Imaginary Interviews: A Visit wth George Fox, Founder of the Religious Society of Friends (a.k.a. Quakers)

About seven years ago I created several imaginary interviews as a creative way of introducing friends and readers to people from the past whom I found interesting. This week I thought it. might be interesting to continue this series, beginning with George Fox, founder of the Religious Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers. 

I was in part interested because the Quakers had several times cropped up in my readings on other people such as the influence the Quakers later had on men like Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi. Also, being a descendent of Daniel Boone, my roots intersected with the Society of Friends when the Boone's first settled in Eastern Pennsylvania five decades before the American Revolution. 

In this imagined interview, I sat down with George Fox (1624–1691) to explore the convictions that shaped his revolutionary spiritual movement. Born in a turbulent era of religious and political upheaval in England, Fox’s radical vision of a direct, unmediated relationship with God challenged the established churches and inspired a movement grounded in simplicity, equality, and pacifism. This conversation delves into Fox’s spiritual journey, the challenges he faced, and the timeless relevance of Quaker principles in a modern world.

Cook Street Gate, one of the twelve gates in
Coventry where Fox received the first of his three 
initial "openings"--his term for vision ot revelation.
Photo: Creative Commons.

EN: Mr. Fox, could you share the pivotal moment that sparked your spiritual journey and led to the founding of the Quaker movement?  

George Fox: I’d be glad to recount it, though it’s a tale of divine disruption. I was born in 1624 in Leicestershire, raised Puritan, with a heart ever turned toward God. Yet, by my early twenties, I grew weary of the churches—corrupt, rigid, and far from Christ’s true spirit. In 1647, at 23, I wandered alone in the woods, wrestling with despair. Then, a voice pierced my soul: “There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.” It was as if God Himself reached down, revealing I needed no priest or steeple to know Him. That moment set me ablaze. I began preaching a direct communion with God, gathering those who’d later be called Quakers. We sought truth in simplicity, free from dogma’s chains.

EN: You faced fierce opposition—imprisonment, beatings, even death threats. How did you remain steadfast, and what advice would you offer those enduring hardships for their beliefs?  

George Fox: Persecution was our daily bread. I was jailed eight times, beaten, mocked, yet I stood firm by fixing my eyes on God’s light within. That Inner Light was my anchor; it whispered I was on the true path. My fellow Friends, too, were my strength—together, we bore the blows, knowing we weren’t alone. To those suffering for their convictions, I say: Hold fast. Trust the divine spark within you. Hardships fade, but truth endures. Lean on your community, and let God’s voice guide you through the storm.

 

EN: Quakerism’s principles—simplicity, equality, pacifism—are distinctive. How did you envision these transforming society, and do they still resonate today?  

George Fox: I saw these principles as God’s blueprint for a just world. Simplicity frees us from greed, turning our hearts to what matters—love, faith, community. Equality, rooted in the Inner Light, demands we honor every soul as God’s own, dissolving divisions of class or creed. Pacifism calls us to seek peace, not with swords, but through understanding. Today, your world—rife with strife and materialism—cries out for these truths. Simplicity could heal your obsession with wealth, equality your fractured societies, and pacifism your endless wars. These are not old notions but living remedies.

EN: The concept of the "Inner Light" is central to Quaker spirituality. Can you explain what it means to you and how it shaped your life and interactions?  

George Fox: The Inner Light is God’s presence in every soul—a divine spark that speaks truth, guides conscience, and kindles wisdom. It’s no distant deity but a living voice within, urging us to righteousness. For me, it was my compass, guiding decisions, softening conflicts, and teaching me to see others—rich or poor, friend or foe—as bearers of that same light. It made me listen, not judge; love, not condemn. When I met a soul, I sought their light, and it forged bonds stronger than any doctrine.

EN: You lived in a time of religious conflict. How did you engage with those of different faiths while staying true to your beliefs?  

George Fox: I met all—Puritans, Catholics, even skeptics—with openness, seeking the light in them. I believed God speaks to every heart, not just Quakers, so I listened, spoke plainly, and stood firm in my truth without scorn. I’d dispute fiercely with priests I thought misled their flocks, but never to wound—only to awaken. My aim was unity in God’s spirit, not division. Stay true to your light, I’d say, but honor the light in others, whatever their creed.

EN: Quakers’ unprogrammed worship and consensus-based decision-making seem unique. How did you envision these fostering community and purpose?  

George Fox: Our silent worship is no empty ritual—it’s a gathering in God’s presence, where each soul listens for divine guidance. No priest dictates; the Spirit moves us to speak or hold silence. This binds us, for we seek God together, equal in His sight. Our consensus reflects that equality—every voice matters, and we wait on God to guide our decisions. This builds a community rooted in trust, not hierarchy, united in purpose to live out God’s love. It’s a living faith, not a performance.

EN: Quakerism has diversified over time, with varied branches. How do you view this, and what principles must remain constant?  

After a lifetime of curiosity I finally attended a
Society of Friends worship service here at the
Quaker Meeting House in Duluth.

George Fox: I rejoice that the Friends have grown, though I grieve when divisions arise. The light within us is one, and its truth doesn’t bend to factions. The core must hold: the Inner Light as God’s voice in all, simplicity to keep us humble, equality to honor every soul, and peace to heal a violent world. Let branches flourish, but let these roots remain, for they are God’s eternal call to us.

EN: Observing today’s world, what Quaker values do you think are most urgently needed?  

George Fox: Your world drowns in noise, greed, and conflict. The Inner Light is needed to quiet the clamor, guiding you to truth amid lies. Simplicity could free you from chasing hollow wealth, equality heal your divisions of race and rank, and pacifism end your wars born of pride. Above all, listen—to God, to each other. Live as if all are equal in God’s sight, for they are. That’s the path to a just, compassionate world.

EN: What role does the Bible play in Quakerism? Is the Inner Light informed by Scripture or independent of it?  

George Fox: The Bible is a sacred record of God’s dealings with humanity, a guide to truth—but not the only one. The Inner Light, God’s direct voice within, is our truest compass. Scripture can illuminate that light, stirring the soul to righteousness, but it’s no substitute for God’s living presence. I’ve said, “The Scriptures are a good rule to guide us, but we must also have the Spirit to lead us into all truth.” The Light confirms the Bible’s truths and speaks afresh to each heart, for God is not silent.

 

EN: Any final words for our readers?  

George Fox: Seek the Light within—it is God’s gift to you, a spark that never fades. Live simply, love fiercely, and stand for truth, no matter the cost. You are never alone, for God speaks to all who listen. Let that truth guide you to a life of peace and purpose.

* * * * * 

Related

Imaginary Interview #1: A Visit with Artist Paul Klee  

https://ennyman.medium.com/imaginary-interviews-1-five-minutes-with-artist-paul-klee-a378aa96a2dd?sk=9467841105ad8239bbf5364b0174704d
Imaginary Interview #2: John S. Hall, the Blind Poet of Ritchie County

https://ennyman.medium.com/imaginary-interviews-2-john-s-hall-the-blind-poet-of-ritchie-county-5bddd0db5cd7?sk=071d23202a4673f2091abeaab1517499

Imaginary Interview #3: The Influential French Author Honore Balzac 

https://ennyman.medium.com/imaginary-interviews-3-the-influential-french-author-honoré-de-balzac-eec642f739cf?sk=20aa802f87d49f0cf5bcfc51e2475b72

Don't Know Much About History? Read All About It!

Daniel Boone by Chester Harding. National Portrait Gallery

This weekend I was talking with my brother about the birth of the oil industry and the period of history between the Civil War and WW1. He's been reading a history book that he picked up at a garage sale or somewhere that's been on his shelf. He'd gotten motivated to read this history book after reading a copy of the U.S. Constitution.

For me, history has always been fascinating. When I write about a subject I like to research the origins of ideas that preceded that subject. When I write about oil I learn the history of oil. I also ask questions and ask, "How did they lubricate things before there was oil?" Whale blubber, for example, produced an effective lubricating oil for wagon wheels.

Biographies are another way to learn about history. What makes biographies so interesting is that they give us insights into the men and women who created that history, what motivated them, and how they were shaped by earlier events in their lives. 

What's interesting is how new biographies can be written about people that shed new light on the person. For example, an early biography about president James Madison might include all the stories that had been written about him in the newspapers of his day. It is possible that the writer may have, out of deference, left out anything that would put the fourth president in a bad light. Later biographers who had access to all his personal correspondence and diaries might share much that casts the former president and co-author of the Constitution in a new light.

As a descendant of Daniel Boone I have read many books on the 18th century pioneer folk hero. None of the early books mention how one of his daughters was conceived by his brother while he was away on a hunting trip. Lest this sound shameful, consider that the usual "long hunts" were a matter of months. When Boone did not come back from one of his journeys it was assumed he was dead. Two years he was gone. His brother thus stepped in to be the head of the household.

Boone had actually been captured by a tribe of Native Americans in Ohio. The chief liked and respected him, and eventually gave him his daughter. When Boone learned that the tribe was planning to go wipe out the community he helped establish at Boonesborough, he left in the night and ran for three days to warn them of the impending attack. Before his arrival, his wife and brother worried about how Daniel would feel when he came home to see a daughter who was not his. Boone reportedly was completely magnanimous and welcomed Jemima as his own. 

EdNote: As I wrote that story I started wondering whether I may have combined two stories here. In any event, these two incidents were not included in early biographies and appear only in more recent books like Lawrence Elliott's The Long Hunter and John Mack Farragher's Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer.

Robert E. Lee was of stellar importance in the South that it was more than a century before anyone dared to say he may have made any strategic mistakes in the Civil War. Having been to Gettysburg, "Pickett's Charge" was inexcusable.

Meriwether Lewis very likely contracted syphilis during the famous Lewis and Clarke expedition to the Northwest, which was not included in early biographies of the explorer. 

In David McCullough's bio of John Adams there are many surprising details about Ben Franklin, who preached "Early to bed and early to rise" while actually doing otherwise.

Much more could be said, but for now it's time to start my day.

Related Links

Daniel Boone Was A Man

Democracy's Achilles Heel. Was Madison Right? 

Daniel Boone Was A Man

"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks."--Daniel Boone

Portrait of Daniel Boone by Alonzo Chappel

I've been reading an interesting book by Daniel Immerwahr titled How to Hide an Empire. It's a book about all U.S. holdings outside the 50 states. The introduction provided new insights (for me) into the Pearl Harbor assault that became the basis for this blog post on Pearl Harbor Day.

Published in February of this year, it was named one of this year's ten best books by the Chicago Tribune. On Amazon it is self-described as a "pathbreaking history of the United States’ overseas possessions and the true meaning of its empire."  The subtitle of this book is A History of the Great United States.

The first chapter of Immerwahr's book is titled The Fall and Rise of Daniel Boone. For what it's worth, I am a direct descendant of Daniel Boone, so when I see a full chapter on his life written as an intro to an important book, it catches my interest.

I'm pretty sure I've read more books about this pioneer who opened the Wilderness Road than most Americans, and most of my peers. That he has been a personal inspiration goes without saying. The URL for this blog is Pioneer Productions.  (pioneerproductions.blogspot.com)

While researching my roots, in order to verify the historical narrative that had been passed down through the family, I discovered that our Newman lineage wasn't descended from just one, but from two daughters of Daniel Boone. A pair of second generation cousins married to become the progenitor  of the Newman line.

All this to say that I know quite a bit about the Boone legacy, and have been continually learning more. For example, it wasn't until I moved to Northern Minnesota that I learned what he did for a living. He was a long hunter. Or, in the lingo of this region Up North, he was a Voyageur.

Voyageurs were French Canadian trappers and hunters who would go off into the wilderness for months at a time and return with beaver pelts and other game that they had gathered and hauled back to be sold in the markets back East. The Upper Midwest has a more recent history of these kinds of men, by which means I came to understand that Boone was a similar specimen from a much earlier earlier time.

As a long hunter, he learned the best routes to where the most wild game could be found. Through these explorations he learned of the Cumberland Gap which enabled him to gain access to regions West of the Appalachian Mountains. As a result he was commissioned to cut a 200 mile swath through the mountains that would later be tagged the Wilderness Road.

* * * *
AND SO it was interesting to discover this first chapter of the book dedicated to shining a light on this frontiersman. These long hunters were not all that respected by the powers that be. They lived on society's fringe and were, to some extent, nonconformists. According to Immerwahl, "The founders viewed frontiersmen like him with open suspicion."

Immerwahr, though, sheds additional light on another aspect of Daniel Boone's story: his international fame. He was increasingly well known in Europe.

Best book on the life of Boone.

During his lifetime, he was not respected by the powers that be, Immerwahr says, nor did he have high regard for them. At one time he oversaw a million acres in Kentucky and lived as a surveyor. Unfortunately, because he failed to properly file "deeds" the many friends whose lands he surveyed lost their land and he made right to them by giving them his own land. In the end, he had no land of his own which prompted him to leave the country.

He pretty much despised the legal systems that robbed him of everything he had so that in his twilight years he and his living sons moved to what is now Missouri which was a French territory that eventually became U.S. territory through the Louisiana Purchase.

His reputation grew after his death. James Fennimore Cooper based his Leatherstocking novels on the exploits of Daniel Boone. Boone also became famous in Europe, as noted in this section of an Amazon account of his life.

The legend of the American frontier is largely the legend of a single individual, Daniel Boone, who looms over our folklore like a giant. Boone figures in other traditions as well: Goethe held him up as the model of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "natural man," and Lord Byron devoted several stanzas of his epic poem Don Juan to the frontiersman, calling Boone "happiest of mortals any where." 

But folklore is not history, and we are fortunate to have a reliable and factual life of Boone through the considerable efforts of John Mack Faragher. The contradictory admirer of Indians who participated in their destruction, the slaveholder who cherished liberty, the devoted family man who prized solitude and would disappear into the woods for years at a time--the real Boone is far more interesting than the mythical image, and in this book we finally catch sight of him.


What Immerwahr notes is that the people on the fringe, who had once been "banditti" (white savages) and a thorn in the side for the "gentlemen" rulers who attempted to maintain control of the young nation's development, were later being called pioneers and spoken of as heroes. In other words, historians re-branded Daniel Boone and his ilk.

Boone was a peaceful man whose one regret was that in the defense of Boonesboro and the settlements of Kentucky he was forced three times to take the life of a Native American. He was a man highly respected by the Native tribes and at one time he was adopted into an Ohio tribe where he lived for two years. His was a remarkable story and he was a man bigger than life.

* * * *
TWO PARAGRAPHS FROM WIKIPEDIA
Daniel Boone (November 2, 1734 [O.S. October 22] – September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Although he also became a businessman, soldier and politician who represented three different counties in the Virginia General Assembly following the American Revolutionary War, Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky. Although on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains from most European-American settlements, Kentucky remained part of Virginia until it became a state in 1791.

As a young adult, Boone supplemented his farm income by hunting and trapping game, and selling their pelts in the fur market. Through this work, Boone first learned the easy routes westward. Despite some resistance from Native American tribes such as the Shawnee, in 1775, Boone blazed his Wilderness Road from North Carolina and Tennessee through Cumberland Gap in the Cumberland Mountains into Kentucky. There, he founded the village of Boonesborough, Kentucky, one of the first American settlements west of the Appalachians. Before the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 Americans migrated to Kentucky/Virginia by following the route marked by Boone.

* * * *
As for me, he was and always will be my great-great-great-great-great-great Grandfather.

Related Links
History.com on the creation of the Wilderness Road
History.com: 8 Things You Might Not Know About Daniel Boone 
10 Best Quotes from our Favorite Outdoorsman
Who Was Daniel Boone?

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Infobahn

THROWBACK THURSDAY
This article originally appeared in Zenith City Arts circa 1995.

Lost in Cyberspace

My first inkling of linking up with the Net emerged sometime in 1993. I knew I needed a modem, but in order to do this I had to upgrade my Mac since I was still driving my original 512Ke.

This done, with the help of some freelance income, I looked forward to Christmas when I could ask for a chunk of the payment toward a good fax/modem from Mr. Deep Pockets--as in Dad.

I had, unfortunately, some major writing projects I needed to tackle and I feared getting into Pioneer Netsurf Mode would endanger my productivity.

Fast forward to May 5, 1994. It is a Thursday, and I decide to visit Thinkman--a Net Surfer. He opens the gates and I get my first peek inside the realm I'd heretofore only dreamed of. Naturally I was hooked.

May 7, journal entry: Thots continue to orbit around the idea of Cyberspace and Connectivity. Made a purch. Will receive modem & AOL by next week. What will all this jargon do to mod lit?

Net travel becomes the primary pre-occupation in my thoughts. It is part of every conversation. I am bombarded by a whole battery of questions. How time consuming will it be? How long does it take to learn the protocol for getting around? How accessible is it, really? Will my anticipation lead to disappointment?

BUT A FUNNY THING WAS HAPPENING on my way to this peak experience. People around me were not all that excited. I mean, most of my workpace peers didn't even know what I was talking about. "Cyberspace? Infonet? Huh?"

Except a few. THEY knew. They knew something about it because they had seen it on television a few days earlier--a segment on one of those News Magazine-type programs that led them to believe the Infobahn was a world of terror where your worst nightmares come true... as stalkers and lurkers and hate mongers track you down, threaten your children and, generally, ruin your life.

Then there was the Newsweek cover story. Same week. Same fear-mongering. Is this really how it is out there?

After my first fifteen hours logged online here's my reaction: It's beautiful. Meeting people I could have never met any other way. A writer's group. Very open and friendly chat room experiences. A sympathetic, heartfelt discussion about Jackie O's sudden passing was in AOL's The Front Porch Room before it hit the news.

Of Flaming? What are these people talking about? I know, I'm a neophyte... so I speak out of ignorance. But how prevalent is it, really?

The whole of it seemed a little childish in my opinion. Sort of like the exaggerated caricatures of dope fiends in the film Reefer Madness.

Well, can you imagine if driving cars got this kind of publicity? Show pictures of bleeding heads hurled through windshields with a large banner that reads, 'THIS COULD BE YOU! DRIVING IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH1" M.A.D. ('Mericans Against Driving.)

My experience has raised some questions though. Does the major media respond this way because it feels threatened? Does it hope that the negative PR will prove detrimental to the movement? Did Michael Crichton's warnings to the National Press Club* send shivers up some spines? Or is this an addiction the new media has for which there is no cure until they are buried? Making people feel afraid must be an easier task than making people feel good.'

* * *

Now, here's the thing. You're interested in having a dialogue with peers at work about a book by Italo Calvino, or Jorge Luis Borges' use of labyrinths as a metaphor in his stories. Problem is, your peers do not read Calvino. In fact, most have never heard of Calvino, or Borges. They all watch television, and if you do not you are unable to meaningfully contribute to their perpetual break room revelry on the merits of the latest mini-series.

You suddenly discover a group of Borges fans discussing THIS VERY SUBJECT in a forum on America Online. This new expansion of your world is a blessing-and-a-half. Then you find that other interests of yours are also being discussing in various forums around the Matrix (another nickname for Cyberspace or the Net.) Who can blame you for wanting to spend a little more time with these people who share your interests? They, unlike others in your geographical sphere, understand where you are coming from. They appreciate your off-beat perspectives or narrow interests. And it feels good to know you are not isolated and alone in your views.  You feel affirmed, and just plain good about your world again.

* * *

A month has passed. My "flight log hours" in Cyberspace are adding up. Has my enthusiasm for this Big Adventure dissipated into mist? Hardly. List serves, Usenets, Veronica searches in Gopherspace... a universe has opened to me. And guess what? I've met some new friends--Mad Zeno, Therofax, Merlyn--as well as business contacts, including a literary agent who is interested in my work.

Nevertheless, the Media still seems intent on fear-mongering. A June 10 commentary by Bill Bishop in the local Duluth News Tribune again emphasized the down side of the Net. Cyberspace will ruin language and communication, he predicts, citing an obscure notation by a Harvard political scientist's study of communities in Italy.

Is this guy being a bit alarmist here, or what?

The future is upon us, folks. And if you'd rather buy buggy whip stock, have at it. My bet is on the technologies of Tomorrow. The wonders of Internet are available to all. And an open invitation is extended to anyone with a terminal.

Sure, there's hype. But there's some substance to the message of those Infobahn Evangelists, too. It's a New Frontier, calling for a new breed of Pioneers.

Columbus discovered the New World, Daniel Boone carved the Wilderness Road and historians have certified their importance by immortalizing their achievements in history books. Without a doubt, in the same way many of today's Cyberspace Pioneers will become legends in the history books of tomorrow.

If you want, you can be a part of it. Or wait... and watch your grandchildren read about it later.

# # # # 

I came across the 1994 article above while cleaning clutter out of my garage this past weekend. I thought it might make a suitable blog post for Throwback Thursday. How did you first discover the Internet?

*April 6, 1993, Michael Crichton predicted that our current perception of “mass media” would disappear within the next decade, and focused on the problems of the current media which has been charged with fabricating images to accompany news stories and with dealing in trivialities.

Two Approaches To History: Michener’s Mexico and Philbrick's Bunker Hill

This week I finished read Nathaniel Philbrick's Bunker Hill, a meticulously researched account of the events the preceded and to some extent instigated the American Revolution.

While reading this book I began to be aware of a pattern in many such contemporary re-tellings of history past. I noticed it first while reading The Long Hunter, a new Daniel Boone biography, perhaps 20 years ago. Lawrence Elliott produced the book because of the new availability of letters and other historical documents, he could paint a more accurate picture of the pioneer. In addition, because times have changed, readers would be more open to hearing “inconvenient truths” about one of America’s early heroes.

Bunker Hill is just this kind of book. Philbrick has sifted through acres of letters and documents, court records and diaries, to find new details that might shed light on features of the story that have remained in shadow due to the bold manner in which this tale has previously been told. The characters remain the same – Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, General Gage -- but we see them from a different light.

The problem I have with the book and other history books of this ilk (The Long Hunter being an exception) is that the details can become tedious at time. It’s like a competition between moving the story forward and getting all the facts in there as if they are essential to a true understanding. And maybe that’s the problem. A really true, true understanding is not fully possible as these people lived in different times, and no matter how vividly the picture is painted, it still has shortcomings, not the least of which is maintaining the interest of the reader so that he keeps turning the page.

There’s an alternate approach to illuminating history, and that is the historical novel. James Michener’s novels rest on the same foundation of Bunker Hill, thorough research. But the painting is now handled with a bit more artfulness. That is, Michener uses a fictional tale to carry readers into facets of history they have never visited before. Mexico is one such story.

If I remember my facts properly, Michener at this point in his career had a team of eight researchers for some or many of his books. To his credit he chose not to squeeze all the material they unearthed into his novel. It would have created an unnecessarily long aside. Instead, he produced a separate book, a small volume titled The Battle of San Jacinto. This little gem of a story was not a necessary appendage, so he wisely lopped it off.

It’s more than twenty years since I read Michener’s Mexico, but I well recall its story. Norman Clay, a Mexican-born journalist who writes for a major paper, goes to 1961 Mexico to research a bullfighting story. In the process readers learn about the complicated history of the mexclados who make up this nation, a mix of strong and weak tribes, perpetrators of inquisitions and their victims, and enterprises both noble and corrupt. Life is complicated, and nowhere moreso than Mexico.

The novel has its critics but it succeeded in keeping me engaged at the time, for 672 pages, perhaps in part because I'd lived in Mexico for a year about a dozen years earlier. Some critics found the details about bullfighting off-putting, but as I had previously read Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon I found it to be just another piece of a larger story. It did not seem out of place, perhaps even being a metaphor for Mexico's bloody overall history.

This review from Amazon.com sums up what I felt about Mexico at the time:

As a 1st time Michener reader, I loved Mexico. Michener weaves a story that is at once a tour-de-force of bullfighting, a sweeping panorama of Mexican history, an apologetic of the Mexican psyche for (typically) arrogant North Americans, and an exploration of the purpose of life for a middle aged Mexican-American journalist. It is a credit to Michener's art that he can pull off all that in a seamless and gripping read.

I myself have written a first draft of a historical novel titled Uprooted that takes place in Estonia during the Second World War. It will never have the breadth of a Michener novel, but who knows where it will lead? Michener wrote much of Mexico in the early 1960's and finished it 30 years later. I first wrote mine as a screenplay in 1994. Maybe I can see the project completed in 2024?

Meantime, may your weekend be a memorable one as you reflect on this day in history.

It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding

If there was an internet back in Revolutionary War days, the following Daniel Boone tale would no doubt have been tagged a "rural legend." As the story goes, one day the famed Kentucky pioneer was hiking through a forest when he unexpectedly stepped on the tale of a rattlesnake. Simultaneously, a mother grizzly stood high over him and he noticed he'd come between the bear and her cubs. As if this weren't enough, beyond the cubs was a Native with fierce intentions placing an arrow into his bow.

More Hollywood than real life, but it's an apt illustration for the times we live in. Economic crises, global warming, unexplained infectious epidemics, food shortages, drug wars... and the ongoing conflicts in multiple locations throughout the known world signaling that 9/11 is not yet finished... We tune it out daily, primarily so we can enjoy our sports, entertainment and other diversions. It's hard to function when your heart is heavy so most of the time you cap it. Having responsibilities on the job helps distract us as well.

But like trying to hold a beach ball underwater, our global troubles occasionally slip out and surface again so that we're aware of the global interconnectedness of the world we live in. This week, it occurred in the form of riots in an uncertain number of countries. Purportedly these riots were a knee-jerk reaction to a film about Mohammed. Is it possible the film is but the occasion for this display of anti-Americanism that has been long seething beneath the surface due to American behavior abroad?

During World War II, as U.S. troops marched into town after driving out the Nazis in Northern Italy, the people rushed out to greet them, shouting "Bueno Americano!" The Americans at one time were heroes. My sense is that this is no longer so. One reason might be that when we visit other countries the only Americans they encounter are our drones.

A story in The Guardian states that in Pakistan alone there have been over 330 drone attacks with more than 3,000 civilian casualties. I doubt the people in Pakistan are shouting "Bueno Americano." Nor the people in Yemen or Somalia or Egypt. In a Tom Englehart column at LewRockwell.com yesterday it was pointed out that being militarily powerful is now America's great claim to fame. Currently we now produce nearly 80% of the world's arms, and have Delta and other incursion forces in as many as 120 countries worldwide.

I don't know where this is all going to lead, but it concerns me. I hear other people-in-the-know express their concerns and wonder how we can so willingly go on with our bread-and-circuses.

Then again, maybe the bread-and-circuses are good because we have no power to really change anything anyways. The power brokers decide and we live with the consequences. The Ugly American has cnme of age.