"I have not yet begun to fight!"

I wasn't going to come in this morning because it was raining (I rely on the library computer to do my Internet work, and I don't have to go anywhere, technically). But then I remembered what day it was and I thought about a line from "V" ... "if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked." This isn't the fifth of November, but it *is* the 275th anniversary of the birth of John Paul Jones, my favorite revolutionary. He was the reason I started this blog in the first place.

Jones once wrote, "My desire for fame is infinite." I personally don't give a rat's ass about fame. As Lao Tzu once said, "When the work is done it is forgotten. That is why it lasts forever." Lao Tzu also said, "Favor and disgrace seem alarming. High status greatly afflicts your person. Why are favor and disgrace alarming? Seeking favor is degrading: alarming when it is gotten, alarming when it is lost." Jones certainly found that out at the end of his life. After sacrificing everything for the cause of liberty, he was falsely accused, shunned from society, and died lonely, sick, and deeply depressed. I can only imagine how he'd feel today -- the country he worked so hard to liberate being tossed away, and the people who worked so hard for it being vilified by the very citizens who enjoy that liberty.

You might ask, why is John Paul Jones my favorite revolutionary? Because I can relate to him. We're coming up on the anniversary of when Alexander Hamilton was shot by sitting Vice President Aaron Burr (7/11). Over 200 years later, another sitting Vice President (Dick Cheney) shot his friend Harry Whittington in the face. Not many people know this, but Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were actually friends at one time, both practicing law in New York. And Dick Cheney was the CEO of the oil company "Haliburton."

I've always been interested in reincarnation, so I looked up Aaron Burr's face in the encyclopedia. I was surprised to find he looked very much like Dick Cheney. You know how Cheney's mouth twists into a lopsided scowl? Aaron Burr suffered a stroke later in life that caused that very same thing. Burr was also tried with treason because he tried to take over Texas. Indeed, Hamilton wrote in 1800: "Burr loves nothing but himself; thinks of nothing but his own aggrandizement, and will be content with nothing, short of permanent power in his own hands." Sounds a lot like Dick Cheney to me!

So I hustled over to the Revolutionary War section in the library to see if I could learn more about Burr. While I was there, on the floor, quite alone, a voice came into my head. It was almost as if it were caused by one of those "voice to skull" instruments ... it was so clearly not my own voice but the voice of someone else. The voice said only these words: "Jody, look up John Paul Jones."

Of course I did ... I had an idea what that voice was implying. I didn't know much about Jones even though I was in the Coast Guard (ironically founded by Alexander Hamilton). I always associated John Paul Jones with the war of 1812 and the USS Constitution for some reason. In fact, he died well before that conflict. I actually *do* have "past life memories" of being a sea captain during the Revolutionary War, but on the English side. At any rate, I found Jones's ugly signature and a facial depiction which looked nothing like my own. So I laughed it off, but not without reading a weird little story about him. During the battle of the Serapis and the Bonhomme Richard, one of the sailors thought the captain was dead and was determined to strike the American colors to call for quarter. Jones certainly knew this would mean all the Americans would hang for piracy. So he yelled something like: Stop that man! Shoot him! Kill him!!! Jones pulled out a flintlock, which either jammed or was already spent, and threw it at the back of the crewman's head, knocking him out cold. I was hooked. I had to learn more about this guy!

When I did, I was disturbed to find an etching that looks very much like me, cursive handwriting incredibly like my own, and when I saw a portrait of someone Jones knew in his lifetime my blood turned cold. It was if a tarantula crawled out of the pages of the book I was reading. *I* wasn't reacting, my body was. So, there's that.

However, I won't claim I was anyone famous in a past life, because I know how that makes me sound and it doesn't matter anyway. The parallel I see between the life of Jones and myself is clear enough. He suffered horribly throughout his life at the mercy of cowardly, greedy, dishonorable men. Ultimately he and his crew never saw a dime of the ship they spilled so much blood for, the Serapis ... at least not in their lifetime.

But I won't let this date pass unmarked. I won't let what he and his men stood for pass unmarked. People died, were gravely wounded, and suffered terribly for what they truly believed in. You don't have to be famous to work for good. Happy Birthday, John Paul Jones.