Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Tuesday Dec. 27, 2005 - Year 3, Day 281 - priorities
chilly breeze nips ears, +5C/41F, molten ball just clearing horizon as we returned from our walk; Gusta’s post-Christmas sluggishness [too many treats] is gone as she resumed pulling hard
CB’s birthday today - still away & not answering your phone . . sorry girl, you still count another year even if no one can reach you to say happy birthday !
year end reflections are ways for journalists to fill space when there is nothing else going on so they pages & airtime by interviewing supposed experts & leaders about ‘why’ things happened & inviting predictions for the year ahead
I’ve been wondering – as this collision of history & tradition brings Kwanzee, Hannukah, Christmas, Roman & pagan rituals around the winter solstice all together – this self indulgent ritual of gifting celebration & restful holidays is really quite new in the history of the world, which makes me wonder how long it will last
I think it is due for some major change, I think we need to recognize our priorities are out of whack; Boxing Day sales have given way to Boxing week sales; it seems the world would come to a halt – time would stop – if we could not attend holiday movies & shop at 50% off
the whole commerce of the season seems to have taken control on a mass scale; this is not about how individuals behave but large numbers of people operating in the delusion they are independent thinkers
no more than lab rats in a maze, we are Pavlov’s dogs . . our behaviour micro-managed by software, Madison Avenue, Wall Street & Hollywood that would startle anyone in history who has tried to manipulate a people
this decadent use of time, effort & money needs to change – not to eliminate rest, frivolity or time with family, but the decadence is unbelievably obscene when victims of the tsunami are still living in the streets & bodies of hurricane victims have yet to be DNA tested
a year ago the horror of a tsunami hit us all just as harshly as the water hit millions the day before; a year later their world has changed forever
if we made as much effort to take care of those who need help as we did negotiating lineups to get the best bargain, if we put our brainpower to work on the biggest problems then we might see more peace breaking out everywhere, more people – governments, corporations & individuals – trying collectively to solve some of the big problems
we have our priorities messed up
our world MUST not look the same a year from now or 10 or we will be very sorry
Mark
CB’s birthday today - still away & not answering your phone . . sorry girl, you still count another year even if no one can reach you to say happy birthday !
year end reflections are ways for journalists to fill space when there is nothing else going on so they pages & airtime by interviewing supposed experts & leaders about ‘why’ things happened & inviting predictions for the year ahead
I’ve been wondering – as this collision of history & tradition brings Kwanzee, Hannukah, Christmas, Roman & pagan rituals around the winter solstice all together – this self indulgent ritual of gifting celebration & restful holidays is really quite new in the history of the world, which makes me wonder how long it will last
I think it is due for some major change, I think we need to recognize our priorities are out of whack; Boxing Day sales have given way to Boxing week sales; it seems the world would come to a halt – time would stop – if we could not attend holiday movies & shop at 50% off
the whole commerce of the season seems to have taken control on a mass scale; this is not about how individuals behave but large numbers of people operating in the delusion they are independent thinkers
no more than lab rats in a maze, we are Pavlov’s dogs . . our behaviour micro-managed by software, Madison Avenue, Wall Street & Hollywood that would startle anyone in history who has tried to manipulate a people
this decadent use of time, effort & money needs to change – not to eliminate rest, frivolity or time with family, but the decadence is unbelievably obscene when victims of the tsunami are still living in the streets & bodies of hurricane victims have yet to be DNA tested
a year ago the horror of a tsunami hit us all just as harshly as the water hit millions the day before; a year later their world has changed forever
if we made as much effort to take care of those who need help as we did negotiating lineups to get the best bargain, if we put our brainpower to work on the biggest problems then we might see more peace breaking out everywhere, more people – governments, corporations & individuals – trying collectively to solve some of the big problems
we have our priorities messed up
our world MUST not look the same a year from now or 10 or we will be very sorry
Mark
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