double-edged sword?Once humans have the individualistic attitudes given them by freedom they form their own ideas about how life should be changed and directed. Therein lays the problem. Who’s right and who’s wrong. To help humans direct the future we put those with the more convincing attitudes and louder voices into a higher position than the common person. There we give them the power to make the laws to keep us on track to cultural survival. If they decide to change the direction for partisan reasons Freedom, Liberty, and Independence give us the option to remove those who govern us. We the people will speak when the path begins to waver and bend in the wrong direction. Our laws are made for the common person and we will remain in control.
Copyright by Bruce Humphrey
 

In peacetime nothing becomes a man as modesty and humility. But, when the blast of war blows in the ears, he imitates the actions of the tiger, sinews tighten, and fair nature becomes a hard favored rage.Shakespeare had it right man is ready, willing, and able to fight when provoked in a correct manner. And there is any number of reasons for the provocation. A difference in the way one runs his or her life may begin the process. Or the mentality of you can’t tell me what to do. Our passion for control is as egotistical as thinking we can control ourselves. There will always be a part of us pushed into the dark recesses of our minds, by our intelligence, ready to conquer reason in favor of riot. We blame it on the devil in us but we have to take responsibility for our actions sooner or later. We cannot continue to use mythology as a scapegoat. Is it the fear of what might happen that we don’t have the courage to accept the consequences? Admittedly, there are times when force is necessary. Those who do not wish to take the peaceful course must be shown the way. Unfortunately, those people usually have a populace whom they are controlling or responsible for. When the bombing or other action starts they are the more likely to be inadvertently hurt or killed. As a rule, they do not have the experience or resources to spend long periods without food or water. Children already displaced and hungry are made to suffer further.
Sometimes it takes an outside influence to stop the aggression and bring the factions together.Diplomacy is begun. Words are spoken, arguments raised, egos are strained, soothed and appeased. If the intermediary is lucky, the problems can be resolved. But what if those who are in conflict do not want outside interference? Would that exacerbate the problem? Would one faction tend to press harder to finish the original plan to eliminate the interference? Thereby it may cause more harm than good. Aggression swells as a tempered, angry lion rises. Because the lion thinks he is doing what is right in his mind, he strikes out. He slashes and bites at the non-conformity until it is subdued or killed. He restores order in his own image. What would have happened if he hadn’t stood up and taken a stand against his target? Would the evolution of his species continue because he did not intervene? How would they have evolved if they had been left to their own destinies? Has this world made it to this point in time by standing aside when oppression is forced on others? Do we know the answers?
Copyright by Bruce Humphrey

Winds of Time is the fictional account of Tarl Cray. A specialized covert operative, Tarl has been told he must contact the leaders of the other three breakaway territories. He must convince them that their one time nation must re-unite in a combined defense against invaders. To accomplish his task Tarl has been given specific orders and lack of rules.

America has fragmented into four unique territories. The Southeast, where Tarl is based, has built itself on scientific and medical disciplines. Tarl is a direct product of their scientists. Drugs introduced into his body give him abilities never realized before the break up. Medical and scientific breakthroughs, due to the lack of government restrictions, advanced exponentially.

His first destination, the Northeast, is more or less agricultural. However, a strong security force keeps a heavy air of oppression over the populace.

The mid-western section, relatively calm and peaceful, trades with the other territories using its vast agriculture as barter. Its position in the former union is by far the strongest. In food there is power. Tarl must make contact with the governor and convince him that with his help he could stop the takeover.

On his trek west, Tarl discovers a cave buried deep within the mountains. In this cave he discovers evidence of a past civilization, on the order of eighty thousand years old. He finds machines and weapons that dwarf, yet somehow mimic the tools he has been provided. Also he discovers an enigmatic and wise cracking helper who helps him on his final quest before returning to the southeast sector.

The west is by far the most evil. Degrading into a feudalistic, power driven territory, where death and survival is a every day fact of life. Security forces push the populace to their limits while the governors and their families live the life of luxury. 

But, an underground movement has arisen and it is these people Tarl must enlist for help. Unfortunately, Tarl learns too late that he has been tricked.