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Welcome to the ramblings of an overworked, underpaid, yet idealistic young educator.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Charge

Half a league, half a league,
  Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.


Oh, Tennyson you saucy bastard. You sure do know how to lighten a mood. This particular poem was written by Tennyson after he read an account of the Battle of Balaclava where the "Light Brigade" had made a desperate charge by fool hearty generals into the face of withering fire and were cut down almost to the man. Yes, such a brave charge it was. The poem goes on to discuss the inevitability behind all of it.

Theirs' not to make reply
Theirs' not to reason why
Theirs' but to do and die
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred

You don't ask, you don't question, you just do. It is almost as if nothing could be done about it either. As if it had already happened and now was but a memory. The feeling of inevitability is a very cold feeling to the heart because we like so much to be in charge, even when we are not. It is a feeling that I doubt few have went without.

I am currently standing at the top of the hill ready for my charge. It has been a long time coming. Something that I probably knew I should do but too scared to leave my comfort zone. It has been an inevitable feeling weighing down on me first while I was in college, and then creeping back up on me every few months. It is that nagging feeling that there is something you are suppose to do. When you look around at your surroundings and you mutter to yourself,"this isn't right." You lay awake at night and you beg for answers and then even when answers are given you ignore them with an impressive uncertainty. Eventually, you will either retreat back towards camp and wonder what would have happened. Or, you will stand at the top of the hill looking down towards your enemy and wait for the bugle call.

Charge!


1 comment:

Kit said...

Well said, Mr. Ward. And props for quoting Tennyson. He often captures exactly what needs to be said, and says it like no one else ever could.

Best of luck in your forward charge, whatever it is.