Tuesday, January 31, 2012

"So get more rocks and build you a dam." A high compliment and a metaphor from one rock to another.

"Vanderboegh," the friend/source/retired spook said to me in a conversation on the general topic of 'change agents' a couple of days ago after I got to DC, "you're like this little rock in the middle of their stream, defying the water. The water and everything in it can try to ignore you as they pass by, but they can't go through you, or under the ground you occupy. You just sit there and defy them and they hate you for it, because you not only defy them but you mock them. It pisses them off because you just won't go away or get out of their way."
"Yeah," I replied, "but the low-life in the water still gets around me."
"So get more rocks and build you a dam."
He always has a way of putting things into perspective, being a rather more formidable (if less obtrusive) rock himself. I took it as a high compliment and the subject of a recruiting poster for more citizen-rocks.
That's a hint.

15 comments:

Cropduster said...

Mike,
I think my rocks are starting to become brass. Will that help ???

AGENDA 26
"If they ignore the 2nd Amendment, I'll ignore the 6th Commandment".

DamDoc said...

from one dam builder to another.. Great Analogy!

MamaLiberty said...

I think there are more of us rocks than anyone can imagine... Perhaps it is far better that we obstruct the stream here and there, more or less, as we rocks roll around in the water.

If we all gathered into a dam... they have dynamite.

William Hultgren said...

Count me in...you should have my email address in your database. I live 50 miles outside DC.

Mt Top Patriot said...

Time to mention 100 heads again also.

Anonymous said...

The Threepers are here and are awaiting the final transgression. Till then, you give us some temporary marching orders, and the rocks will solidify to your side. Damn the run away flood of anti-constitutionalism. The Sarge, fellow band member of merry Threepers.

Ed said...

The British phrase "be a brick in the wall" refers to the teamwork necessary for each brick to work with all the other bricks to form a strong wall. Some use the phrase to object to mind-numbing uniformity and conformity, where each brick is indistinguishable from another. The rock in the stream impeding the flow of water, joining with other rocks to form a larger body works to demonstrate the concept that uniqueness is not a barrier to working with others to form something with strength - a dam.

Another example of this type of teamwork contrasts the brick wall to the dry stone wall - formed from the large boulders left in a field that were movable by the farmer, stacked together in a functional line. Many barriers to the plow are transformed into a barrier to livestock and a quick identifier of what land the farmer owns and works to produce food.

As Robert Frost wrote in his poem "Mending Walls", "Good fences make good neighbors".
http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/frost-mending.html

Anonymous said...

If only there were any "brave" in our home (so-called "land of the free") upon whom to call.

Hey, the arsehats have already came a threatened me. I referred them to 18 USC Sections 241 and 242 and haven't heard anything back in several months.

Just sayin'


Diamondback

Anonymous said...

Mike,
Reminds me of Jesus calling Peter a rock.....and the gates of hell shall not prevail.... good stuff!You're in good company.
Dixie Dennis

Anonymous said...

Wet rocks is dangerous, don'tcha know.

Anonymous said...

I am but a pebble. But enough pebbles and you've got gravel. And gravel is an essential component of concrete.

-Rurik

Shepherd said...

Shepherd from the Southwest Desert Militia here. Place this rock where you will.

Shepherd Out!

Anonymous said...

We would appreciate suggestions on what to do. There are many of us, but we are mostly watching and complaining and PRAYING!

MikeBin NM said...

Sounds like a fellow New Mexican that I know could have told you that. I don't know whether it was him or not but I know that I look up to both you rocks. Stay the course.

Christian gains said...

Hint taken! I LIKE it! Lots of "unobtrusive" little "rocks", sitting on our SPOT, and not letting the "bottom dwellers" slip under us...Hmmmmm...seems like a good deal...good tactical 4th Gen Warfare doctrine...and "Cropduster's" BRASS ROCKS sounds better...let's get together and DAMN the HELL outta them!