Time to Walk Away Arrives

The time to walk away has arrived.

There are a few last tasks to do. Then I shall walk out, finding me a mountain valley to hide in, here amid the Great American Desert, to see what will unfold below me, as the actions of fools at last come home to collect their price.

I will gather up my few belongings, sort through them, winnow out that which no longer matters, that which will not sustain me, and carry forward with only a small fraction of my once vast wealth of knowledge. I shall hand back to a failed nation that which marked me as serving it, reminding those who I hand those documents to of their earliest training, a class on military justice, and the echo in my voice will be that of the officer who reminded my fellows then of the price that comes of obeying orders that are unjust and unlawful. I shall walk away spreading the word that the days of our glory and rightness never existed, were just an illusion that even I was mesmerized by, as they still are.

I wish only one thing more... only one. Turn aside from the Paths of Damnation, people. I wish I had finished that tale, told the price of Arrogance and Pride, Told the world that they waded into the Darkness, the Madness, that we all carry inside us. But I was too weak. Now, gathering my last bits of self, I walk away to contemplate my failings. Forty days one walked out there, in a vast wilderness before me. I only hope I, too, can resist the temptations I shall face,

Be well... and believe in beauty of the soul, not beauty of possessions and form. Perhaps that final message will save you all...

goodbye, and bother me not again, please. You failed me when I needed help, why should I reach out to save a society, a world, broken by the worship of Sins, instead of eschewing such in favor of Love and Forgiveness.

I will watch, from some high place, but refuse to lift up a finger to save any. For, if I cannot be saved, why should others?