[HARDCORE]

Charles John Huffam Dickens [1812-1870] wrote some of the most poignant and moving novels of his times. Among these were Scrooge - A Christmas Carol, the Pickwick Papers, A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist!

The extent of the true genius of the man (Dickens) is known but to God, but the degree of immortality that his writing has heaped upon his name, will forever ring forth to all who still possess a genuine social conscience!

No stranger to adversity, and himself rising above the slings and arrows of outraged fortune (poverty), Dickens, like many a social commentator before and after his time, strove to enlighten humanity on the plight of the less fortunate. And unlike the Will Rogers philosophy of ?Never Meeting a Man He Didn?t Like?, Dickens exposed the fact that there are many people out there who are indeed detestable at best! For after all is said and done, one can not appreciate the good in society, unless they first realize that bad and evil do indeed exist, and even tend to flourish in far too many quarters!

So here we are now, some 135 years after the death of this literary giant, and in my opinion, not all that much has really changes? Mankind still tends to deify the greedy, elevate the insane, and even worship the violent among us!

We must also remember of course, that the bastard has been with us since the first rudimentary human crawled forth from the primordial ooze, unless of course, you subscribe to creationism! It is also a given (opinion), that good is (unfortunately) quite rare, and all too often pissed upon for it's efforts!

Like Dickens, minus his $$$$ and genius of course, I too like to call a spade a spade, even though this practice has garnered for me the unmitigated ire of certain powers that be! Powers who, but by an accident of birth or an eternal pucker, might themselves be held prostrate before the perfumed feet of utter sonsabitches!

Dickens to me, ranks right up there alongside the likes of Thomas Paine, Nathan Hale, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt, for telling it like it is, or at the very least - the way that they saw it!! And unlike many a butt-kissing weasel who rolls over on command, or responds ?How High? when ordered to jump, these men of true honor, often swam upstream against a torrent of crap generated by many a gold-plated pariah and social parasite. Opportunistic vermin (opinion), to whom right, justice, real honor and truth, are just excess baggage and hollow words!

Charles Dickens, like many other real men, and even women like Dr. Mary Walker [Medal of Honor], Betsy Ross, Susan B. Anthony, Madam Curie and Clara Barton etc., have bucked the odds and fought against perceived social norms, in order to keep faith with their own ideals and visions! And these, in my opinion, are real people - Exemplary human beings who valued self-worth and their own immortal souls, above man- gifted-kudos, velvet slaps upon the back, vested social acceptance, and even temporary wealth and power!

VERITAS INFINITUM