I have been waiting for the movie "300" to come out. I am going to see it this weekend. It is getting good reviews. I have always loved the story. I have been called naive, idealistic, and out of touch. But I was raised on the ideas of honor, commitment, duty. They are more than words to me. I try to live by them. It is rare in todays materialistic, me generation, world to find people who do more than just give lip service to such lofty ideals. Honor is, sadly, a rare thing in todays world. I see way more hedonism than honor, more self-serving than self-sacrifice, more vascillation than valor. Honor, valor, sacrifice, commitment, people today don't know the meaning of those words. They are just that, words. Not ideals to live by, not virtues to strive for. That is why we are in the shape we are in today. That is why corrupt officials can steal our rights from us. That is why people are buying things that they fear will become "illegal" to own. That is why we allow ourselves to become enslaved. If our nation was being invaded by an overwhelming force could we find even 300 who would stand to defend it. Are there 300 who would stand and defend her now against the enemies within. I hope this movie inspires some to live those ideals, to take seriously the threat at our door. For those who don't know the story here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae I believe that the battle cry of these brave men should reverberate off every government building in this nation. City, State, and Nation. Molon Labe !!! We should shout the slogan, "At Thermopylae it cost 1,000,000 Persians, 30,000 lives to disarm 300 Spartans. 100,000,000 American gun owners will resist much harder, this we swear." Will we? Mark Koernke once said "Don't fool yourselves. If they declared guns illegal tomorrow, and you would go to prison for not turning them in, then 9 out of 10 people would hand them over immediately." But, he added " do the math. That means that if we have 100 million gun owners in America, and 9 out of 10 turn in thier weapons, that leaves 10 million, armed, dedicated, and committed people, willing to defend thier rights." Will we ever have the honor, the valor, the committment to stand, and die if need be, to resist the onslaught of the Persians at our door? Will we ever see the kind of valor shown by Leonidas and his 300? Spartan King Leonidas: Remember this day, men, for it will be yours for all time. Persian Officer: SPARTANS! Lay down your weapons! Spartan King Leonidas: Persians...COME AND GET THEM! Spartan King Leonidas: Give them nothing! But take from them everything! Report of Persian numbers "When thier archers loose thier arrows they blot out the sun" Stelios: Good ! Then we will fight in the shade. Spartan King Leonidas: A new age has come, an age of freedom. And all will know that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it. Xerxes: Cruel Leonidas demanded that you stand. I require only that you kneel. Persian Officer: Spartans, lay down your weapons. Spartan King Leonidas: Molon Labe! (Come and get them!) Persian Emissary: This is madness! Spartan King Leonidas: Madness? This is Sparta! Spartan King Leonidas: We Spartans have descended from Hercules himself. Taught never to retreat, never to surrender. Taught that death in the battlefield is the greatest glory he could achieve in his life. Spartans: the finest soldiers the world has ever known. When someone told him: "Leonidas! How are you going with so few to risk with so many"? he said: "If you think that I am going to fight by numbers, then the whole of Greece would be insufficient, for she is only a small part of the numbers of the Persians, but if I am going to fight by valor, then even this number is enough" Plutarch Apophthegmata Laconica, Leonidas of Anaxandridas
FYI, I just saw that HBO has a 15 minute "First look" documentary on the movie. It is on several times today. The next one is at 3:30 CST. I only caught the last couple of minutes of it.
It's too bad that you have to look so hard to find people with these great qualities in today's society.
More than once, my ex accused me of being a bit rigid about some things that we here regard as a necessary part of living. I'm sure that is at least a part of the ex business.
Just got in from watching 300 ........................wow a very good show, One I will buy for the Kids and Grandkids to watch and learn. everyone should go see this Movie.
I'll have to go check it out then. Thanks. My daughter wanted me to take her to see it at Midnight on the opening night. I was unable to but found it an odd request for a 16 year old girl and her friend.
Those traits and business and/or politics are mutually exclusive. I posted somewhere else about my Mother being involved in State politics for years. She was asked to run for State Senator from her district. She declined, because in her words she had been around politics long enough to know that to get anything accomplished you had to compromise your values. And she wasn't willing to do that. Her side of the family are all Choctaw Indians. There is a thing called the "Choctaw Code". In thier culture they didn't believe in prisons. If you committed a crime you made restitution. If you caused a nieghbors cow to die, you bought him two to replace it and so forth. In capitol crimes, which included causing anothers death by any means, accidental or what we would call manslaughter, the penalty was the same. Death. But they did it with a twist. The condemned was given 1 year to set his affairs in order. He was released and ordered to return 1 year from the day at 12 noon to be executed. He was free to go anywhere, do anything, for 1 year. In the 100+ years of self rule not one single Choctaw man ever failed to return. He would not disgrace his family, he would lose his life rather than lose his honor. I am proud to come from that bloodline. I hope that if it came down to it I would have that kind of resolve, that kind of honor.
I found some stills from the movie. can't wait to see it. I am a fan of Frank Miller and like it that he has told this story.
I taught this story to my 6th graders years ago. Wonder if any of them remember it? Had another teacher tell me, "I don't know anything about that, why are you teaching it?" I took early retirement, and she's an administrator seeing to it that teachers only teach the state curriculum which is very p.c. Go figure. Those stories that inspired western civilization for hundreds of years are being lost. folks.
More likely it's followed much of the rest of history education, given way to modern subjects like ritalin experiments necessitated by removing recess because of the dangers of kick ball and anti competition so that no child has to be embarrased by being picked last for the team. No child will be left behind if there is no race to run. I remember Thermopylae from 6th grade, much less the required history courses in college.
I saw the movie last night. It was great. There were a few things that I would have changed. It is a bit comic bookish in some details. But it is based on the Frank Miller graphic novel. The blood and gore has been talked a lot about on the news. It is far less bloody and gruesome than the slasher flicks that have come out. But the message comes through loud and clear. Duty, honor, and sacrifice for a noble cause. Freedom is not free it comes with a price, sometimes a high price. When the DVD comes out I will edit out the sex scenes and watch it with my daughter. On a side note. My wife and I went to the early matinee. There were only about 40 people there. Nearly all of them were pairs of guys. More than one pair were obviously more than buddies. We were speculating about that. This movie seems to be a big hit with the homosexuals. But with a movie full of buffed guys in loin cloths I guess you would expect that. This flick out to set box office records in San Fanthisco.
Thing about the 9 out of ten gunowners turning them in if guns were declared contraband.The ptb will not "beg a fight",the choice will be turn them in or bedeclared an outlaw subject to intense search and interrogation. Not; turn them in and then watch your family be be marched to slave labor camps... that part would only come about after the guns are quietly removed, then when the gates to the camps swing wide open we will only have field expediant arms available...which of us would have quietly lined up and filed in the gaschambers instead of taking our chances in the wire if we knew what was coming? None of us.
The movie was on The History Channel last week. A very good movie that has generated heated discussion on FOX News last night. Talk about wanting to rewrite history so that feathers will be smoothed. It seems that real history is not politically correct enough, or important enough to be taught in schools. Sad commentary on todays dumbing down of our youth.