Courage Denied

"You Want My What?"

"The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner."

The satirist Mark Twain uttered that line. In my search for copy on the subject of courage, I have found the truth of Twain's words. Here at The Colorist, I have been studying the traits of a fine artist. Interest and support for the trait of courage is at an all time low. Try another quote:

"Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men," General George S. Patton.

Here is a watershed moment: artist takes the army to school regarding courage.

Here is the story:

Army castrates heraldic lion

Published: 13 Dec 07 12:34 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/9398/20071213/

Protests from female soldiers have led to the Swedish military removing the penis of a heraldic lion depicted on the Nordic Battlegroup's coat of arms.

The armed forces agreed to emasculate the lion after a group of women from the rapid reaction force lodged a complaint to the European Court of Justice, Göteborgs-Posten reports.

But although the army was eventually happy to make the changes in the interests of gender equality, the artist who designed the insignia was less than pleased.

"A heraldic lion is a powerful and stately figure with its genitalia intact and I cannot approve an edited image," Vladimir A Sagerlund from the National Archives told Göteborgs-Posten.

Sagerlund blasted the army for making changes to the coat of arms without his permission.

"The army lacks knowledge about heraldry. Once upon a time coats of arms containing lions without genitalia were given to those who betrayed the Crown," said Sagerlund.


"We were given the task of making sure the willy disappeared," Christian Braunstein from the army's 'tradition commission' told Göteborgs-Posten.


But the castrated lion has already won the day and is now worn on the arms of all soldiers in the battle group's Swedish battalions.

"We were given the task of making sure the willy disappeared," Christian Braunstein from the army's 'tradition commission' told Göteborgs-Posten.

"We were forced to cut the lion's willy off with the aid of a computer," he added.

The Nordic Battlegroup is one of eighteen such military groups in the European Union. Some 2,000 of its 2,400 soldiers come from Sweden, with the rest coming from Finland, Norway, Ireland and Estonia.

Perhaps interest in courage is at an all time low. For the love of God, how does taking away the pride of someone else benefit these faultfinders?

Just to get it straight, courage is defined basically in two categories: physical and moral. We are interested here in the moral courage sub-category of "artistic courage". What is it, and is there any to be had? Is there anywhere to turn to discover the trait of artistic courage?

Stay tuned.

Darkness Gone?

New Memorial Design, USS Oklahoma

USS Oklahoma, Pearl Harbor

The author William Manchester wrote a cracking good book, his personal memoir of his USMC service in the Pacific, Goodbye Darkness, a Memoir of the Pacific War, 1980. If you're after a dynamic read about the Pacific Theater battles of WWII, this is your best choice. He skillfully weaves himself throughout all of the island campaigns, even though his participation was limited to three of the island battles. A great idea by a great author and an even greater military man, having earned the Navy Cross. (The Navy Cross medal was designed by James Fraser, who sculpted The End of the Trail, as well)

Today we remember during Pearl Harbor Day the treacherous attack by Japan on the US fleet in Hawaii back in 1941. That may seem like an eternity ago for my younger readers, but consider that our veterans of this battle still walk among us. I can't miss them because they stand about twelve foot tall (in my mind's eye). And those are the clerk typists and dining room orderlies. The guys with combat jobs stand even taller. You might take a little time today to consider the painful and sacrificial toil of that Greatest Generation.

On the art front, the design for a new memorial has been made. I gather that Kevin King is the designer. The battleship USS Oklahoma was sunk in that Dec. 7th battle, along with the better known USS Arizona and several other capitol warships. Here's my congratulations for this memorial to the veterans of that infamous day and that courageous ship. Their strife is honored by many today.

Bloggers on Pearl Harbor Day.

Patriot Day

My House; Flag at Half Mast

I remember my son was only 12 days old the morning we watched world history unfold on our T.V. set. Because all air traffic ceased for a period of time, we had the eerie silence at night when we fed him. We live where there is no noise whatsoever, out in the country.

Then, one night while doing a middle-of-the-night feeding, came the sound of a plane at altitude flying West. Seven minutes later, another. Then, in perfect intervals of seven minutes each, an aerial convoy of US Air Force jets flew to war in tactical formation. War. Over American soil, our forces were deploying to the Middle East, already on a war footing.

Remember.