Life is too short to spend it in the company of cowards

Published July 3, 2001

One of the interesting things I've learned about growing old is that I haven't mellowed. On the contrary, I've grown more intolerant. I never could think of many reasons to suffer fools -- lightly or otherwise -- and now I can't think of a single one.

I was thinking just the other day of the Confederate battle flag. People who call that flag a symbol of slavery are just showing their ignorance, and I don't see any reason at all to cater to an ignoramus. The Confederate battle flag never flew over a slave state for a single day. The soldiers of a great army who were fighting for independence carried it.

The flag that did fly over many slave states, North and South, for seven decades was the federal flag, the good old Stars and Stripes. I wonder what these politically correct types are going to do when the American Indians tell them that they are offended by the Stars and Stripes, that to them it is a symbol of genocide. That is certainly a truer statement than the false charges against the Stars and Bars.

You would think, at this late date in the history of the human race, folks would know that when you give in to blackmail, you get more blackmail. You would think that people would know there is no such thing as a "right to be not offended." You would think sensible folks would realize that someone who says he is offended by an inanimate object is simply revealing his own neuroses.

Being offended (which means insulted) is a subjective feeling. When we look at an inanimate object, our subjective feelings will be the result of experiences and memories associated with the object. If there are none, we will feel nothing, just as I feel nothing when I look at the flags of most foreign nations. They are, to me, meaningless. If our memories and experiences are positive, we will feel good. If they are negative, we might get our dander up.

But whether we feel nothing, good or bad, is entirely internal and subjective and gives us no reason to make a public issue of our personal feelings. There's nothing about feelings in the Bill of Rights.

I can understand that some black folks might not like the Confederate flag. I have no hard feelings about that. Who knows? If I were black, I might feel the same way. The people I have a problem with are whites who, scared somebody might "cause trouble" or greedy for every penny they can grab, kiss the foot of any wandering demagogue who says, "I don't like that historical symbol. It offends me. Take it away."

You have to be a pretty sorry, worthless human being to cave in to threats or unreasonable demands. I've always believed that the best reason to do something is because somebody tells you not to do it. Nobody has the right to censor American history. Nobody has the right to commit cultural genocide. Nobody has the right to insult the memory of those who died bravely in a noble cause.

Since we're on the favorite topic of so many people, race, I might as well point out that some black people don't like white people and never will. Some blacks are racist bigots, too. The point is, we should pay no more attention to a black bigot than we do to a white bigot. Bigotry is bigotry.

If the Southern people, however, have lost the will to honor their ancestors or have become so ignorant and dumb that the past is meaningless, then, by God, they deserve the fate that is in store for them. I personally will shun such folks, because life is too short to spend it in the company of cowards.

In case you've heard rumors that I am retiring, I am retiring only from the Orlando Sentinel, where I have worked for 30 years. I will continue to write columns for King Features for the duration of my contract and maybe longer if we both agree.

The nice thing about retiring is that by the time you're eligible, you're ready. I've been working since I was about 11, and I look forward to not having to get up and go to an office, especially a smoke-free office.

I will soon be writing from the old homestead or from on the road. My personal office is equipped with my decrepit, inherited dog, a glass of Rebel Yell, my .45 and a Cuban cigar, about the only thing that thug, Fidel Castro, hasn't ruined.

There are many fine folks -- brave and principled people, people not afraid to defy tyranny, people who will speak truth to power, people who lead instead of following the crowd. I'm thinking of true Southrons, Cuban exiles, Palestinians, Armenians and all the rest of the courageous people who truly care about the kind of world we will leave our children. What am I going to do in retirement? I'm going to enjoy the company of the finest people on Earth.

I'm going to avoid the company of cowards and of those who think the most important things on Earth are the National Basketball Association draft picks and who may win an Academy Award.

As for the column, I'm going to continue the practice of H.L. Mencken of "comforting the uncomfortable and discomforting the comfortable."

Reach Charley Reese at creese@orlandosentinel.com