“What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?”Ursula K. Le Guin
Well, where were we when last we spoke? I was in a serious, post birthday funk with a chest cold that sucked out any semblance of humor I had within. I am not one of those guys, who wants to apologize for how he felt or what he said. To me, you gotta own that shit. Before I go even one word further, I meant everything I wrote, so I ain’t taking anything back.
The way I felt, I was just going to keep on writing about all that is wrong in the world and the hopeless nature of it all. While it is true I am feeling much better, both physically and emotionally, I am not about to change my story. However, it also doesn’t preclude me from writing anything else I feel like sharing. I am bound by no rules and my small readership is a testament to that fact. There is a big difference between busting your ass to be honest and pandering.
I did start to think about having choices and the less seriously you take yourself, the more possibilities exist. I am trying to think how the progression out of the toilet began for me. The Alice in Wonderland image kind of fell in my lap, quite by accident, as if there is such a thing. Simultaneously, that drawing of the rabbit with purpose, magically loosened my grip on the globe.
I don’t think humor would have a home if we weren’t completely ridiculous. So, the rabbit got me going and the death grip on my throat pretty much disappeared. Then, I read a news story and I immediately wanted to tell the rabbit. Around a month ago, North Korea began launching balloons filled with cigarette butts, waste paper and vinyl across to South Korea. Last weekend, 600 trash balloons were launched to the south. Lest you think this was unprovoked, you’d be wrong. It seems the south has been sending balloons with food, medicine, money and K-pop songs, plus a dose of propaganda.
So, there I was last week, on my death bed, a man with no hope for the future, his own or the world’s. Then, I saw the rabbit and my life changed. We are the most ridiculous species in the history of all life in the four and half billion years this planet has been around.
To me, tears have this ubiquitous quality about them. Increasingly, as I have gotten older, I find them to be an expression of wordless joy, the language of the heart. It seems like a waste of water, literally and metaphorically, to cry over the state of the world. Maybe, in a week, I will be angry about something or other, which is virtually effortless, given the state of the shit show we inhabit. Today’s tears are the joyful ones.
The world is exploding with anti-semitism, as a result of the Gaza insanity and Mexico elects a female, Jewish president, Claudia Sheinbaum. Not only that, she is elected in a land slide. How can this happen? So, either I am nuts or the world is. I won’t waste words or your time, mining for an answer to that question.
I have slowly started to believe I actually have a choice. The world is going to do what it has always done, but I have complete control over my reactions. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey nailed it, right between our eyes. The truth is, I am increasingly feeling like an inmate in an asylum called earth.
I got another beauty for you. The mayor of Nagasaki just said he is withholding Israel’s invitation to the annual peace ceremony commemorating the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack on the city. First of all, everything about this is fucked up. I recently watched Godzilla Minus One and the images of the destruction this monster unleashed were unbelievable, not only in terms of special effects, but in terms of the reality these people lived through.
Nagasaki is Godzilla’s cinematic legacy to perpetuate, but what is being commemorated and/or celebrated? Not only that, you’re even considering inviting Israel to this sham? You see, that is what I am talking about. I could effortlessly go off the rails or laugh my ass over the absurdity of it all.
Speaking of absurdity, no one seems to give a shit about the insane difference between the compensation for chief executives in the country versus you and me.The median compensation for chief executives at major U.S.-listed firms increased by 12.6% to $16.3 million in 2023. I said $16.3 million! The CEO-to-worker pay gap is 200-to-1. Now, last week, I would have been really pissed off about this. This week, it is simply ridiculous and a joke, although not a funny one.
One of the very few things I want to carry forward from last week, is the incredible silence and acquiescence we are drowning in. Again, I could become another angry and strident voice in the void of apathy, or I could relax a little and enjoy my remaining time here. I swear, half the time, I can’t believe the shit going on in the world. I wonder, is anybody home? Machiavelli nailed it when he wrote complacency is the biggest threat to a republic. You must read “The Orange Prince”, his most famous book.
I know I have talked about my passion for rucking, wearing a weighted vested and pushing myself. With this story in mind, this afternoon, I felt like a knight, wearing his armor and pushing himself to do the right thing, based on his code of honor. I don’t want to be another angry voice, part of a chorus, regurgitating a libretto of hopelessness. I was strutting up the hill today and felt a strength of character, a rarity for me. I knew I was coming back to write this story and felt the need to share all of this with you.
At this point in my life, I don’t want to be another angry guy. It is the easy way out, but it doesn’t do me a damn bit of good on any conceivable level. After all this time, haven’t I learned anything?Am I supposed to be shocked that the level of depravity seems to be getting lower on a daily basis? Well, I am not. What we are doing, we have always done to each other, regardless of century, geography, color, nation or God, etc. What is funny is that we seem to have no idea about any of this, which would not make for a good stand up routine! You’d be cruising for a Woke Whack.
I remember in my early fifties, I stopped blaming poor lighting and/or short arms for not being able to focus. I broke down and got reading glasses, in order to see more clearly. Something wasn’t right and it was easy to fix. In the case of mankind and our behavior, we need glasses that can see into our souls, because we are blind. Sorry to say, they are not available at CVS or the UN or anywhere else, for that matter.
I swear I am not angry. I am continually adjusting my glasses to make sure my vision is focused on what matters to me and to never lose my sense of humor. I feel so much better this week.
Feels like I just read one of those Russian novels where things were so grim they ate the pet dog to stave off starvation. JUST KIDDING! Thanks for the Sunday morning read.
You know, you get up each morning and go down to the rice fields to do your work and to feed your passion. No matter what is going on in the world or who did what to whom, you have your work to do. Farmers inhabit the natural world, like no other people. My world is the word and very often, the harvest isn’t a good one. When you have a poor harvest, it is because of nature. When I have a poor harvest, it is because of man. Sending love to my Ambassador of the Soil
“Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead” William Blake. You’re right farmers have a huge advantage, which is why I do it.