Bud Talkinghorn: When thugs are allowed to roam free . . .

"When thugs are allowed to roam free . . . " From the Book of Shadows by Don Paterson

If only poets and novelists could be translated into musicianhood--even for a few seconds, then we could see that, within a few notes, at most a bar, what a bunch of desperate scrapers they are--without a tune in their heads, or the rudiments of technique. God, the time they'd have saved themselves.

There are writers for whom no form exists: Too clever for novels, too skeptical for poetry, too verbose for the aphorism; what is left to them is the essay--the least appropriate form for the foiled. They all end up as critics.

He was a writer of such wide-ranging ignorance that his work had real depth, subtlety, and reach.

Other aphorisms that have the ring of truth:

The ranks of the prosecutors are always replenished from those of the persecuted.

In dreams, all butchers are artists.

Where people can no longer freely convey their true thoughts to others, no other liberty is secure--William Hocking

The man who anticipates his century is always persecuted when living and is always pilfered when dead--Benjamin Disraeli

Religion is a monumental chapter in the history of human egotism--William James

The law of self-preservation is a surer policy than any legislation--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Somewhere along the line we in Canada have lost that esential truism. Our courts set free violent psychopaths after little prison time, while our soppy liberal juvenile delinquincy courts mandate that the maximum sentence for kid murderers be three years. Illegal immigrants and refugees, who slowly, slowly wend their way through court appearances, continue to scam the welfare system, or worse, commit crimes. Even when given final deportation orders they are allowed to slip away. At least 36,000 are currently on the lam. The National Post (March 1) reported that nine Hondurans 'refugees', who were arrested by Vancouver police for selling crack, are back on the street after less than a month. Two of them have already been deported once but slipped back in somehow, while another had a deportation order pending. Besides the frustration of the police and the court time wasted, there is the growing perception amongst members of the public that the law has become criminally lax. When self-preservation is seen to be trumped by some elitist version of legal political correctness, a fatal cynicism arises. People stop reporting crimes, because they feel that the criminals won't be punished; on top of that, they might be victims of these same gangsters' revenge. Perhaps a poster I saw years ago best sums up the current situation. It showed an old lady fearfully staring out from behind her barred windows. The caption reads: "When thugs are allowed to roam freely; who than is the prisoner?" I am not suggesting a 100 lashes and transportation to an Australian penal colony for stealing a loaf of bread; however the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. Let's set the old lady free at least.

© Bud Talkinghorn