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I sighed as I furled out the bottom sheet, fitting it carefully over the mattress. After a day spent in the kitchen making meals for the next 7-10 days, I was more than ready to sit down at the computer, dredge into my mind, and see what I could come up with for the current LJ Idol challenge: “From the Wreckage”.
An archaeologist by training, I could easily fall into the honey trap of talking about excavations I’ve been a part of. How we gained insight into long-dead cultures and/or peoples by looking through their garbage and abandoned homes or campsites. That would be a valid direction to go for this challenge, but my mind is pulling me from the past into the present and our current political situation – a wreck in so many, many ways.
I keep a close eye on the current situation here in the USA, and in the world. Once again there is war in the Middle East. I’ve quite lost track of how many wars have occurred in that small part of the world’s lands. If we pull back into prehistory, it might even number in the 1000’s of times.
I keep watching the very contentious USA Presidential campaign. Ideally this will be resolved at the polls in a bit less than a month, but the ripples of this election will carry through for decades to come, influencing policy long after I’m no longer living and voting. We experienced near insurrection after the last election, will the USA once again be faced with revolution?
Worldwide, there are wars everywhere – humankind seems to be a highly contentious species with a total inability to view different beliefs with anything other than pointed fingers and high suspicion. Everyone believes their way is the only way – not just the “right” way, but the ONLY way. What’s up with that?
North Korea is once again clamping down on the independence and personal rights of its’ people, while South Korea digs in their heels, preparing for possible invasion and war once again. Israel, Lebanon, splinter groups such as Hezbollah, and other nearby governments are preparing for what many will term a “holy” war, although I certainly can’t see anything holy about war of any kind. Still, all these powers-that-be are once again determining what is “best” for their people. Of course, the only ones of those people that matter are male, and usually only males old enough to enter the conflict. Females are being relegated to the kitchen and bedroom once again, occasionally to be brought out as “arm candy” for specific social and political events.
Remember the old song? “Old McDonald had a farm, E.I.E.I.O., and on that farm he had some pigs, E.I.E.I.O. With an “oink, oink” here, and an “oink, oink” there” … yes, and that’s the upcoming election in a teaspoon. This election is populated by platitudes, while platforms of promises are being built, populated, and then attacked. One candidate will win, and one will lose, but the conflict being staged will continue to ripple for years, perhaps decades. Who will win? At this point it’s irrelevant. The job that commenced four years ago on January 6th will end, and someone new will take over. Whoever loses will declare the entire process to have been fraudulent and rigged; whoever wins will praise the results as “totally above-board”, fair and just. Nothing will be resolved, and the revolving door of policies and empty promises will continue.
As you can tell, at this point I don’t believe anyone anymore. Everyone is bending the truth to meet their personal criteria, support their platform, or reflect their viewpoint. All I can tell for certain is that “We the People” will have a very difficult time supporting all these departures from what a truly democratic process should be. And I suspect, until we achieve the ability to truly have a “one person, one vote” viable standard - a true democracy where each individual person is truly voting their heart, not their representative - there will always be questions. It’s “1984” revisited once again.
However, I don’t want to leave this rant in a negative tone. The fact is that people survive, despite and in spite of their governments. They may lose their brightest stars to imprisonment or death, but new stars will rise from the ranks. It’s a fact that governments and kingdoms rise and fall over the millennia, but the people survive. They live their lives to the best of their abilities, they have children, they experience love, heartbreak, life and death. Until Mother Nature determines that She’s had enough and sends a plague or an asteroid or implodes the planet, people will survive in one way or another, one place or another. People are resilient.
Even the Phoenix must die in the flames before re-emerging once again from the wreckage.
An archaeologist by training, I could easily fall into the honey trap of talking about excavations I’ve been a part of. How we gained insight into long-dead cultures and/or peoples by looking through their garbage and abandoned homes or campsites. That would be a valid direction to go for this challenge, but my mind is pulling me from the past into the present and our current political situation – a wreck in so many, many ways.
I keep a close eye on the current situation here in the USA, and in the world. Once again there is war in the Middle East. I’ve quite lost track of how many wars have occurred in that small part of the world’s lands. If we pull back into prehistory, it might even number in the 1000’s of times.
I keep watching the very contentious USA Presidential campaign. Ideally this will be resolved at the polls in a bit less than a month, but the ripples of this election will carry through for decades to come, influencing policy long after I’m no longer living and voting. We experienced near insurrection after the last election, will the USA once again be faced with revolution?
Worldwide, there are wars everywhere – humankind seems to be a highly contentious species with a total inability to view different beliefs with anything other than pointed fingers and high suspicion. Everyone believes their way is the only way – not just the “right” way, but the ONLY way. What’s up with that?
North Korea is once again clamping down on the independence and personal rights of its’ people, while South Korea digs in their heels, preparing for possible invasion and war once again. Israel, Lebanon, splinter groups such as Hezbollah, and other nearby governments are preparing for what many will term a “holy” war, although I certainly can’t see anything holy about war of any kind. Still, all these powers-that-be are once again determining what is “best” for their people. Of course, the only ones of those people that matter are male, and usually only males old enough to enter the conflict. Females are being relegated to the kitchen and bedroom once again, occasionally to be brought out as “arm candy” for specific social and political events.
Remember the old song? “Old McDonald had a farm, E.I.E.I.O., and on that farm he had some pigs, E.I.E.I.O. With an “oink, oink” here, and an “oink, oink” there” … yes, and that’s the upcoming election in a teaspoon. This election is populated by platitudes, while platforms of promises are being built, populated, and then attacked. One candidate will win, and one will lose, but the conflict being staged will continue to ripple for years, perhaps decades. Who will win? At this point it’s irrelevant. The job that commenced four years ago on January 6th will end, and someone new will take over. Whoever loses will declare the entire process to have been fraudulent and rigged; whoever wins will praise the results as “totally above-board”, fair and just. Nothing will be resolved, and the revolving door of policies and empty promises will continue.
As you can tell, at this point I don’t believe anyone anymore. Everyone is bending the truth to meet their personal criteria, support their platform, or reflect their viewpoint. All I can tell for certain is that “We the People” will have a very difficult time supporting all these departures from what a truly democratic process should be. And I suspect, until we achieve the ability to truly have a “one person, one vote” viable standard - a true democracy where each individual person is truly voting their heart, not their representative - there will always be questions. It’s “1984” revisited once again.
However, I don’t want to leave this rant in a negative tone. The fact is that people survive, despite and in spite of their governments. They may lose their brightest stars to imprisonment or death, but new stars will rise from the ranks. It’s a fact that governments and kingdoms rise and fall over the millennia, but the people survive. They live their lives to the best of their abilities, they have children, they experience love, heartbreak, life and death. Until Mother Nature determines that She’s had enough and sends a plague or an asteroid or implodes the planet, people will survive in one way or another, one place or another. People are resilient.
Even the Phoenix must die in the flames before re-emerging once again from the wreckage.
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Et in hoc fundum habuet galenas ee i ee i oh!
Cum buk buk hic buk buk hibi
hic buk hibi buk ubique buk buk etc etc.......
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- Erulisse (one L)
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- Erulisse (one L)
Hope you're feeling better every day!
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- Erulisse (one L)
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- Erulisse (one L)
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- Erulisse (one L)
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Yes they are, and I take hope from that. We've survived so much, through so many dark times, surely we will survive these as well.
Dan
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Dan
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- Erulisse (one L)
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- Erulisse (one L)
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Until Mother Nature determines that She’s had enough and sends a plague or an asteroid or implodes the planet, people will survive in one way or another, one place or another. People are resilient. i love that you ended on this note. I agree with this too, as a person who can speak from.personal experience surviving a bunch of things I technically shouldn't, including someone trying to end my life. Will to survive is a very powerful thing.
Even the Phoenix must die in the flames before re-emerging once again from the wreckage. beautifully expressed!
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- Erulisse (one L)
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A very thorough examination of the times. Brava!
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- Erulisse (one L)
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But your closing note is exactly the tone of hope we need - as well as the proper encouragement to be active agents of peace in our own little corners of creation. Nicely done!
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- Erulisse (one L)
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- Erulisse (one L)
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It has resulted in us becoming contentious and truth-averse, and neither of those things is good or healthy. If Trump wins, we'll quickly discover that things can be worse than they already are. I desperately hope that does not happen.
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- Erulisse (one L)
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- Erulisse (one L)
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- Erulisse (one L)