The Ultimate Answer to Kings: And speaking of songs...

They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means "The Ultimate Argument of Kings," and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. "We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it's about: You'll do as I say or I'll send my goons to kill you."

I thought about that for a long time. If there's an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I've got bullets - he's got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that's not going to happen. So if there's an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain't bullets.

It finally came to me - and that's when I left the city, abandoned a goodly percentage of my goods, and gave all that was behind me a good, stiff Randian Shrug.

The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

And speaking of songs...

Yes, I know this is silly. I often pride myself on my serious nature, while sometimes embracing the silliest things you can imagine. One of the silliest things I can imagine is being a fanboy for a failed TV series, but I most certainly am. And there is this tribute to that particular series, a song called "Mal's Song," that has always resonated with me.

Mal Reynolds, in the series, was a man of faith and conviction who lost everything, including his faith and his conviction. As a way to survive his loss, he went the opposite way - he wanted to ride outside the borders of his society so that he might live his life the way he wanted, free of outside constraints. Though it caused him no end of trouble, he mostly got what he sought. Minus the spaceship and (so far) the violence, my life has been kinda like that.