"Carry on Carry on - cause nothing really matters..."

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"Carry on Carry on - cause nothing really matters..."
                        Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody

Can you believe I'm starting a story with the lyrics from Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody?  Of course I always loved this "Rock Opera" and the legendary performance by writer and lead singer Freddie Mercury and the boys.

In the music and entertainment world the word "evergreen" has a powerful meaning and this song is truly ever green.  According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary it means:

Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Definition of EVERGREEN

1.  having foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season

2.  retaining freshness or interest

Examples of EVERGREEN
Most pines are evergreen trees.

First Known Use of EVERGREEN - 1574

For purposes of this story we rely on the 2. definition, the one that goes beyond mere biology or botany.  In the entertainment world this means something that is not dated or has the ability to capture the minds, souls and pocketbooks of the public.

The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, The Ten Commandments and Grease all meet that standard in terms of motion pictures.  Okay, so maybe Grease has not met the standard but it still has Olivia Newton John.

In music there are examples like; This Land is my Land, Blown in the Wind, America the Beautiful, God Bless America, Over the Rainbow, the Notre Dame Fight Song and Zip a Dee Doo Dah from Song of the South.

Freddie Mercury's words are timeless and reflect the age old battle between wanting to change the world or leaving things as they might be.  One of my favorite authors, Ayn Rand wrote a book called Atlas Shrugged released back in my favorite year of all time, 1957.

A philosophical masterpiece in my opinion, it was the last and longest fiction novel by Ayn.  Her book expresses the advocacy of reason, individualism, capitalism, and the failures of governmental coercion.

All seem rather important, even to this day.

The virtually unseen hero is John Galt who "rescues" prominent members of industry and hides them while the government collapses from greed.

The rather sarcastic attitude expressed by Freddie Mercury that nothing really matters is a call to arms much like the mysterious "Who Is John Galt" signs that appeared throughout Atlas Shrugged.

America has lost all her heroes and for the first time in my memory not a one stands on the stage or sidelines waiting for the chance to make a difference because we seem to have forgotten our mission in life as Americans.

Our ancestors came here to America to fix what was wrong with the world they left behind.  When we embrace the notion that nothing really matters anymore we have embraced the dangerous concept that this is as good as it gets.

Today things are at best okay.  Some things are way out of balance and some are not.  Most certainly "the failures of governmental coercion" are obvious.

So far our government intelligence and not so intelligent agencies have stripped us of any semblance of privacy by invading our phone conversations, our Internet email and social web files, and monitoring our conventional mail.

Edward Snowden

It only took a high school dropout with our nation's highest security clearance and an English newspaper to spill the beans on what Uncle Sam has been doing to our own citizens as well as about every other sovereign nation, friend and foe alike.

For a while it actually looked like nothing really matters when it comes to a government attack on our liberty and freedom.  Of course there has still been no real backlash here in the colonies but countries like England, Germany, Russia and China have all had quite serious private conversations with Obama so we probably have not heard the last.

Complacency, apathy and ignorance are the dark side trump cards in this game of high stakes poker, again echoing the sentiments of Freddie Mercury, nothing really matters.

It better matter!  We are either on the precipice of catastrophe or the cusp of salvation as mankind prepares to transition into the next and fifth cycle of civilization as told by the Hopi Indian elders and prophecies.

Either nothing really matters or everything really matters - the choice is ours.

Editors note: My fascination with John Galt is not just a literary thing but I also have a band called John Galt.  Check them out at:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=629449
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