The Four Feathers
February 18, 2007
In 1902, the novel ’The Four Feathers’ by British writer A.E.W. Mason was published. The story is of British officer Harry Faversham, who resigns his commission from his regiment just as the Battle of Omdurman, in the Sudan, was to begin in the late 1890s. Faversham was thought to be guilty of cowardice by three of his comrades and his fiancée. Although he resigns his commission for personal reasons, not cowardice, his three comrades and fiancée deliver to him each, a single feather. The feathers strongly signify cowardice and cause Faversham to question his own true motives. He resolves to redeem himself in combat, traveling on his own to the Sudan. Ultimately, Faversham is able to redeem himself through his own acts of heroism and character.
A.E.W. Mason’s story takes place at the end of the Victorian era, which was a time marked by high British achievement in industry, the arts and culture. During those years, people behaved in a proper fashion and ones honor was something to be guarded and to be protected from tarnishment. Finding oneself in the unfortunate position of receiving feathers for cowardice undoubtedly had to be devastating to a person's self-image and perception of self-worth. The drive to cleanse oneself of such a shame and the stigma of cowardice must have been as equally strong. Being known as a coward by ones contemporaries for receiving the symbolic feathers of cowardice must have caused one to be looked upon with disdain. It is not impossible to imagine that such a person was seen as a pariah.
Over a century later and on our side of the Atlantic Ocean, we find ourselves looking upon this nation’s 110th Congress and its members who are guilty of the disgraceful act of cowardice in their unwillingness to support our troops in Iraq. While war wages in the Middle East with our sons and daughters in uniform being in harms way our congress has retroactively decided that they do not want this war after all.
In a symbolic move, the U.S. House or Representatives in a 246-182 vote this past Friday approved a nonbinding resolution denouncing President Bush's planned "surge" of 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.
"The passage of this legislation will signal a change in direction in Iraq that will end the fighting and bring our troops home," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) plans to attach a provision to the upcoming $93 billion supplemental spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan, placing restrictions on military deployments and further tying President Bush’s hands.
This is deja vous all over again. Just over 30 years ago, Congress voted to cut funds for the South Vietnamese government and the nation fell to the North in 1975. We lost that war due to the cowardice of Congress, and we are in danger of defeat in Iraq because of today’s renewed bout with cowardice by the Congress. The stakes are much higher today though. If the U.S. pulls out of Iraq without finishing a job that Congress approved of by passing the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq on 11 October 2002, this nation will be at risk of the enemy coming to our shores to bring the war to our doorstep. Friday's resolution denouncing President Bush's planned "surge" of 20,000 additional troops to Iraq is the first round of the abandonment of our objective and troops by the Congress with more rounds to follow until this nation has it’s troops home in a state of defeat and shame, much as was the case with Viet Nam at its conclusion. One must question the motives of the majority of those who voted for the non-binding resolution to denounce the president’s troop surge. It is clear that the majority of democrats are motivated at the prospects of damaging the president and the Republican Party enough that they will be in position to seize back the White House in 2008 at the cost of American security from terrorism as we embolden our enemies by losing the will to take the fight to them. The fact that they will bring it to us is just a minor detail to the Democrats. Regaining the White House at any cost is their priority. The left is all consumed with regaining power at the expense of American lives within our borders.
British officer Harry Faversham who was thought to be a coward by his friends and fiancée redeemed himself in A.E.W. Mason’s novel. Such redemption for the cronies up on Capitol Hill is virtually impossible. Faversham’s redemption came because of the strength of his character. Redemption for those on Capitol Hill will forever be elusive, for they appear to have no trace of character. Faversham shed the stigma symbolized by the four feathers. Congress hasn’t a chance in hell at this rate, but there is always hope.
We as a people are hog-tied in what we can do. Our Congress is rotten to the core and is made up of money grubbing and self-serving elitists from both sides of the isle, with the left who is primarily bent on retaining power and regaining the White House. Nothing else matters to them. Never mind that we the people of America support our troops and that we understand the dangers if we pull support from our troops and end this war prematurely. Our Congress on the other hand refuses to listen to the American People. So how do we get their attention?
Actions can speak louder than words. I fancy the idea of giving a coward a feather to send him the blunt message that we see him as a coward. Why not begin by sending those in Congress a few feathers? The gesture is simple, it’s novel and it can send a powerful message; -that we are on to the mindset of Congress and we know the nature of their true character. Sending an ordinary fax or a letter to Congress will be treated as virtually any other fax or letter sent to Congress. It may be noted with a computer generated form letter being generated and sent to the address on the letter, then be disposed of. A feather sent will be different and may well be taken notice of through all the other letters sent by others for its unique delivery of a message. I personally do not have a real feather lying around. However, I certainly can draw one, Xerox one from a picture in book, or I can find an image of a feather on the internet, which I can print and put into the mail or fax. I might hand write a simple statement under the feather I send it to a Congress member deserving of a feather. My thoughts are “What if everyone who is a true patriot was to do the same?” Would a ground swell of support for our troops occur and be voiced to Congress by means of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of patriotic Americans sending a feather and statement to their representative? Perhaps such a thing could change the mind of just one influential or powerful enough politician. Maybe others will see the error of their ways when they receive enough feathers of cowardice.
I will be dropping a feather in the mail to Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, and Diane Feinstein and for good measure Ellen Tauscher. Alone, my feathers are insignificant and meaningless to the recipients. As part of a larger number of feathers sent to Congress, our messages begin to grow legs as one single demand that will be heard by those the message is intended. We have power in numbers. Numbers that Congress fears. If enough of us send the same message, we can get our unified voice out that we are on to the rampant cowardice in Congress and that we make a demand to those who pretend to represent us to change their stance. We do this for America, and we do this, because we support out troops.
In 1902, the novel ’The Four Feathers’ by British writer A.E.W. Mason was published. The story is of British officer Harry Faversham, who resigns his commission from his regiment just as the Battle of Omdurman, in the Sudan, was to begin in the late 1890s. Faversham was thought to be guilty of cowardice by three of his comrades and his fiancée. Although he resigns his commission for personal reasons, not cowardice, his three comrades and fiancée deliver to him each, a single feather. The feathers strongly signify cowardice and cause Faversham to question his own true motives. He resolves to redeem himself in combat, traveling on his own to the Sudan. Ultimately, Faversham is able to redeem himself through his own acts of heroism and character.
A.E.W. Mason’s story takes place at the end of the Victorian era, which was a time marked by high British achievement in industry, the arts and culture. During those years, people behaved in a proper fashion and ones honor was something to be guarded and to be protected from tarnishment. Finding oneself in the unfortunate position of receiving feathers for cowardice undoubtedly had to be devastating to a person's self-image and perception of self-worth. The drive to cleanse oneself of such a shame and the stigma of cowardice must have been as equally strong. Being known as a coward by ones contemporaries for receiving the symbolic feathers of cowardice must have caused one to be looked upon with disdain. It is not impossible to imagine that such a person was seen as a pariah.
Over a century later and on our side of the Atlantic Ocean, we find ourselves looking upon this nation’s 110th Congress and its members who are guilty of the disgraceful act of cowardice in their unwillingness to support our troops in Iraq. While war wages in the Middle East with our sons and daughters in uniform being in harms way our congress has retroactively decided that they do not want this war after all.
In a symbolic move, the U.S. House or Representatives in a 246-182 vote this past Friday approved a nonbinding resolution denouncing President Bush's planned "surge" of 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.
"The passage of this legislation will signal a change in direction in Iraq that will end the fighting and bring our troops home," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) plans to attach a provision to the upcoming $93 billion supplemental spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan, placing restrictions on military deployments and further tying President Bush’s hands.
This is deja vous all over again. Just over 30 years ago, Congress voted to cut funds for the South Vietnamese government and the nation fell to the North in 1975. We lost that war due to the cowardice of Congress, and we are in danger of defeat in Iraq because of today’s renewed bout with cowardice by the Congress. The stakes are much higher today though. If the U.S. pulls out of Iraq without finishing a job that Congress approved of by passing the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq on 11 October 2002, this nation will be at risk of the enemy coming to our shores to bring the war to our doorstep. Friday's resolution denouncing President Bush's planned "surge" of 20,000 additional troops to Iraq is the first round of the abandonment of our objective and troops by the Congress with more rounds to follow until this nation has it’s troops home in a state of defeat and shame, much as was the case with Viet Nam at its conclusion. One must question the motives of the majority of those who voted for the non-binding resolution to denounce the president’s troop surge. It is clear that the majority of democrats are motivated at the prospects of damaging the president and the Republican Party enough that they will be in position to seize back the White House in 2008 at the cost of American security from terrorism as we embolden our enemies by losing the will to take the fight to them. The fact that they will bring it to us is just a minor detail to the Democrats. Regaining the White House at any cost is their priority. The left is all consumed with regaining power at the expense of American lives within our borders.
British officer Harry Faversham who was thought to be a coward by his friends and fiancée redeemed himself in A.E.W. Mason’s novel. Such redemption for the cronies up on Capitol Hill is virtually impossible. Faversham’s redemption came because of the strength of his character. Redemption for those on Capitol Hill will forever be elusive, for they appear to have no trace of character. Faversham shed the stigma symbolized by the four feathers. Congress hasn’t a chance in hell at this rate, but there is always hope.
We as a people are hog-tied in what we can do. Our Congress is rotten to the core and is made up of money grubbing and self-serving elitists from both sides of the isle, with the left who is primarily bent on retaining power and regaining the White House. Nothing else matters to them. Never mind that we the people of America support our troops and that we understand the dangers if we pull support from our troops and end this war prematurely. Our Congress on the other hand refuses to listen to the American People. So how do we get their attention?
Actions can speak louder than words. I fancy the idea of giving a coward a feather to send him the blunt message that we see him as a coward. Why not begin by sending those in Congress a few feathers? The gesture is simple, it’s novel and it can send a powerful message; -that we are on to the mindset of Congress and we know the nature of their true character. Sending an ordinary fax or a letter to Congress will be treated as virtually any other fax or letter sent to Congress. It may be noted with a computer generated form letter being generated and sent to the address on the letter, then be disposed of. A feather sent will be different and may well be taken notice of through all the other letters sent by others for its unique delivery of a message. I personally do not have a real feather lying around. However, I certainly can draw one, Xerox one from a picture in book, or I can find an image of a feather on the internet, which I can print and put into the mail or fax. I might hand write a simple statement under the feather I send it to a Congress member deserving of a feather. My thoughts are “What if everyone who is a true patriot was to do the same?” Would a ground swell of support for our troops occur and be voiced to Congress by means of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of patriotic Americans sending a feather and statement to their representative? Perhaps such a thing could change the mind of just one influential or powerful enough politician. Maybe others will see the error of their ways when they receive enough feathers of cowardice.
I will be dropping a feather in the mail to Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, and Diane Feinstein and for good measure Ellen Tauscher. Alone, my feathers are insignificant and meaningless to the recipients. As part of a larger number of feathers sent to Congress, our messages begin to grow legs as one single demand that will be heard by those the message is intended. We have power in numbers. Numbers that Congress fears. If enough of us send the same message, we can get our unified voice out that we are on to the rampant cowardice in Congress and that we make a demand to those who pretend to represent us to change their stance. We do this for America, and we do this, because we support out troops.
If you are in agreement with the above message, I encourage you to link it to others who are like minded.
God Bless America
God Bless America
Copyright 02/18/07 by Randy Williams. Use granted to all who identify author
posted by Spot at
9:12 PM
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