"I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is
emulation, nor the musician's, which is fantastical,
nor the courtier's, which is proud, nor the
soldier's, which is ambitious, nor the lawyer's,
which is politic, nor the lady's, which is nice, nor
the lover's, which is all these: but it is a
melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples,
extracted from many objects, and indeed the sundry's
contemplation of my travels, in which my often
rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness".
As You Like It (Act IV, Scene I)
Every year for the past 20, I have seen the books, presentations and pundits proclaim that everything up to this very date has been negative but now, from this point forward and miraculously, in the next five years, a tidal wave of change is going to wash over all our problems. The breakthrough is just around the corner, just sign the line that is dotted and hand over your doe.
I am a shameless do-gooder, but I am also far from an idealists. I want to do good work, I want to help people, do my bit to take away suffering, help my fellow captives to experience one pure moment of fulfillment in their crowded lives.
Our environment is suffocating. We are running out of fossil based fuels, at the same time as we increase our dependence on them. The skies are leaking.
The air is poisoned. It is not that complicated. If we put chemicals in our water supply, it will kill us.
Ten million people will wake up this year year discover they have cancer for the first time.
Six million die prematurely (of cancer) in the same time period.
Statistical trends already reveal that unless there is a quantum shift in thinking and behaviour across the planet, 40% of us will get cancer in our lifetime. One in four of us will die of cancer. Does anyone exist whose life has not been tainted by this global epidemic?
Two and a half million people died of AIDS in the past twelve months. Over half a million of them were children, under the age of 15. Thirty seven million people are living with AIDS/HIV.
Academics are arguing over the methodologies for calculating the levels of poverty in the earth. And we all sit by, helpless, busy ourselves with trivia - waiting to die and turning a blind eye. Things are definitely getting better. Right.
"O! while you live, tell truth and shame the devil!"
Henry IV, Part One (Act III, Scene I)
As the global pressure to be more competitive, to have more, to work harder and run faster to keep having more, we will have less and less guilt free time for ourselves and the ones we love. In this brave new world, our relationships are increasingly be measured on their financial and emotional ROI. It is just going to get worse. This is as shallow as visions get.
Our personal worth is based on the hourly rate at which we are able to rent out our lives. Our value is measured by the depth and frequency of our consumption and expenditure patterns. The sum total of our life's purpose summed up in the the dollars we are able to put in each others pockets.
War, suffering, hunger, disease, hatred, lies and ignorance have been part of the human lexicon since we lifted our front paws off the ground. There is no new nesws here, the question is can we change? The only change we should look forward to are the "five easy pieces" jangling in our hollow fists.
Parents do not have time for their children. Children do not have time for childhood. My seven year old told me yesterday about the class she received on how to know whether her male relatives (father, uncle, grandfather) were doing 'inappropriate touching' and what to do if we did. I was not sure if she was being violated, or me? My 13 year old went through a course that consisted of a heaviily padded guy jumping on top of her so that she could experience a "rape simulation". How many children have not watched war scenes on TV where innocent people are brutally attacked or murdered? My neighbors daughter was killed in a drive by shooting outside a night club, at 3am, she was 16. We are beyond violence and violation. Are things going to change? Yes. For the better? What do you think?
These are the truths that stop me in my tracks, I can't do anything about them, but I am not going to cry, at least my eyes are open.
"Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
I will not change it".
As You Like It (Act II, Scene I)
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