"Pour It On!"
| Writings | Comments |
| Shades_PourItOn_01-11-09.pdf | The old adage: keep your friends close and your enemies closer" may apply to "Pour It On"; but I find that the greater the opposition, the greater the resolve when the cause more than justifies the costs - if not for me, than for the collateral damages to the innocent... |
| InAWord_Glory_2005.pdf |
Who can forget the 54th Massachusetts - who bravely charged Fort Wagner on the coast of Charleston, SC? The time is coming when we're gonna have to fight like men -- like men..." |
| InAWord_Strength_2006.pdf |
When I was in college, one of the courses that I took was "Strength of Materials"; not recalling much about class however, my description of strength goes beyond material composition, physical stamina or such similar, tangible forms of this quality...and describes a different kind of strength... |
| InAWord_Metal_2005.pdf |
In keeping with this college class is the study of metals; but again, when the expression is made, "testing your metal", what are they talking about? Again, strength of a different kind... |
| InAWord_Courage_2005.pdf |
James Freeman Clarke said: "Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience." What is your conscience telling you? |
"...It may not be living, but it sure as Hell ain't dying; and dying been what these boys been doing for going on three years...I know cause I dug their graves...and pretty soon, we gonna have to ante-up and fight like men... "
- Sgt. Rollins played by Morgan Freeman, Glory, 1989
"Pour
It On" is in keeping with both the times and action of the Napoleonic
warfare; and like "The Last Full Measure", applies some aspect of such
events to the basic quality of courage and conviction. The term or
order, "pour it on" was sometimes used by the field command to fire a
salvo or to "fire at will". In the heat of a battle or skirmish,
the rate of the discharge of the weapon (besides the size of the firing line)
could determine the victor. As sometimes applied as a standard, a soldier
should be able to fire three aimed shots in one minute.
Using this order or expression with meaning similar to "bring it on", the application is that life sometimes brings a "salvo" of less-than desired consequences or conditions. We don't necessarily ask for such events to arise or enter our lives - nor do we believe that we necessarily deserve them - but they happen...sometimes sporadically...sometimes simultaneously in a flurry...
For the "lucky" recipient is the challenge of how to prepare for and endure in this volley as best as can be anticipated or accounted; although to prepare for such an onslaught is more about character than about counting or countering the measure of the challenge before us. We can never be fully assured of what lies before us; thus, we must find reassurance elsewhere...beyond ourselves alone.
Many years ago, my kids and I watched the movie Glory: the story of the 54th Massachusetts regiment that fought along the coast in such places as Charleston and north-central Florida. To commemorate this common interest, I have added the In A Word letter about that very subject.
For
more information, please contact: hey@hkirkrainer.org 
Last Edited: 07/08/2009
