What is best in life?

"To crush your enemies and see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women..."

Personally, I think this is even better, though to me the two are not mutually exclusive and the enjoyment of one is dependent upon the willingness to do the other....

Mrs. Paladin and I went to the Fort Worth Stockshow last Saturday, and my Daughter and her family tagged along. The feeling of Bailey riding on my shoulders so she could see all the interesting stuff, her little fingers sometimes wiggling my ears, is pretty hard to beat.

Going to a livestock show can really help restore your feelings of optimism and hope for the future. At least it does for me. Seeing so many people, many of them young people, with actual positive work ethics and characters is like a breath of fresh air... even with the mingled scent of hay and manure (which I enjoy, btw.)

Our enemies are legion.

They surround us on all sides and mount attacks on us from the front through brute force, from our flanks as they sap the walls that protect us, and sometimes through treachery from within. Whether its a violent face to face attacker seeking to rob you, an endless stream of Government Bureaucrats (from both sides of the aisle) nicking away at your liberty by a thousands cuts, or a growing sea of self righteous malcontents bawling about the unfairness of the system that actually requires they work for what they receive... with the mindset that what you've worked for should be theirs, under the guise of "equality" - its very easy to get worn down and give up hope.

That's why I take so much joy in anything that helps renew that hope.

So, I propose that my two "best" things in life are integrally related. My family and my way of life are bound to the commitment that I must have to crush that which threatens it. One is very necessary to ensure the existence of the other.

The pride that I take in the idea of protecting that which I value - whether its dropping the hammer on an evil doer seeking to cause me and mine physical harm or metaphorically crushing those with philosophies and goals that present a less immediate yet equally tangible threat - is very important to embrace.

In the end, there are those that will take from you what you love.

They must be stopped. The survival of that which you love depends upon it.