“But we're never gonna survive, unless...
We get a little crazy...”
(Apologies to Seal for lyrics quoted completely out of context to meet own selfish creative purposes)
It crossed my mind a week or so ago – no, I lie, it’s crossed my mind a number of times over the past few years – that, given the fact that lunatics are running this asylum called planet earth, our survival is probably directly linked to the extent to which we embrace our madness, because the so-called sane solutions to our problems do not seem to be working. Personally, I’m all for it. I can do loopy as well as the next person.
As Einstein said, we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. (And in some cases, that thinking was crazy enough).
So, what do we do about this?
if you're wondering what this is, the red in the photo is blood from dolphins slaughtered by the Japanese. OK, OK, I know, I have been known to eat chicken and fish, and why is this any different? I admit, it might not be, which is why I’ve gone through periods of veganism in my life, and am about to go there again (am having trouble eating food that once had a face). But come on – look at it – it’s barbaric. No wonder we are having trouble like this:
or this
If you're wondering which marble I've lost this morning, and where the link is between a polar bear looking for its ice-cap and a terrorist attack, the answer is in the way we respect - or disrespect - life itself. And we are in a bit of a pickle about that, to say the very least. I didn’t say I had the answers, but they’ve got to be out there, and all the solutions being thrown at these problems don’t seem to be working – so, it’s about time someone, somewhere thought out of the box.
Isn’t it amazing, for example, that in a world where gifted surgeons can help a dear child like this – who, by the way, is revered as a goddess) ...
There are still dear little children suffering like this:
And before anyone says that I'm comparing apples to oranges - perhaps there are some answers to big questions in doing just that. Perhaps it's about time the powers that be thought, "Hey, about that one hundred million dollars we're spending in Pakistan every week on a fend-off-terrorism initiative that isn't working - we could use that kind of money to do something about universal paid-for healthcare." Simplistic? Well, heck, why not? The deeply complicated is flawed.
So, what do you think? What off-the-wall solutions to mad situations do you have up your sleeve? Go on, if you’re going to go live with that crazy idea, it might as well be among your friends at Naked Authors. We’re all a bit nuts here.
Finally, mad though this might seem, if we treated animals with a bit more respect, perhaps we would treat each other accordingly. or vice-versa. Maybe we wouldn’t have so many really daft situations in this world of ours.
Oh, one last thing. Here's my quote to add to the harvest of quotes inspired by Jim's post yesterday:
“Writing is a form of therapy. Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear which is inherent in the human situation.” (Graham Greene)
Coco Chanel once said: "The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud." Thanks for doing that, Our J. I've often wondered what would happen if the federal government turned over its budget to a citizen who had to balance her checkbook each month—like me. Things would change. Trust me.
ReplyDelete"Think outside the box".
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, most people do so to benefit themselves in the short term, not considering the long term consequences.
Like the metaphor of the cake. Which do you eat first--the cake, or the icing? Or both together?
I asked my dad about that once. Apparently growing up on the farm, he and his six brothers would all take the icing off the cake, and save it until the end.
Which then commonly became a contest of who could steal whose frosting. ;-)
And feel free to transfer that metaphor back into real life.
My daughter, the one I often joke about, is, in real life a vegetarian. At 10 she didn't like the way chickens and cows were treated and has never complained about soy patties or ToFu burgers.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the Dolphin slaughter will turn me off tuna.
Jim
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
ReplyDeleteTrue, Walt Kelly. I have reluctantly concluded that the enemy is ALL humankind. All tribes. All political systems. All religions. (Especially, all religions!)
Our problems are so deep, our systems so corrupt, the future so bleak, that there is not a damn thing we can about anything.
Have a nice weekend.
from Jacqueline
ReplyDeleteThanks, all for your comments. And you're right, Patty - wonder what would happen if the government had to conduct itself in the manner it wishes its citizens to act.
Good for your daughter, Jim, and good for you for honoring her decision not to eat meat. I was a child of the "eat what's on your plate or go without" school of parenting, which is hardly surprising, as post WW2 rationing didn't end until the mid-fifties in Britain.
Jeff, it's sad but true, that most of people think for themselves when they think out of the box, and although - as Paul says - we pretty much can't do a thing about the way of humankind in the world, I think I would like to try in my own little way to do something, madwoman that I am!
Paul,thanks for putting the best spin possible on your fatalistic angst and nihilism....after reading your post,I feel so much better about the future.
ReplyDeleteJon
from Jacqueline
ReplyDeleteJon, I read Paul's comment and thought about that old song: The future's so bright, I've gotta wear shades ...
Jon,
ReplyDeleteAs your pal Camus said whenever the milk turned sour,
"Tout le malheur des hommes vient de l'espérance”.
Loosely translated: "We're shit out of luck."
Or...
“All of man’s unhappiness comes from hope.”
P.S. The only nihilists I know attacked Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, & Steve Buscemi in "The Big Lebowski."
Or as my mother always says, "Don't cry over spilt milk. Just go milk another cow."
ReplyDeleteGO-LO
Wow, you knew those guys in the Big Lebowski???
ReplyDelete"The unexamined life is not worth living." Plato
This doesn't mean that the examined life IS worth living.
Query:
If ALL unhappiness comes from hope, can unhappiness come from hopelessness?
Jon
Go-Lo....just like Mom,always the pragmatists