It is the year 1960. I suppose that is the year I can definitely say I recall with perfection and no delusions.
I was nine years old. I was prone to coughs and cold and asthmatic wheezing. My mom was a great
believer in the miraculous properties of Vicks Vaporub. She use it for all ailments. Headaches, chest
congestions; coughs and skin allergies.
Doing nothing
Right now, it is obvious, we have to shut down all heat generating ventures. It may not be economically viable but if we do not do it we will soon be forced by nature into oblivion.
Slowing down the pace, consuming less, travelling less, using minimum electricity. Shutting down huge power guzzling ventures. Yes, that is the answer. Ok, it will lead to financial ruin but not the Apocalypse.
Ask all the experts. I don't need to repeat myself. This is SOS TIME. SAVE OUR SKINS!
WE HATE THE UNKNOWN; GET TO KNOW YOUR WORLD
Sometimes we hate without reason. I remember I had a neighbour with a massive beard. Very black and shiny. I instantly took a dislike for him. I would avoid him. Cross the street if I saw him coming.
Fate had Blackbeard waiting for me in the bank I had my account in. He said Good Morning Mr. Chandleur. I was surprised he knew my name. He smiled and said, “we are neighbours. I have seen you so many times.”
It was a bad financial time for me. This man for whom I took an instant dislike helped me get my papers together and managed to get me a loan for my failing business. I owe my present financial well being to this man. I have never met a more gentle and kindly man in my life. The beard was just a disguise. It hid his goodness from the world. Maybe if he chopped off his beard he would have looked even worse.
Moral of the story, don’t go by looks! Do say a Hello and see where that leads to. The pandemic has locked us in our minds and made us unsocial. We are afraid of new people. It is time to make new friends.
The Idiotic Seventy Percent
If you look at elections all over the world; you will see that the idiotic, uninformed, religiously bigoted, ethnic racist fascist jingoist will cast the winning vote in any election. No one is going to vote for a pacifist. Come to think of it, I can’t think of one that has fought an election except perhaps Nelson Mandela. I know I overwork this phrase but, ‘fools do rush in where angels fear to tread!” We fools rush in to vote for Fascists. Look at the world. Look at world leaders right now. If you follow the news you know who I am talking about. I don’t want to stick out my neck in a noose and get a Pegasus fix.
It is such a classic boxing one two. First you put the fear of some unknown enemy into the guts of the populace and then number two suddenly you became the savior of the human race from that threat.
Then the people wake up after voting day and find a Dracula on the throne. All smiles in the daytime and all blood sucking conspiracies in the guise of new laws. When the new El Presidento shouts who wants to become a Judge! There are screams of Ka wanna; I wanna; Ka wanna! “Will you do my bidding?” Are you a registered misogynist? Yes, sir, I am, just check my record!
In some countries you get an election ticket only if you have at least twenty law cases filed against you by the police! Extortion, rape, corruption, murder, to name a few.
Come on, this time use your brains! Listen to some normal people. Listen to the pacifists. Listen to the people who consider all religions alike. Do not vote for a religion. Vote for the future. Vote for jobs! Vote for responsible public spending! Ignore propaganda! Avoid jingoists! Go for a believer in the constitution. And most of all vote for someone who keeps his promises! Keep in contact with your local representative, get him to do your bidding, if he fails jettison him! Vote for the educated and not the implicated in millions of scams!
EARTH, WIND, FIRE, WATER AND STRESS
It has finally happened. People are breaking apart because of stress at big events. At the work place. In the sports arena. On live television. We need to investigate our society. Isn’t there something wrong with that pedantic FASTER, HIGHER, STRONGER! Go to hell Mr. Caesar or Alexander the Great or Philip of Macedonia-You do your own thing man; leave us be.
I remember once watching a movie shoot near our club gate. A fight scene. Bales of straw, barrels and a fast car rams into them and then a mock fight between the fight double and the villain and then the heroine runs in to intervene!
I said, “remarkable shot!” The director was standing near me and he smirked, “ they are monkeys; they will do anything for money!” He destroyed the reputation of that heroine with that one line.
That’s what’s wrong with us. We will do anything for money/fame. Look at Instagram. Common people have gone nuts trying to jump on to the fame wagon.
What I want is a reset button. Let us go back to the sixties and begin afresh. Let us not land on the moon and fuck it all up!
Let us stay home. I promise there would not have been a Covid-19 if there had not been a Korean/Vietnam/Afghanistan/Cold war. Let us bring back the carpenters and the bottle makers and throw away plastic plates and acrylic stuff. Let us manage with what we have. Let us not envy our neighbour and go into a tizzy watching his new car! Let us stay US!
OK BOSS, JUST COOL DOWN!
See, we cannot pull the plug on progress, on entrepreneurship, but when we hit the wall with guys like Bezos and Musk and Zuckerberg, we have to say, “Excuse me, beg your pardon! Can you slow down a bit! How about taking your foot off the gas pedal!? Let your workers breathe. Let the world lie back. Stop grabbing all the attention. Please don’t create a raging storm of your fantastic accomplishments!
You know, believe it or not, we are sick and tired of being pushed around. Yes, people have families to feed and you will say, ‘Ok quit, go home and sit down with your family, but where will you get food?”
Please! The world is careening to an end of fire, floods and brimstone all because of this frenetic work culture. Workaholism is promoted with ardent zeal!
Come on, give the world a break. Aren’t you happy with your trillions! Keep your damn Oxygen Blue or whatever and your damn electric car and stick it up you know where. Take a deep breath. Come out of your damn trillionaire bubbles and look at the poor people; look at the uneducated, the refugees, the wars, the orphans, the elderly and the homeless! Leave the future alone, it will take care of itself! Don’t be darned Ozymandias!
Somnambulist governments and populations!
Look at Brazil. Bolsonaro has given the nation hiccups but he will not accede to Covid-19 preventive measures. He is allowing the forests to be denuded and the world will be the loser for that destruction.
Look at Australia.
When the Pfizer vaccine was available no one took it. Now people are getting Covid and there is a shortage of the vaccine.
Let’s not look at India for fear of reprisals!
Look at China postponing its coal fired energy production. The carbon footprint is immense. The floods and human loss is also of a similar proportion.
There are many local issues. Illegal mining. Illegal construction. Police brutality. Decay in healthcare worldwide. Education dilapidation.
Governments will not take action till the loss is irreparable. Derek Chauvin is a big example.
Twenty years in Afghanistan and billions of dollars. No one is playing by the book. There are no ten commandments in international affairs. All is fair in war. Why did not the US fight a covert war at a lesser expense and fewer lives lost to bring a positive result in Afghanistan? Why has a terrorist state like Pakistan been supported by the US for years?
Somnambulism! Who will get up early in the morning and change all the paperwork? Let things drag on! If Greta has a conscience and feels guilty for us; the way we use our energy. If Branson and Bezos burn fuel by the kilotons, who cares? We will take care of it on Mars, eh? If bigger is still better in cars and SUVS which still guzzle gas, God indeed help us. Trump kept on saying, “it's the leaves; they do not clean the leaves in forests and therefore the forest fires!”
Come On! North America was covered in smoke from forest fires and still no one is panicking. Icebergs are melting; oceans are rising; still we are sleepwalking! The world is a tinderbox. Fires get lit like those old fashioned matches we saw in Westerns which got lit if you rubbed them against shoe soles or any rough surface! Smoke was getting in your eyes terribly but you refused to get out of that stupor!
Governments spend in billions on stupid projects while leaving the poor homeless and without food. Could not the world have survived without the distraction of Tokyo Olympics 2020 which is actually 2021! An ordinary citizen would have landed himself in jail if his or her project slipped into the wrong year! So Hurray to the Olympics 2020/2021! Why indeed could they not put that slash 2021?
I am telling you again! Use your brains next time when you vote! Don’t fall for Facebook propaganda!
Demagogues
Looking closely we discover that only demagogues sing songs about the glorious past and wave patriotic flags with extraordinary vigor!
Good leaders, tell us to look into the future and to do something to improve it for everyone.
The law is very strong in countries which are the happiest. Taxes are high but they trickle back to the public as benefits and not into corrupt party funds and the pockets of politicians. Parliamentary democracies have forgotten the age-old custom of resigning when a Prime Minister puts his foot on the wrong pedal and leads to a crash in the economy or the general health of the people!
People are not fools but propaganda can change even the most subtle minds.
Educating voters to sift through the BS is an imperative now! Press Freedom is the need of the moment and Fake people who are forever crying “Fake News” have to be investigated thoroughly and punished as per the law.
Only the Sun and the Moon give light in a democratic way! Education is light! It is so low on the agenda of most governments, especially jingoistic ones! Millions of villagers all over the world still live in darkness at night all over the world. Still there are some people who will light a lantern to show the way to a stranger in the darkness. Be that lantern holder all your life. Learn and then disseminate knowledge that will strengthen democracy. A person’s right to vote is still so undervalued. It is the most precious thing we possess in a democracy and we give it away to the nearest fool who can shout the loudest!
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