The Daydream: Part 2

Salvete.

Every clash of wits is a fierce battle. It may be refined or it may be savage; the debaters may be exercising their minds or trying desperately to crack their opponent. The result is a fierce battle regardless. It welds people together in alliances and breaks friendships in a fiery display.

Debate is not always necessary. Many ideas that work, like fiscal conservatism, speak for themselves, and now it has reign over the minds of the people. Christianity certainly does not need defense or even the future support of mankind to reign supreme in the end. Social conservatism needs defense, but social conservatives won't give up their beliefs at the drop of a hat. Opponents are advancing, but we have our ground that we will always be able to keep. Then why debate?

I enjoy debating. I enjoy being in the thick of battle. It keeps the mind open and exercises it on a constant basis. It may do me more harm than good, but it is addicting, to say the least. We are all eager soldiers on the battlefield, or we wouldn't be soldiers at all. The defenders would keep shut in the castle, afraid or perhaps wise enough to venture out and fight on the battlefield. Me? My battalion is stationed at the very front, beyond the barrier of protection. I advance my men to counter the advances of my opponent.

The key is to never lose your cool. I am notorious for not caring, for not heating up in stress. I guess one way to do this is to challenge yourself never to cede an inch without your will. Any part of my mind who wavers returns to the fray like the rest or is shot.

My opponents will push with all their strength and might. They desire more to win than to debate, and thus they attempt pathos and ethos to state their case in addition to logos. I either hold every assault or am broken in two. Either way, I am battered, shattered, but prouder than they.

It is in the thick of the battle that I believe that war is glorious, that I have nothing to fear, though I am outnumbered and outgunned. Frustrated, my opponent returns to harry my forces and strike fear and doubt into my heart. Sure, there is doubt aplenty, but it is always mollified by reason, perhaps the best remedy for doubt. I fight on, and will continue to fight until there be no more ground to fight for.

"And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

-William Shakespeare, Henry V, Saint Crispin's Day speech