Analects, revisited

Analects, revisited



I am not worthy to state what has always been obvious to most,

but seldom publicly acknowledged by officialdom for fear it would

engender outcry and demands for action that would threaten the

pardigm of ceaseless growth, resource extraction and use that enable

the creation of profit-taking scenarios. Please forgive my hubris.



A species that ignores the universal mandate of self-preservation

ensures its own extinction.


A species that refuses to act to ensure its own survival has no right

to complain of exploitation, war, preventable illness, poverty and death.


A species that allows the will of singular ‘big’ men and women to

describe its destiny forfeits all rights by default.


A species that reproduces irresponsibly without care for the resources

required to support new members will choke itself and know grief.


A species whose members focus on what happens after life will, by default,

squander the only life they can, with certainty, lay claim to and live.


A species that agrees inaction to remedy known life-threatening

extinction scenarios will cease.

roses sprinkled with dew

roses sprinkled with dew


it’s the simple beauties in life that shatter our senses

when first they are beheld. some might insist to name

it, ‘being stricken,’ but I feel otherwise. I think it’s

harmony seeking temperance, imagination and

acceptance, on a visceral level, like love.

why

why


If capitalism, as it is currently practised with unfettered free-market mantras, is so successful, why are so many people on planet Earth unhappy, afraid, and discontented?

If capitalism is such a great opportunity for all, why do legions of poor, sick struggling masses outnumber the wealthy worldwide by an uncountable census of billions?

If Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam teach peace, forgiveness, and charity, why do the people of those faiths despise, exploit, and kill each other and those innocents of other faiths and races who they do not know?

Why are military budgets expanding worldwide if the promise of prosperity offered by free-market economics is an unqualified success. Shouldn’t free-market economics deliver peace, security, contentment, and better universal living standards for all to be relevant and thought a success?

Why do our democracies elect wealthy leaders whose only experience is in money-making. We spend fortunes educating students in scientific, political and creative principles and practices but then refuse to consider electing any of them as leaders.

Why is it that religious people hark back to ancient texts when they consider solutions to contemporary issues? The ancients had no experience in solving complex modern problems that affect far greater multitudes of people in this time.

Why is it that governments are allowed to keep secrets from the people that elected them? Do those wealthy elected representatives hold that the common people can’t handle truth. Wouldn’t more information empower the governed to better decide who to elect to fulfill their wishes?

Why aren’t medical/dental care and lifelong education available free-of-charge to all, worldwide? Must we be held hostage forever to the profits that motivate their providers to charge the maximum price for minimum quality standards of delivery?

Why are banks, insurance companies, drug manufacturers, agro-food businesses, financial institutions, and energy conglomerates allowed to police themselves? Shouldn’t the people whose well-being is directly affected by their activities have the right and responsibility to decide practices of fairness and accountability.

Why don’t workers and owners equitably share the profits of their joint efforts? Why must workers be in thrall to owners? If a stakeholder enjoys prosperity or suffers loss, why shouldn’t that outcome be shared by both owners and workers as increased profits/wages and reduced bonuses/incentives?

If humans are facing extinction from climate change and nuclear and biological weapons arsenals, why aren’t we demanding changes to the outmoded paradigms of separatism and conflict that are the norm? Do humans have an innate life-wish, or an inborn death-wish?

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.-John Maynard Keynes

we perished

we perished

we didn’t listen, we didn’t think it could happen to us.
we perished.

we refused to establish sensible population controls.
we perished.

we refused to stop burning carbon.
we perished.

we refused to distribute wealth fairly.
we perished.

we refused to stop using technology that created
everlasting toxic waste.
we perished.

we refused to stop genetically altering our food.
we perished.

we created the largest flora and fauna extinction
in our planet’s history.
we perished.

we refused to see brotherhood in our disparate faiths.
we perished.

not alright

not alright


he turns on the lamp and adjusts the shade so it

slightly overshadows the edge of the raised notebook

cover. he’s got a lot on his mind tonight. mostly, he’s

sad about needless fear, suffering and death.


more americans perished by gun violence this week. a

dubious distinction accrues to tiny ingliss, florida as

the site of the 1,000th mass murder (4 people) by

firearm since the horrific sandy hook elementary

school murders which took the lives of 20 young kids

and 6 of their teachers in December, 2013, just about 3

years ago.


Our unified lack of sensible response to the outrage of

this ongoing carnage (and the deep-seated fear of

being murdered by a disturbed person with a gun at

any time or place) has infected our collective american

psyche just as surely as a lethal outbreak of an

unstoppable pathogen for which there is no treatment

or cure would freeze the best and bravest of us into

inaction and hopelessness.


But there is an important distinction that needs to be

made before we spend too much more undeserved

pity on ourselves. We americans allow these murders

to be committed. it’s true! instead of rising up to

demand action from our corrupt legislators and

representatives, we prefer to lull ourselves into a

soporific state of abject, cowardly acceptance of the

heinous toll of anger, fear, injury and death that infects

and corrupts every facet of our american lives, as they

are lived unto death, by firearm.

awkward

awkward


more people are dead and injured at an American

community college, and it’s almost as though hearing

such news yet again, we have begun to feel inured to

the litany of gun related death and injury that are a

constant chorus refrain to the awful funeral-dirge

lyricism of American capitalist dog-eat-dog life,

unfettered by simple common sense or any semblance

of moral turpitude.


be afraid, you too can be murdered by an angry

deranged person with ready access to firearms,

because no one will do anything to put the brakes on

this lurid constitutional travesty of personal safety

and peace that we have allowed to happen to our lives.


courage is lacking. the influence of anonymously given

big money, and claims of imminent danger practically

guarantee that the toll of death and injury will do

ought but grow, like tumours that devour their hosts.