Where I Live

 

Somehow, I seem to always land on my feet. I won't be living out my days on sacred Native American ground soaked in the tears of citizens distraught over the destruction and decay of a dream that has become a nightmare.

I'm not gloating. My heart breaks for friends, family and strangers left to absorb the shock of pillage, hate and moral decay.

My life, an ocean away, is not immune from the upheaval. Economics is global now. The environment doesn't know borders. Besides, the USA will continue to influence politics and culture all over the world.

I remember when movies weren't allowed to show evil taking the day. What happened to the hero riding in to town to save the day? Good versus evil isn't politics. If religion is about revenge, retribution and punishment, count me out.

I hope to live long enough to see love conquer hate. I don't count on it.

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.

Riff Raff Royalty

What happens when naivety and self-awareness beget offspring? Sometimes I try to pass myself off as "authentic." I'm in short supply. I'm not bragging. Demand is even slighter.

Sticks and stones, buddy. Sticks and stones.

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.

 

Fine Artiste Blues

 

Life is your art once you figure it out. Oscar knew. Rumi knew.  I suspect lots of the artists of our time, or any time, keep it something of a secret.

Paint to show the world that you can. Sing to garner attention, praise, adulation.

Love to live life fully.

Rats and Sinking Ships

In 1965 I wanted to move to England. The centre of the universe, at the time, was wherever the Beatles were. 

In 2023 the centre of the universe was wherever Kate was. Still is!

My timing was off that first go 'round but I seem to have nailed it this time. 

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.

 

Foreign Currency

Just when I'm starting to think that I have something important to tell you, the feeling comes over me that reminds me that nothing is important. Maybe it's more that everything is important, just not equally so. You know, "The stove is hot and my hand is on the stove!" 

Well, friends, the stove is hot.

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBMRnOnT4ps

 

Preaching To The Choir

It finally dawns on me that Dr. Einstein could explain things to me all day and I would only take away a fraction of what he had in mind for me. The limiting factor is always going to be the receiver, isn't it? There's no reason to shout at the deaf man, is there?

The peace and love message from the hippies is wasted on an investor in the armaments industry. Elements of this culture have managed to make "woke" a derogatory term, an insult implying weakness, naivety. "Liberal" became a slur decades ago.

Churches are for politics now. The faithful go to have their views buttressed.

We're told now that governments and churches can't be bothered with charity.

If I tell you that I've lost faith in church and state and that the legal system that I grew up in seems to have been bought, I suppose I sound like something of a pessimist. I'm not. I believe in the decency and the goodness of the folks that I pass on the sidewalk. I believe in magic.

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.

 

The Bomb

In 1968 Paul Ehrlich dropped his Population Bomb, explaining in terrifying detail how hundreds of millions would starve on this planet if we didn't do something, and quickly, about the population explosion.

Now, Leon and his tech cronies, along with most mainstream economists, wring their hands at the prospect of depopulation. Out of the frying pan, right?

I can't help but thinking of experiments with ant farms in elementary school. Too many ants, and BOOM!

Chaos and anarchy

Then again, if we don't have enough workers funding retirement schemes and buying Inauguration Commemorative coins, who knows what might become of the Florida panther and the loveable, lowly hedgehog.

R.S.V.P. I won't be making that luncheon tomorrow, either.