wpainterw

Many folks in my small country community are both angry and frightened at the recent primary election results. I talked with a small shopkeeper today who said that her shop may have to close since they are having increasing difficulty making ends meet. So many angry, frightened and bewildered people! I'm afraid we shall see even more substance abuse, alcoholism and prison sentences in lieu of treatment. it saddens me greatly and I hesitate to think of the world my grandchildren may end up living in. When I was young, say 86 years ago, there was far less anger and, despite its faults, we had confidence in our political system.That was before the onset of global warming and the development of the thermonuclear bomb. Now not only is the government more corrupt but the scale of corruption has increased, what with "Superpacs", "Dark Money" (perhaps a lot of it from overseas). Heroin used to be an issue largely for the criminal element. It was an age before widespread use of benzos, oxycodin, oxycontin, ecstasy, crystal meth. cocaine. Today it seems to be an age of greed on a scale exceeding the greed of the "Gilded Age" with a greater emphasis on "me" rather than "thou". Back then we used to sing this old hymn. Its words keep running through my head:

Turn back, O man, forswear thy foolish ways.
old now is earth, and none may count her days.
yet thou, her child, whose head is crowned with flame,
still wilt not hear thine inner God proclaim,
"Turn back, O man, forswear thy foolish ways."

Earth might be fair and all men glad and wise.
age after age their tragic empires rise,
built while they dream, and in that dreaming weep:
would man but wake from out his haunted sleep,
earth might be fair and all men glad and wise.

Earth shall be fair, and all her people one:
nor till that hour shall God's whole will be done.
Now, even now, once more from earth to sky,
peals forth in joy man's old undaunted cry:
"Earth shall be fair and all her folk be one!"

I hate to be so pessimistic but I have difficulty subscribing to the last stanza. I do hope I am wrong and that there is some sunlight left for my grandchildren and their descendants. Drinking and drugging are understandable but they are not the solution. They lead only to a deeper level of misery, far deeper as many of us know!

W.

advbike

Thanks for that wpainterw.. we indeed live in times that are unsettling, to say the least. I mostly worry about climate change, because once certain tipping points have been passed, there will be no stopping it, and we only have one planet. Yet, the solutions are not actually that difficult and humanity has always been able to rise to the occasion in the past, so I have hope. It mostly involves putting aside the voice of our egos - the fear, anger, selfishness, and greed - to do the right thing.

Wholesome

The best way to stop climate change is to stop or drasticly reduce eating meat.

PennyLane76

Thank you Bill. That is a beautiful hymn

Dee74

For everyone worried, I hope you can find some peace or at least some measure of security.



D

MIRecovery

The world has never had any shortage of problems. I am content doing what I can and making my little corner of it better. I stay out of the outcome business because that is God's turf l.

Dave42001

Great share, thank you! Climate change is a hoax!

Venecia

Thank you, Bill. That is a beautiful hymn.

wpainterw

I wonder whether it was right for me to post this thread. I was upset after talking with the woman in the little shop. And a wonderful woman from Brazil who helps keep our house clean seemed so frightened and said how frightened many of her friends are. It is the people on the economic margin who feel so threatened and afraid. And when I noticed that the lyrics to that hymn were written by a person I never heard of Clifford Bax, and noticed the date, 1919, that upset me more. Right after the chaos and slaughter of World War I. In Germany the beginning of the Weimar Republic and all that followed. It reminded me of Churchill's having thought of another poem, "Who is in charge of the clattering train?" during a House of Commons debate in 1934, So I shared my concerns and said how important it is for me and for us not to give in to alcohol or substance abuse, to be strong, to stay together. That's all.

Bill

wpainterw

P.S.I agree with Dee that we must be strong, find some peace and measure of security, to which I might add serenity. Just having been alive, even in all those troubled times in the past (the very worst was the Cuban missile crisis, which still haunts me), just having been alive has been an enormous gift. Such a privilege and I doubt that I shall ever get over the regret of all those years when I seemed to have squandered it. Humanity may or may not be unique in the Universe in having been able somehow to understand itself, and perhaps why we are here. That is true for those rare moments. I have shaken hands with Einstein, a modern Newton. And I have studied under another man who has been beatified and may eventually be made a saint. I have come to love great poetry, Keats, and music, Humanity, if not unique is at least astonishing. And if were all to vanish? All I know is that now I must do whatever I can do and seek forgiveness for what I may have done.

Bill

mecanix

When i look around the world it can seem bleak .
I try to remember that news organisations are primarily focused on bad news as that is what is the most sensational , just look at the popularity of detective murder programs on the TV .

For my own generation Stanislav Petrov and 26/11/83 was the closest we came to worlds end .

What is there to do ?
look after what i can look after, express love and compassion , live humbly and try to do something and make the right decision when i'm able to make a call.

A lot of life is out of my control, the job i have could be swept away with technology or economic change , illness might find me or my loved ones . earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis.

Most people are ok though , most people want to live in peace ..

Fear drove me to buy a 300 year old house in the remotest bit of france and live like a hermit .. the world carried on .
The one thing i learned is that fear doesn't go away whats important for me and my experience is how one deals with it .

The smallest kindness or gentleness can spread like the ripples on a pond , maybe we can do that , be the epicentre , maybe when i'm 86 i could be thinking that aint such a bad thing to done.

take care , m

jobei

Bad things can happen, they do all the time. I'm convinced that more good things happen though... like waking up everyday sober... that's a good thing that I have direct control over. Thanks for the posts!

saoutchik

Excellent post Bill, I can flip flop between pessimism and optimism but I agree with advbike that man made climate change is our biggest threat and we may even be past the tipping point. Set against that I think a lot of things about living today are a lot better than eighty years ago, especially in the first world

Soberwolf