I have been keeping at least one eye on the apparently still rising tide of not so great developments that we are facing on our tiny little orb and can’t help but notice that there are no “leaders” coming up with new plans. Lots of rhetoric that we cannot let temperatures rise more than 1.5 deg. C- and lots of statements that they will do whatever it takes to get the job done, but I am not seeing a lot of big-picture strategies to get us where we need to go. What is apparent though is that the games they play are ramping up – just like a bunch of babies obsessed with monopolizing everyone’s total bandwidth to make the case they should get their way.

Xi is worried about his place in history and not seeing the villainy that would/will fall on him if he resorts to force to enforce his claim on Taiwan (like – where are they going to go?- Mars? Please- children throw tantrums over “ownership” – “wise leaders” are supposed to be beyond that. China continues to entertain its own greatness even as the trust of them by the rest of us is tested by their own blatant yet oblivious hypocrisy with regard to the UN Convention on Universal Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, treaty obligations for Hong Kong and even little things like fishing subsidies that keep feeding their fleets to decimate stocks around the world. Meanwhile Putin is similarly threatening further warfare in Ukraine, recruiting his pal Lukashenko for the northern front, all the while saying us westerners are making him nervous about our intentions. And the crybaby who left the Whitehouse back in January continues to moan about how “his” election was stolen- he is apparently upset because he hasn’t screwed up the whole world yet- though we are still suffering the reverberations of his last round of chaos.

I tell ya- the support these guys continue to get from their sycophants is enough to flush one’s faith in humanity down the toilet. You’d figure after the slaughter that was WWII people would figure a few things out and drop- kick these sorts of leaders out of the Halls of Power as soon as they start talking about enemies on every side requiring hostile reactions to draw the tribe into battle. But no: blind faith in their bullshit is still going to be the death of all of us, just as it has been for conquerors throughout our history(ies).

I try and keep on top of a lot of what is going on every day in a few newspapers and provide reasoned and (hopefully) constructive comments based on something other than ideology. I try to follow the spirit of an approach laid out in a poem by Christian D. Larson as below:

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

It is hard sometimes- but I am hoping I can keep it- and this blog- going for a while here now. I am going to try to make adding to this a habit. I have some – what I think are- good ideas that can help move things in a better direction and am going to see if there might not be some way to share them in a way that I can help others realize opportunities while – yes I am afraid it is true- augmenting my own cash flow to maintain my modest – by choice- lifestyle. I got to that choice when I witnessed firsthand, decades ago, the cost of the relentless predations that come with our dominant capitalist system where commitments are made, and broken, and leveraged to maximum advantage by those affording the best lawyers. It becomes personal when those you know, respect and perhaps even love are victims of what are still too often legal shake downs. You just have to recognize that when lawyers start showing up someone is going to get screwed. I see life as too short to play those games as well and hope to find others, through this, that feel likewise. Until next time- ciao.