There is no political movement whose goals are more admirable, necessary, or virtuous than that of the Progressives. We fight the forces of war, ignorance, and greed with all of our hearts; many of us even understand that the survival of civilization, and perhaps humanity itself, may rest upon our shoulders during the next 100 years. And for better or worse, it will be up to us: we who, against all odds, are willing to fight for a better world. Unlike the generations before us, we will not allow ourselves to be content in handing our children a world shaped by ignorance and collective irresponsibility. Most every progressive understands this, on one level or another -- though most fail to remind each other of it often enough. The life of a progressive is mostly one of suffering. The reason being that our minds are cursed with an unrelenting conflict between outer realities and our own inner ideals. Everyday, we endure wars between our limitless imaginations ,and our knowledge and acceptance of a tragedy which surrounds all of us; some call it "the real world". It is a ghastly affliction. But it happens to be who we are.

Most of us have tried, at one time or another, to run from our powerful spirits and minds. We've tried alcohol, drugs, sex, and a few have even resorted to suicide. Tragically, it's no suprise that such a dark world compells the brightest of its spirits to surrender and willingly extinguish their flames.

A lot has been said about bloggers, and the blogosphere; some call it a fad, others call it a revolution -- I think both positions start from the wrong place. A blogger is nothing more than a person who writes their thoughts for others to read. Period. To speak of bloggers or blogs as a whole is as foolish as speaking of books and authors as a whole. One can go no farther than saying, "a book is a place for words, which are written by an author, and read by a reader." Beyond that, one can only speculate that the right collection of words might have a profound effect on history.

In general, the blogosphere is a dark place; its catacombs are full of the mindless, insane, perverted, and mean spirited bloggers who hide in shadows. Its walls are clad with pictures pornography, death, and allegedly humorous photos, which are unsophisticated to say the least. In otherwords, it is generally as deluded, schizophrenic, and trashy as the real world.

I imagine this blog as a lone candle in a long dark passage. The fellowship of pundits, its readers, and myself sit around the single flame, laughing, debating, passing along knowledge, or just telling the tale of a recent journey into the information labyrinth. Anyhow, this train of thought has come to natural stopping place. For the record, I have no regrets about this post's abrupt conclusion.