https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/c64485937bab5c99940c10927bee68b9.pdf 3fa14a757abd9a3d094ccf075696ad47 PDF Text Text Hal Hardy The tanned, white haired man sat in his favorite ehair, his sad eyes scanning the beautifully mysterious desert, which was his home. The year was 1994 and much had changed since he was a young man. The country he loved so dearly had died. Oh, the nation was still all in one piece, no bombs had been dropped but the spirit of the individual who had built the nation was gone forever. He remembered that once the people had died for their freedom. At one time, he recalled, the American people preferred the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence of today. But today there is no freedom in the land, only freedom from hunger and need. “It is true that everyone is se­ cure”, he thought. Everyone has a free meal, a nice roof over their head, free medical expenses, and a car. How ironic that the American Negro had practically the same thing over a hundred years ago when he was a slave. His needs were looked after, and he was secure, yet the highest honor our government could bestow on the Negro then was to set him free of all his security of being a slave.” The American people, slowly but surely, had decided that security was more important than freedom. The Constiution once was a thing to die for, now it was ignored. The old man recalled when law and order had been ig­ nored too, and now those very people who had abused their freedom were today victims of their own selfish interests. It had all started very slowly, this something for nothing attitude of the American people. Surely nothing could be wrong with Social Security, the people had thought. And then came socialized medicine, and urban re­ newal, and federal aid for this, and federal aid for that, and still the people did not realize. Where once the promise of freedom was enough, in recent years the elections had become merely a contest between the two political parties, to see which one could offer the most security. The old man recalled that thirty years ago he had promised the people nothing but their dignity and freedom, opportunity and challenge. “Pretty old fashioned I guess,” he thought, “thinking that the American people were still ambi­ tious enough and proud enough to want to look after themselves.” His opponent on the other hand had promised the people everything, and the next thirty years had proven disasterous. Certainly it was hard for the people to realize the direction we were moving. Business was booming, most people had enough to eat. After all, wasn’t this all that mattered? He recalled the campaign slogan, “take from the haves and give to the have nots.” At the beginning the redistribution of income worked fine, fine that is for the “have-nots.” However, the fallacy of the system had not —27— �been foreseen by the liberals. The common man’s desires far sur­ passed his abilities. No matter how much was taken from the uncommon man and given to him, he still wanted more. The politicians, wanting to please the majority, obliged. But soon big government was taking so much from the uncommon man, he himself chose to be common. He gave up. His incentive was gone, and now, like in Russia, everyone was equal. “Certainly there were those who had had the courage to point out the similarities between Communism, and the direction we were moving. But they, like me, were quickly branded extremists or crackpots, and were soon silenced.” And after all, hadn’t the majority wanted this? When our country was first formed, he recalled, it was realized that the majority was not al­ ways right, that a democracy would not work. And so a Constitution was written to safeguard the Republic against the will of the majority, so it could long endure. But later the philosophy of “the majority is always right” was adopted along with the concept that all men are equal. “And today, in 1994, man’s freedom is gone, his incentive, his dignity, and his individuality.” The old man looked at the red, white, and blue flag waiving in the breeze, thought of what it once stood for, and wept. ONE HAND CLAPPING A clairvoyant nonentity That unheard applause An unblusterous flush of air That resounds a million times over. A void and different insolence That lies unquenched in a gaping world. The monologue of a revolting and respondent searcher It is that unconsolable osmosis that no one hears And it feels for help in an obscene and noxious world. A blind nothingness flapping its wings toward escapism. That sound .... a discordance between insanity and extinction. A false hope in a world of revolving death and destruction Yet a lucidly painted portrait of a zenith of faith in the unknown. But a schizophrenic fissure of a lost mind somewhere In the vast perplexity and nonexistence of infinity. This is the sound of ONE .......... HAND of CLAPPING —Steve Halverson � Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Print magazine story Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Hal Hardy</em> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/</a> The Casper College Archives has archived this story to encourage the use of its Expression Literary Arts Magazines for digital humanities and other related educational uses. Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1964 Description An account of the resource Story titled&nbsp;<em>Hal Hardy&nbsp;</em>published in the fall 1964 Casper College Expression magazine. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. 1964 Fall. Expression Literary and Arts Magazine, CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_04.ii.c.01_Expression1964_Fall_Hardy Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages