One can almost feel the heat coming, though there may be a silver lining· When i arrived in Vietnam last year it was July which for where i came from in Southern California is typically the hottest time of year; nothing could have prepared me for the sweltering heat of Vietnam; i simply assumed it was the same for VN, and it got hotter. Yet just today researching immigration to VN, i discovered that April/May are considered the two hottest months of the year. Perhaps this is a case of anticipating the worst only to discover how little one knows, or is affected by preconceived notions. What on May 6th, i am only at the apex and the July heat i’d been dreading will be cooler than what i’ve already passed 1/2 way through¿ and what if that same logic holds for many difficult events i have conjured in my loneliness and pain? It was Mark Twain who said “I’ve lived through 1,000s of terrible things - some of them even happened.” My father’s notion of camping was a string and a knife - you can imagine how this affected ma as the catchall caretaker with 4 children in those camping trips that constitute vacation for a teacher’s family on a single salary. They were truly the best - driving to Pismo Beach with a kettle to scoop up thumbnail clams to cook on a beach campfire, or stopping at the Service Station on the way to the Yuba River to buy patched inner tubes with which to ride the child sized rapids of late summer.
It is only with the convenience economy foisted on the world only more so using cellular marketing conjured by the sell-out nephew of Sigmund Freud - Edward Bernays that we here faint objections about children preferring the box to the gift, or parents placing themselves into perpetual debt satisfying the ever increasing cycle of holidays which of course require some confirmation from one to each other in the form of some bought item. This twisted concept eventually morphed into the delusion that buying anything somehow supported “The Economy” which has brought us full circle into a world awash in some new lethal viral contamination (not of the digital variety) wherein paid thugs are agitating against all logic to forego simple antiseptic strategies to preserve life for the sake of this now “holy economy” which ironically enriches only the .01% of the wealthiest humans on the planet - anywhere on the planet. The question remains how to reverse course, or as Buckminster Fuller would suggest - effectively use the “trim tab” that helps to correct course on the largest of the ocean going vessels. I D K, but i mean to find out with my dying breath, or preferably prior.
The human species has been in tight spots before - famine, tyranny, drought etc., etc. What distinguishes our lot is adaptability. What i don’t understand is how a handful of mooks seem to enthrall the lot, or why. I had an stone carving teacher who was more stonemason who found money in fine art, but he had proletariat logic ingrained in his being - one of his goto expression was - “you don’t shit in your kitchen”. You’d think these fucking billionaires steering the population toward doom could appreciate this wisdom without it having to be said. How fucking stupid are these ciphers willing to blowup their entire marketplace that is stacked in their favor top to bottom - just to goose the bottom line a few more point? If it was just greed, you’d think they’d be satisfied with the 99% market share they command and the 75% ROI (i’m guessing) they’ve leveraged - so why “kill the goose that laid the golden egg? I’m at a loss to understand. If murder was the solution, i might consider assassination as a method of adjustment, but like Orwell’s classic “The Animal Farm” demonstrated so well - they’d just be replaced by Pig 2.0.
Sadly it is “we” the lot of us who keep plugging quarters into “the bozo bezos show” expecting that somehow the next acquisition will put us over the top and finally establish our worthiness as complete human beings - insofar we are superior to our neighbors by having more toys. Yet even without this material veneer of accomplishment where would we be¿ back in the caves cowering before a physically superior sperm donor or willing to commit mayhem just to lie for an hour in the arms of the sublime water carrier? What about work - when did it become a competitive sport rather than a cooperative venture for the good of all¿ how did authority ever trump the glory of the group? Is it possible that as our distinction as individuals has been subsumed by the value of our belongings the value of our individual contribution has correspondingly shrunk¿ I watch people who normally congregate and derive power from their place within social strata during these days of “shelter in place”. All bets are off though one might not be convinced the way some cling to hierarchy. It has become more primal with strength and youth asserting dominance not so much differently than how humans may have organized themselves in caves.
And conversely the force of thought and logic is asserting itself in spiritual ways wherein greed is more easily contrasted against the simple beauty of generosity. Bertrand Russell advocated in a message to the future “be guided by the fact - don’t be influenced by your wishes and hopes when making a decision, use only the facts to decide on a course of action”. The fact is that when you wish ill for another, it can only adversely affect you. Hate has been described as a poison you drink thinking the other will die, but it is you who will suffer. I know this to be true from personal experience. My 2nd wife betrayed me with an immediate superior of mine who i had spent months confiding all the shortcomings of my marriage. After i discovered this hideous betrayal, i spent months of my life plotting the fornicator’s demise - he still lives; likely has no idea how close to death he had been - while there is no way i can ever retrieve those hours back into what i want to do with what is left to me in this life · However, the experience may still be a lesson i must mulch for additional value - whether this experience ever translates into value for you - who knows · as long as i continue to search for ways to make that happen is all that matters to me. see ya’ in the funny papers . .. ···
jts 06/05/2020
http://stoanartst.blogspot.com
reprinted with permission - all rights reserved
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