We, the willing... (a must read, very heavy)

We, the willing
led by the unknon
are doing the impossible for the ungrateful.

We have done so much
for so long
with so little
that we are now capable of doing anything
with nothing

- Anonymous

This quote was taken from an underground book about ten years ago.
I just joined today and am trying to be real careful about what I quote or how I go about doing it. I tried using the other HTML for "external source" and it didn't work. But the more I post, the better I'll get. Bear with me. I'm a newbie.


[edit on 24-4-2006 by Chezz]

"that we are now capable of doing anything
with nothing."

Imagine that. Exactly.

Chezz, do you happen to remember the name of the book? Or it's subject matter?

It was a book sort of like the anarchists cookbook (that wasn't it, but it was like that) A guy who I worked with showed me the book. This guy was an admitted Satanist and I think he got it at a gun show or something. Understand, the BOOK wasn't Satanic, the guy who showed it to me was, anyway we worked across from each other and started talking about religion (me taking the opposite end of the spectrum) and he said I should check out this book and he brought it in.
I remember being so moved by that quote, I committed it to memory.
I wasn't sure where to post it, but I feel it appropriate to what this website is all about as a whole. People can take it anyway they want.

Sounds like a very interesting quote.

I too would like to know what book this came from.

When you say "Anarchists Cookbook" you don't mean the one that tells you how to rip off credit cards, make free calls, create bombs etc...

When I was a prep cook at a pizza joint almost 30 years ago, the manager of the pizzeria told me that poem.

As I recall, it went -

We the willing
Led by the unknowing
Are doing the impossible
For the ungrateful.

We have done so much
With so little, for so long
That we are now qualified
To do anything with nothing.

This was in Avalon, CA, at Antonios Pizzeria, circa 1977.

Try this one on for size-

Snakes are coiled upon the granite
Horsemen ride into the west
Moons are rising on this planet
Where the worst must suffer like the rest

Pears are ripe and peaches falling
Suns are setting in the East
Women wail and men are calling
To the God that's in them
And to the beast

Love is waiting for a lover
Generations kneel for peace
What men lose man may recover
Polishing the brains his bones release

Truth conceals itself in error
History reveals its face
Days of ecstasy and terror
Invent the future that invents the race

Can anybody tell me where that one's from?

Icarus, any idea where the first poem came from? I googled it and it came back as a quote from Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and Mark Twain.

I guess in this case origin does not matter, it is the power behind the words. Words as weapons. Powerful indeed.

We the willing, led by the knowing, to do the impossible for the ungreatful, we have done so much for so long that we are capable of doing anything wthout nothing at all.

I had to expound in this idea. This poem has never left my memory since I first laid eyes on it, but I thought there was more. Since it's author is anonymous, I hope no one is offended if I expound on it. It just seems incomplete. Here goes.... a reply to: Stunkums


We the willing
Led by the unknowing
Are doing the impossible
For the ungrateful.
We have learned to be confident, that impossible has limits,
And limits are impossible to find, we are so confident.
With our blind faith, we found everything full of emptiness and used it to fill all.
We are impatient in our patience to be tasked and eager to ask what task we must do.
With much to accomplish, we do it tomorrow, we rush to be all for the few,
Our path convoluted by duty, we first had to question the clues.
The straight path would hold all the answers, the solution, we already knew.
And when what we saw was not at all what we thought and all what we thought not all true.
We looked in on ourselves from the outside and came up with an insider's view.
We have done so much
With so little, for so long
That we are now qualified
To do anything with nothing at all.

An embellishment by Ray G. on the original poem.........


We the willing
Led by the unknowing
Are doing the impossible
For the ungrateful.

We have done so much
With so little, for so long
That we are now qualified
To do anything with nothing.

a reply to: Chezz

we are a capability and this time our time...