Walking through the quiet woods on a wet foggy day contemplating this great world and “brave” nation I find myself in:
Demolished Iraq, is already in or quickly heading for a Sunni/Shi’ite civil war as fighting continues to kill thousands of innocent civilians, answering the question, “we (the U.S.) did much more harm then good with our trumped up war” — hey, we did this, thanks George, Dick and all your little flunkies.
Mistakes on top of mistakes continue to take American lives in Afghanistan as the Taliban flex their muscles ready to move back in the moment we leave — no doubt quickly pushing aside the corrupt puppet government we leave behind.
Other innocent Americans die at the hands of our fellow citizens to the tune of almost weekly senseless major gun violence attacks. Meanwhile, others carry their assault rifles into restranunts and stores professing some kind of twisted defense of the 2nd amendment to the tune of the NRA and gun manufacturers, “we just need more guns,” playing in the background. I don’t even know how we can call ourselves a civilized nation any longer.
An American citizen use to be presumed innocent before trial but are now tried by 5 minute media stories and uncorroborated “eye witness” testimony generating an uproar that even drowns out the joy of the saving of the life of an American captive. The idea of waiting for the facts before rushing to judgement is lost on us at this point — sad.
Global warming continues to be treated as an “uncorroborated rumor” by the GOP party and it’s supporters while GOP elected officials go out of their way continuing to reward big oil and dirty energy. Yes, even BP has been given a “pass” while sea life and the way of life in the Gulf of Mexico continues to struggle and die. The sea level is not the only thing that’s rising…so’s big oil and gas contributions to the GOP and other elected officials.
The truth about keeping a wild animal (tea party) around is it can turn on you in a split second as Eric Cantor found out, losing his bid to run for re-election to the U.S. House — he was upset by a “Tea Party” supported unknown. While I’m not sad to see Eric Cantor departure, it almost certainly ended any chance of any other Republican having the balls to be reasonable and/or moderate.
But the hell with all of that…let me get back to talking about the latest and greatest camera or how to process a photo so it looks “unreal.” Let me examine my navel for the answers of life and the pursuit of money.
I’m sure the world needs another photo of a leaf, path or sunrise. :-)
Wow Earl, what a way to ruin a walk in the woods with all that floating around in your head. :-) Rest assured Nature does not concern itself with such things, and maybe she provides an open door for us to also leave them at the welcome mat.
What can I say, Mark, it was a really dark day in the woods! :-)
Thanks, Earl. I’d been thinking of doing a similar “world news summary” but you beat me to it! Which is fine with me. It would have left me horribly depressed. It’s really hard to see any way out of all this nonsense, especially the 2 big ones, which in my mind are nearly impossible to “solve” (climate change and guns). Virtually all of us are affected by one or the other (or will be at some point) and I see no way to mitigate the effects of either one, politically or otherwise.
It’s the gun thing that drives me absolutely nuts. I really don’t understand America’s love affair with personal firearms. That may be the one good thing about living in NY – there is no “open carry” (unless you’re a cop). We still have way too many shootings but you can at least walk into a store or restaurant without having to worry about coming face to face with an assault rifle. Damned second amendment is the dumbest thing the “founding fathers” ever did………
Paul, normally I’d write something like this, letting it set for a while, resulting in it usually being unpublished and deleted. I was just especially fed up with it on this day.
The most maddening thing is the feeling that there’s nothing an individual (I) l can do about any of it. I certainly understand feeling helpless about any and all of these events but with a do nothing attitude it’s no wonder the gun toters, climate change deniers and bought politicians feel they can run amok these days. I guess we are to just wait for the universe to self correct. :-(
At least it stopped raining.
LOL…yes for a while, Ken! :-)
Wonderfully written rant, Earl. I’m right there with you. It all frightens me in the direction we seem to be moving. By the way, I do like the image of the path.
It was a rant, Monte, but one based upon the sad truth of our current condition. I can only hope for truth in the saying, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” I’m ready see some light upon the horizon, how about you? Thanks.
Earl, it sounds to me like maybe you need a vacation. :)
The photographs are lovely, and while the words are less so, I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said. It’s quite a mess that we’ve allowed ourselves to get into and don’t see a good way out.
Tom, you may be right but a sad fact about vacations is, at least from my experience, they always end. :-)
Yeah, I think we passed a good way out a long time ago — not to be doom and gloom, but now it’s getting to survival — at least for the way and standard of life we’ve come to expect or want, if not for our species in general.
Well, I guess that what you are saying, between your text and your lovely photos, is that we’re not out of the woods with the mess we’ve created for ourselves. Right?
If the world doesn’t seem unreal when you think about it too hard it certainly seems crazy.
Cedric, In part this was a rant born of frustration, pure and simple, but on a deeper level the point is so many of us seem paralyzed by feelings of helplessness.
At least here in the United States, I wonder if all the attention and efforts today directed toward the pursuit of unearned instant fame and un-personal social media relationships aren’t threatening our sense of empathy for our fellow man and our ability to feel a part of something personally bigger, something requiring effort and sacrifice without instant feedback and gain.
While the world and society seems to crumble we tweet, post, snap photos, and make videos with a certain mindlessness.
“Nero played while Rome burned”
I know I’m using a very broad brush for this logic, if it’s even worthy of being called that. There are many worthwhile efforts underway by valiant people who want to make things better and I don’t want to sell their efforts short. I’m also certain there’ve been many times in history when things have seemed just as “dark and hopeless”
Like I said, a rant! :-)
Earl, thank you for articulating your concerns – it does only too well with my thought on this most powerful nation on earth which is or has been in so many aspects a role model for great parts of the world. And unfortunately I have no consolation to offer, unhappy as I am with our government and big parts of the development of our society, too.
Markus, thanks for you comment. Yes, I think many of the causes of the issues here are world wide as well. I certainly don’t feel the U.S. should be considered as any type of role model at this stage. :-)
The image of the path Earl, is just stunning, haunting, beautiful.
BTW, I’m taking the plunge and putting together a hackintosh… the parts are ordered and ton their way. I hope I can reach out to you for your experience in this area.
Hi Chris, thank you about the photo.
Of course if I can be of any help I’ll be happy to. I’m still running my mackintosh and have been through a couple of OS upgrades.
Hey, could you send me an email so I have your email address? I can’t seem to find it in my archives.
Email sent just a few moments ago!