wpainterw

Bad Dreams. Lost in an alien forbidding city. Dangerous. Snowing. Had to wear my bedroom slippers. Cold. Trying to get to Pennsylvania Station in New York. Trying to find a taxi. Only single privately owned taxis available and there is no way to be sure that they won't just take all your money or worse. No subways. Can see N.Y.C. in the distance but can't get to it. No thought of drinking. It never occurs to me. Just hopelessness, Fear. Guess I'm concerned about the political situation here (something unprecedented), fear that we may sooner or later severe diplomatic relations with Russia and start down the nuclear path ending it all.
May God help us if we cannot help ourselves!

Bill.

Maudcat

Sounds like an anxiety dream. Mine are of trying to get somewhere and can't. Can't find the right shoes, can't walk fast enough, etc. or, conversely, I am in a car and the car is falling a distance into water. When I worked, my commute consisted of a traffic heavy drive across a bridge over the schuylkill river in PA. Creepy!!!

Pipefish

Hello Bill

Funny, was just talking with my mother about the politically dark times we find ourselves in, and how it is really only a reflection of how very unenlightened the world has become, even while all the time it is masquerading as sophisticated, and presenting actually quite easily resolved situations as complex. They aren't complex, it's only that there is too much ego, and too little brother and sisterhood.

You know, we concluded by acknowledging that the darkest hours can be just before the dawn....maybe not soon, but well, who knows

In the meantime, this was heartening, at the very least, gave me a smile today. Hope the content plays as it's from the UK https://www.theguardian.com/global/v...the-face-video

There is sanity still left in the world, and we can help ourselves.

Wishing you a good night's sleep :-)

wpainterw

Pipefish: Hamlet was right. The times are indeed "out of joint". Light at the end of the tunnel? Or a locomotive headlight coming the other way?

Bill.

Pipefish

Indeed he was. And this from Julius Caeser seems apt too “And it is very much lamented,...that you have no such mirrors as will turn, your hidden worthiness into your eye, that you might see your shadow.” So much information and media flying around the world, perhaps it's making what needs to be seen oblique, and what does not matter important. We need, individually, culturally, to see that shadow.

What is that saying? You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs? I'm thinking it is probably a locomotive heading our way, but is that the nature of empires & political systems, and what a misshapen one we have right now, that they break....actually, this one is already broken. It has to be, what with the huge wealth inequality there is, the level of corruption and dishonesty, the poor quality of thought and debate, and yes Donald Trump as president. Really? Now I cannot quite believe the last will happen, but who knows? If it does, it says a great deal about the times we live in

But, strangely enough, that gives me hope. Maybe it has to break before it changes? It's similar to recovery in one way....

wpainterw

Pipefish:
Well done! Well said! And I am reminded of the old hymn:

1 Once to ev'ry man and nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth and falsehood,
For the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision,
Off'ring each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever
'Twixt that darkness and that light.

2 Then to side with truth is noble,
When we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit,
And 'tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses
While the coward stands aside.
Till the multitude make virtue
Of the faith they had denied.

3 By the light of burning martyrs,
Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling up new Calv'ries ever
With the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties,
Time turns ancient good uncouth
They must upward still and onward,
Who would keep abreast of truth.

4 Tho' the cause of evil prosper,
Yet the truth alone is strong;
Tho' her portion be the scaffold,
And upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above His own.


Bill.

MythOfSisyphus

At the risk of sounding Pollyannaish I think there's room for hope. I want to give politics as wide a berth as possible not because I'm not interested but because of forum rules and the fact that it tends to get emotional. But let me just say that regardless of who wins I think America is pretty resilient. The media likes to bang the drum for FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) because it sells. Both of the choices we have are terrible but as a country we've survived a lot, and I think we'll survive another four years of whoever.

That said your fear is reasonable. We are in almost unprecedented times, where the veneer of civility seems to have been peeled completely away from public discourse. There used to be at least a minimal sense of decorum, some lines that you couldn't cross and still be accepted in polite company. That seems to longer longer be the case. It's shocking and saddening at the same time. Obviously things change, and change is part of life. But generally we see history as a line of progress, not always steady but. Two steps forward and one step back at times, but overall most things improve over time.

Climate change is one of my top three or so issues. I'm not as old as you, Bill, but old enough to see that it won't be that long in the grand scheme of things til I hand the baton to the next generation. What kind of world will we be leaving for them? I worry that it may be less. Less of everything; less economic opportunity, a diminished planet, and more inequality.

Still, what does the old prayer say? Something about the courage to change what I can, the serenity to accept what I can't, and the wisdom to tell the difference.

My advice for the short term? Turn off the news and curl up with SR!