Serene Falcon

Jena Is Ever Within Our Hearts

October 4th, 2007address at 6:50 am (Self Writ, Correctitude, High Germany, Places, Royalism, Spengler, Videos, War)

Although uninterested in automobiles, I’m terribly fond of my little Pajero, ‘Baby’, as I call her without the faintest trace of mawkishness. Certainly she may lack a dainty grace, but she could go through a large crowd of people in 10 seconds. She looks like this ( except goldish champagne ):

Yesterday I went to the dentist in Ipswich keeping a wary eye out for cop-cars; keeping to the correct mileage to the sulphurous annoyance of the drivers behind; and inter alia running a red light unnoticed. After picking up some more boxes from the garage, glancing without pleasure at the rest to be moved — since we’ve not really had a summer the cold and wet inculcates mould —- I left Baby in a multi-story since cars there attract less attention than on the road. Unfortunately there were a couple of hours to kill, and this not merely reinforced my distaste for a place where I had been far too often, but emphasised how further along the road to booklessness towns are on. Two books only could I buy: of thousands of books most were modern trash, and the rest either uninteresting or read. On my own road to perdition, it shewed that I have, on most subjects, read as much as I shall ever want to. And of the few types of books I still do want to read, these are unobtainable in shops… Which is one form of defeat.

Still, and this is more a subject for a separate paper, Defeat is illusory — as much as is Victory — vital, and necessitous. It is not only part of the human condition, but the major part; and is far more enriching than the equally temporary feat of victory. Apart from the fact that without defeat we could no longer fight —- I have never heard of any commander who, lying, didn’t proclaim the ultimate aim was universal peace; peace on their terms no doubt, but boring deadly peace nonetheless — it may not be the lostness of lost causes that is the potent attraction, but that those causes being more correct than others were bound to lose, and gain a shining aura in the process. The Prussians were powerfully beaten at Jena, but their fighting there should be as cherished as that in any of their victories. And… in Valhalla both victors and defeated are created anew to battle the next day…

On the other hand, for a future post on Himmelstürmers, I came across this related page on the new GMC Yukons with pop-up Gatlings, and I can honestly say that if I ever wanted another SUV than my sweet Baby, it would be one of these. The Prussians could have used one at Jena; and it would be useful if I ever visited Jena, Louisiana.