Twenty years ago I was watching, on TV, the towers being destroyed.
I still remember, vividly, the people falling from the buildings I had visited 6 short years before they been torn down by terrorists. The buildings which were replaced by a huge gap in the Earth when I took my family to visit New York. The only other place in the world where I would live beside my home town, Bucharest, Romania.
I’m watching now desperate people trying to board a plane in Kabul’s airport as the American troops are pulling back.
This instantly brought back to my memory another famous image.
We can discuss at nauseam about the significance of these pictures. Because significance is something we attach to things and we impart to events.
I prefer to turn my attention to realities.
Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, in 2018.
The only difference between Afghanistan and Vietnam being that the Viet-Cong were communists. And the link between them the fact that the American planners have understood nothing from the first debacle.
And yes, parallels are also something which is up to us to notice. Us, who have witnessed the events and who are free to attach significance to each of them.
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‘I need a gun to protect myself from those who do not obey all of God’s words but I don’t need a mask to protect me from any of God’s creations. Even from a virus’.
‘A mask protects both of us, regardless of who wears it. And if we both do it, the benefits are bigger for both of us. On the other hand, if you decide to trust our immune systems that will dramatically increase the chances that both of us will get the disease. Actually, your confidence in our immune systems/God is similar to shooting guns blindly. Statistically there are not that many chances to hit someone, right? Unless you do it in a public space… That’s why we need to wear a mask in public and to keep all guns away from the hands of those who might use them indiscriminately.’
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As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated!
You can’t have religion without faith. But not all faith is beneficial to the believers…
Religion is when a community comes together/works better because its members share a common set of beliefs. Of explanations about how the world works. Of ‘values’ which guide day to day life.
Faith, on the other hand, is unchallenged belief in a narative. Can be good – as the Christian faith had been so useful for the Northern Atlantic area of the Earth until recently, but it can also be bad.
It’s not as much the content of the belief which is bad but the fact that the content is unchallenged. Sacrosant! Christian faith had been good because it had taught us that we were both equal and of divine nature – made in the image of God, and had become bad when nobody was allowed to challenge it. When people were literally burned at stake after being perceived as challenging the established order.
As it had happened to William Tyndall. For translating the Bible into English…
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I’m not OK with businesses refusing flowers/cakes for gay marriages but I can understand their owners’ point. On the other hand, I also understand people who don’t want to wear masks. I’m not OK with it but I understand their quest.
What I don’t understand is the insistence with which some people want to ‘discriminate’ between these two situations. Why should a business be able to refuse to serve a gay couple but not able to refuse to serve those who refuse to wear masks?!?
How can people discriminate between liberties? What makes a liberty more valuable than the other? Specially when love between two people sharing a similar sex is still love while sharing viruses is potentially deadly…
And what’s so ‘progressive’ in calling other people ‘assholes’?!?
When are we going to cool down and start making some sense of what we’re living through?
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As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated!
The first thing each of us becomes aware of is ‘me’. Not yet “I”, just “me”.
I (?!?) feel myself as somehow separated from the rest. I have the feelings hence it’s “me” rather than “I”. I am cared for by those around me so, again, it’s “me” rather than “I”.
And this goes on for quite a while. That while used to be shorter. I’m not going to tell you how many children worked in coal mines… I’m just going to remind you that in more traditional cultures, the older children are expected to participate in the raising of the smaller ones. Hence become faster more responsible than we had been in our times. Taking care of somebody else teaches each of us a lot. The most important thing being the fact that not all the world spins around you. As each of us had been led to believe in the first months of our lives. During the time each of us had become “me”.
Taking care of others makes each of us aware of the care we have received. Teaches us that ‘give’ is just as important as ‘being given’. Teaches us about ‘give and take’.
Teaches us that ‘you’ are just as important as “me” is.
Having understood that is the only thing which qualifies each of us as “I”.
Behaving as active members of a culture which successfully teaches “I” to its members transforms a collection of “me”-s into “us”.
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As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated!
‘Survival instinct’ compels us to eat, avoid being eaten and fornicate.
To keep us on the straight and narrow, Mother Nature has invented the ‘stick and carrot principle’.
Forget to eat – or eat something ‘unbecoming’, to you or to your species, you’ll soon be in pain. After a nice meal, you’ll feel good.
Somebody else takes a bite of you? From a tiger to a mosquito? You’ll be in pain. Slap the mosquito, con the tiger into a trap or, the creme de la creme, gain the upper hand in a bare knuckles encounter and you’ll certainly feel good.
Orgasm? Does it ring a bell? OK.
‘Stick and carrot’ worked fine. After all, it has been the engine of evolution. ‘Demise of the unfit’ made it so that only those who were able to survive in a certain environment passed their ‘comme il faut’ to the next generations.
Until consciousness came around, that is. Consciousness as we understand it…. long discussion. Soon.
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil”
And what did we do with all this knowledge?
Transformed our need to eat into gluttony? Because ‘it tastes so good that I can’t stop eating it’? Transformed our need for safety into the habit of exploiting others? From harnessing beasts to our plows to using child labor to mine the coal used during the Industrial Revolution? Simply because we could? Some of us, anyway… Demeaned love making to prostitution? Because orgasm, like money, is fungible? Feels the same, no matter how it was obtained?
Why? What drove us to reach such horrible pinnacles? What made us steer in this direction after we’ve developed the ability to ‘observe ourselves observing‘?!?
What’s going on here?
“God Arraigns Adam and Eve
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The Punishment of Mankind
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”
Let me rephrase what you’ve just read.
God, the father, learns that his creation – the man he had created in his own image, has become “one of us”. When Adam hides his nakedness from his creator, God understands man has become aware.
Was he proud? Like most parents are when their children ‘grow up’?
OK, let’s forget about God for a minute. Let’s see what our forefather, Adam, had done when confronted with the consequences of his acts. Does he own up? Behaves like a man? Or blames his woman? What about Eve? Is she the real man in the house? or passes the blame along the food chain? Good thing the serpent wasn’t asked to explain himself…
How about God? The omnipotent and omniscient God… does he own up? Omniscient as he was, he must have been fully aware of what was going to happen in the given circumstances… After all, who doesn’t know what will happen if you point something out to a ‘child’ and then tell them that something is off limits… God – the one we wrote about in the Bible, solved the situation by blaming all involved. The serpent for doing what he was supposed to do, Eve for choosing to listen to the serpent and Adam for trusting his woman. Then, to avoid things becoming even worse, he banished Adam and Eve from Paradise.
Yep! All three, God, Adam and Eve – as described by those who had written the Bible, do whatever they can to protect their conscience. Each of them had made decisions, which had proven to be… well, detrimental to their own well being, and now they need to go on. To survive their own decisions!
In this type of situation, the grown-ups take stock, maturely, then take responsibility for their acts. As the first step of the long march out of the dangerous situation into each they had led themselves. By making bad – or inappropriate, choices.
But this is possible only after the individuals have conquered fear.
Fear cannot be conquered alone. That was the Bible written for. As a walking stock. And it served us right. By stating that ‘man had been created in the image of God’ it tells us that we are equal. And each of us is endowed with a divine spark. Hence worthy of respect!
But as any other walking stock, the Bible can take us only this far. From now on we must walk on our own. We must assume our individual – read ‘limited’, nature, shed our fears and find our own ways. Bearing in mind, of course, that only those who fit are meant to survive.
Our go round in circles, knocking at gates which have never been open. Or going to.
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As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated!
As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated!
Bulevardul dintre Casa ‘Poporului’ și ‘fântâni’ purta numele de Victoria Socialismului.
Și pentru că singurul lucru care ne ținea în viață era ‘hazul de necaz’, i-am spus „Victoria socialismului împotriva poporului”.
Ia să vedem ce s-a întâmplat în cei trezeci de ani scurși de când poporul s-a răsculat, cârmaciul a decolat spre un loc „cu verdeață” iar bulevardul a primit numele de „Unirii”.
Din spatele Casei Poporului se ițește Catedrala Neamului.
Iar Magazinul Unirii e, în sfârșit, plin de marfă.
Realist vorbind, astăzi o ducem mult mai bine față de acum 30 de ani. Doar că acest ‘mult mai bine’ are o foarte pregnantă dimensiune statistică! Dacă adunăm nivelul de trai al celor care o duc bine cu cel al ‘asistaților social’ și împărțim la doi – știu, nu așa se face media la chestiile astea complicate, rezultatul iese net superior nivelului de trai de care ne bucuram, marea majoritate, pe vremea Marelui Cârmaci.
Și încă ceva. Atunci eram ‘strânși uniți în jurul conducătorului iubit’. Adică unii îl apărau – pe el, personal, în timp ce restul încercam să ne vedem de viață. ‘El’ fiind, poate paradoxal, elementul de unire dintre noi toți. Toți îl uram. Atât cei a căror misiune era să îl apere cât și restul poporului. Aduceți-vă aminte ce s-a întâmplat între 25 Decembrie 1989 și 5 Ianuarie 1990. Înverșunarea cu care au fost călcate în picioare, la propriu, toate cele care ne aduceau aminte de el. De el și, prin extensie, de ‘partid’. Că în timp ce oamenii de rând își vărsau amarul acumulat răzbunându-se pe simboluri ‘inițiații’ își vedeau de treburile lor…. asta-i altă poveste.
Ideea e că pe vremea aia distanța dintre Casa Poporului și Piața Unirii era destul de mică. Oamenii care populau cele două locuri aveau măcar un lucru în comun. Nici unul nu credea că va scăpa vreodată de Ceaușescu dar toți își doreau acest lucru cu ardoare!
Acum, la treizeci de ani după ce ne-am luat „rația de libertate”… cei din Palatul Parlamentului habar n-au ce se întâmplă în Piața Unirii. În timp ce mai puțin de o treime dintre cei din Piața Unirii cred că din Palatul Parlamentului mai poate veni ceva folositor și pentru ei.
Din cauza pandemiei? Poate. Doar că trendul ăsta durează de ceva vreme…
Și uite încă o măsură a distanței dintre vlădică și opincă. Vlădica habar n-are – sau nu-l înteresează, cum să transmită ceva opincii. Așa că opinca nu mai crede nimic din ce spune vladica.
Să nu mă întrebați ‘cine e de vină’! Tot ce mă interesează este ‘ne apucăm, odată, să facem ceva pe chestia asta’?
Ceva constructiv… că la prostii ne pricepem toți… Mai țineți minte ‘Ucenicul Vrăjitor’? Nu, aia n-a fost o poveste… Ceaușescu a fost și el tot un ucenic căruia i s-a urcat prenadezul la cap! Doar că n-a fost cine să-l tragă de mânecă! Când a fost cazul, că după aia a fost prea târziu…
PS.
Pentru cei care n-au avut timp să citească în tinerețe. ‘Ucenicul Vrăjitor’ este o poezie a lui Goethe. Vrajitorul ‘titular’ îl lasă pe ucenic în ‘laborator’, cu consemnul să nu umble cu lucrurile pe care nu le stăpânește/înțelege cu adevărat. Ucenicul nu se poate stăpâni – care dintre noi ar fi în stare să se abțină atunci când ar avea acces la puterea absolută?!?, așa că încearcă puterile ‘nuielei fermecate’. Lucrurile dau din rău în mai rău și doar întoarcerea titlularului întrerupe continuarea catastrofei.
PS II
Despre Ceaușescu se povestește că a fost, pentru o foarte scurtă perioadă, ucenic la un cizmar. Prenadezul este un adeziv folosit in cizmărie, precum și de către aurolacii care încă trăiau în 2014 prin tunelele de termoficare care împânzesc Bucureștiul.
Universal healthcare is anathema to many people. ‘The government has no business to spend my tax money subsidizing other people’s health!’ Hence hose who cannot afford a doctor should either die peacefully or accept charity….
And when a private company sponsors a health care effort that company is perceived, by the same ‘many people’, as having ‘ulterior’ motives…
That’s what I consider to be a ‘perfect’ conundrum.
A self made trap!
On the other hand, let’s face it, this is a very rational attitude! Given some private companies’ past behavior…
See what I mean? ‘Ulterior motives’ are wide-spread enough to having become normalized. ‘Greed is good’ sits high on the social pedestal. People can no longer imagine any of their peers being driven by other motives but the immediate profit. But the immediate financial profit!
Mind you, I’m not pretending Pfizer has suddenly morphed into a virgin knight riding a white horse and sacrificing itself on our behalf.
All I’m saying is we’re in a dire and immediate need to reevaluate our priorities!
The self made trap is 3D, you know…
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As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated!
As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated!
The difference between us and the rest is that we can choose. People – humans, that is, are capable of deciding things while the rest of the animals use simpler mechanisms of determining the way forward.
The ability to decide has consequences. The most important being ‘responsibility’. The most common being ‘blame’.
When confronted with ‘uncomfortable’ consequences of the decision making process, people get to choose between blame and responsibility. Between apportioning blame – and feeling better, and determining responsibility.
I’ve long ago given up ‘blame’. Because blame is driven by emotion. Hence blinds the blamers. Prevents them from checking all the angles. Prevents them from getting as close to the reality as possible.
Let’s go back to the current pandemic. A large number of people have not yet been immunized against Covid -19, despite the vaccine being widely available. In certain ‘jurisdictions’…
Because each of the yet unvaccinated has chosen to pass the opportunity? Or because so much ‘dubious’ information has been floated around that it has almost drowned the sensible voices?
Should we blame the as yet unconvinced or should we ask ourselves what’s going on in the heads of the ‘gaslighters’?
Facts are clear.
WSJ is a highly reputable source, the information is old enough – if ‘fake’ it would have already been ‘debugged’,… Then why isn’t this being hammered down our throats? Constantly?
The vaccine which had been used was Chinese?
Let’s make the same experiment using one of ours! It has been already done? Let’s hear about it!
We are in the middle of a pandemic. Which will continue until we’ll build ‘herd immunity’. Which can be achieved through vaccination or by surviving the disease. Surviving the disease takes longer and costs way more than the vaccine. Lives lost, money spent for health care and money lost because of business interruptions. And if we don’t build herd immunity fast enough, the virus might mutate into a new one. And we’ll be back to the square one.
The only section of the society which has anything to gain from our reticence to get the vaccine is BigPharma. They are the ones who will eventually come up with a vaccine for the new strain of virus. They are the ones providing the treatment given to the infected patients. They are the ones providing the tests.
Want to give the finger to BigPharma?
Go out there and get the jab!
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As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated!
Apparently, money brought into the ‘system’ by the (right kind of) tourists have made the difference.
In other places, ‘tourist money’ doesn’t seem to elicit much enthusiasm any more…
What’s going on here? Why money is OK in some places while others shun it?
Simple. Most tourists trekking gorillas in the bush actually get in touch with the visited reality while too many of those involved in mass tourism are herded along some ‘places of interest’ without actually getting the temperature of the places where they spend the money. The first learn something while the second only feel good. ‘Feel good’ because they have been told that places which they have been herded along were ‘cool destinations’, not because of what they had actually experienced…
An anonymous bidder who agreed to pay $28 million for a seat on the flight has a scheduling conflict and will instead travel on a future trip.
What?!?
No, I’m not censuring anybody for how they spend their money. I’m just asking myself what does that guy get for that kind of money.
Does he learn something interesting? Does he have a meaningful interaction with the locals?
After all, what is this space tourism really about? Experiencing things? As in becoming ‘high’? There are cheaper alternatives, you know…
For the time being, let’s recap the consequences of different kinds of tourism.
The ‘old fashioned’ one helps local communities preserve their ways of life. And widens the minds of the travelers. Mass tourism alter the places which had made it possible to such an extent as to change their very nature. Space tourism burns a lot of fuel to make some very rich people even richer.
People concerned about the global warming keep talking about ‘sustainable growth’. On the longer term, they are absolutely right. If we keep burning fossil fuel – which had been accumulated during hundreds of thousands of years, we’ll turn back the flow of time. We’ll actually recreate the atmosphere which had existed during the Carboniferous Period.
But I’m afraid the circumstances which have given birth to ‘mass tourism’ are far less sustainable than our addiction to burning things.
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As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated! Another very efficient way to help would be to share my posts.
As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated!
As much as I love writing, I do have to eat. And to provide for my family. Earning money takes time. If you’d like me to write more, and on a more regular basis, hit the button. Your contribution will be appreciated!
nicichiarasa 