The Gnawing Gnats of Vespacci

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Vespacci was a large and prosperous people. They thrived in an atmosphere of freedom that had been purchased through unbelievable sacrifice by their forefathers centuries before. These ancestors had pledged (and given) their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor so that their children’s descendants could enjoy the freedom that is the cry in every heart and soul.

But this was 200 years later. The sacrifices of yesteryear long forgotten, freedom was ripening into hedonism, lawlessness and indifference. Many people still worked industriously to provide for their families, but a growing presence of gnawing gnats kept making them dissatisfied with the simple satisfaction that comes from being a good provider and loving homemaker. These gnawing gnats kept insisting that the people of Vespacci were not getting enough, not being enough; they deserved more! The emotions of love and desire that gave Vespaccians and all people their joy in life were not gifts to be guarded as a sacred trust.

"No!" said the gnawing gnats. "Your desires are your right! You are to satiate yourselves, stuffing and inflaming your passions to do whatever you want to do! Take care of your children? How droll is that? Look! Here's someone pretty and more flirtatious. Dump the wife of your youth, abandon your children to the winds of fate. Fling yourself on your desires! It’s your right to indulge your feelings! No one can tell you what to do!"

"Are you only providing a quiet home for your husband and a sanctuary for your children? How unfulfilling is that? Go out in the job market. You have a duty to be all that you can be! Or sit. Get lazy and dissatisfied watching our daily talk shows," cried the gnawing gnats! "Look … here is Gerry Bouncer. See the naked man chasing the woman around the stage with dead fish strapped to his body with duct tape. Isn't that more stimulating than doing the dishes and having a nice meal ready when your children arrive home from school hungry?" (Remember, those children are coming home not only to eat, but to tell you all about their day, as well.) "Watch our evening TV shows! Isn't your mouth watering at the thought of all the indecent pleasures that you can't enjoy because you’re being a responsible citizen?"

"Yes! Yes!" Cried the gnawing gnats. "Vespacci is becoming addicted to their desires! They are being swayed into the reality we have created—where there are no consequences to your actions, where you can manipulate and use whoever you want and it doesn’t matter as long as you are happy! Yes! Cast out the weakest links! Crave to pursue all the lusts that are laid out before you on our latest TV shows, Wild on F and Tempting Isles. Boo the survivor who dares to state that they care more about their fellow participants than doing what they are supposed to do—backbite, gossip and double-cross until they are the last one left with all that delicious money!

Traditional family values? A little boy in uniform is helping an elderly person across the street and being taught to do a good turn daily, preserve the environment, and be honest and truthful. Don't you know!? His organization is the evil one. You must get rid of the Boy scouts of Vespacci! They are evil and intolerant! They continue to view their commitment to the growing boys of Vespacci as a sacred trust that must be protected. Out with them! Out with anything that is considered wholesome and good that does not agree with our view of what is politically correct!" cried the gnawing gnats. "Only when all of you think like we want you to, behave like we want you to, and have the same agendas and thoughts as we do, will you be truly free!" Thus chanted the gnawing gnats day, after day, after day. And it was working!

Vespaccians were being lulled, mesmerized through the media, the public school system, the colleges and universities and, of course, the single most important tool of all to the gnawing gnats—the television set.

Who were these gnawing gnats? Were they a conspiracy? A cadre of dedicated zealots? No, although some of them had been many of those things when they were young, when they had seen all the hypocrisy and lies all around them and realized that they were a generation that could make a change in the "old establishment." But they themselves had become the establishment they once despised. Instead of humbling themselves and admitting that their own ideals had more human flaws than the one older one they once rebelled against, they clung to their own lie, convincing themselves that what they were doing was right.

But then one day came the killer bees. Using the freedom of Vespacci to the ultimate in selfish desire they hijacked Vespacci airplanes and ran them into the very symbol of Vespacci might and power! The tool that had been the gnawing gnats’ primary source of influence now became their bane. Again and again on the mighty television set Vespaccians were subjected to the truth of the human condition. That there is evil in this world and there is good. The ultimate evil that caused small children being carried away from the carnage to cry out to their bearers, "Look, mommy, the birds are on fire," as hundreds leaped to their deaths to avoid the incendiary heat on their once gleaming office floors. Vespaccians were again exposed to the eternal truth of self-sacrifice as they viewed hundreds of fireman, policeman and rescue workers walk willingly to their own deaths. And why?

They were not there to satiate themselves on their own lusts but to rescue helpless, trapped and injured victims. Suddenly the veil of hedonism was lifted! Vespacci saw again a glimpse of what their founding fathers had lived in giving birth to Vespacci: sacrifice—giving yourself solely for the good of another. Even the mightiest bastion of hedonism, the media, was rocked. Braying Gumpbell on Good Morning Vespacci was so shaken while interviewing victims’ families that he had to take a station break so no one would see him break down into tears. (Since that time this Vespaccian has seen a noticeable softening change in Mr. Gumpbell’s attitude.)

A Vespaccian CEO, Eddie Lumpnik, was known to be among the hardest and most cutthroat of all the Vespacci Internet barons and a true role model to the gnawing gnats’ agenda of selfishness. He was interviewed weeping openly hard and long and making statements that he had a responsibility to the families of all the hundreds of employees of Kanting Fizherald that were killed along with his own brother. Even totally self-absorbed divas like Bratney Spearsyoutogetahead were seen to be doing benefit concerts to help the victims of the tragedy.

An old, all but forgotten symbol, the Vespacci flag, was suddenly in evidence everywhere. And a funny side effect of that flag occurred—patriotism. Suddenly the people had awakened! Patriotism! Pride in being a Vespaccian!

It was evident everywhere! The spirit of self-sacrifice was reawakened. The knowledge that there was something to live for besides satisfying your own lusts! (The killer bees had at least shown Vespacci that much.)

The gnawing gnats were also stunned. Some chose the always difficult path of self-examination and humility. They have admitted that their carefully constructed agendas were nothing but the resurfaced pride and arrogance they had once despised. Those who are choosing this path of truth are even now working to bring themselves to a place of self-sacrifice for the good of their families, their community and their country.

But for others the carefully hung web of dreams in their "politically correct" society was torn. The reality of what they really were was too great a burden. "Our lies must be rebuilt" they cried! "Before the people awaken and begin to scorn us for the selfish hypocrites that we are!" But what were they to do? All those years of carefully deceiving themselves that the flag was a worthless shred of a decaying establishment. All the effort involved in laying brick after brick in their towering edifice of living a completely self-centered lifestyle was as much in danger of collapsing as the plane-damaged towers. "Oh what to do? What to do?" they cried.

Where will this story end? It will not end. It will be a constant struggle, a daily decision on the part of each individual American … Will I live for my country, my spouse, my children, my family, my community? Even if it means daily sacrifice with no recognition of my toiling and at times only scorn and misunderstanding from those I desire love from the most? Will I choose to support my country and my president in this time of crisis? Even when in my heart I may disagree with his policies and decisions? To follow the stairwell of sacrifice and honesty is to follow in the shadow of the firefighters toiling up the steps of Tower 1—flight after flight with only the knowledge that you are doing the right thing to sustain you.

I pray daily that God will grant me the strength to walk up that next flight. My hope is that you will too.