….if we got along with one another? There seems to be a huge amount of strife and hatred in the world. How many conflicts ever get resolved or actually change anything? It seems to me that very little is ever changed: we just make folk unhappy. I know this viewpoint is naive. Greed and powerlust will always hold sway. I just wish we could have peace for a while.
We can find millions to spend on arms and the military, to kill and threaten folk. But we can’t ensure everyone gets fed, has a home, gets an education, gets medical attention. That can’t be right, can it?
I’m sure there’s enough to go round everyone. Why do we need to fight?
Wouldn’t life be easier……
12 Saturday May 2012
Reblogged this on Bear Tales and commented:
Yes we have to change our thinking!
Many thanks Ken.
Hope you didn’t mind the reblog but wanted to share.
No, not at all. I am quite flattered that you felt moved to do so.
I love the term ‘hold sway’. I never quite get this either but then again I’m always mad at someone. I do try to be kinder to people. You see what a difference it makes. Never think for a moment that you don’t write well.
Many thanks Susannah. I think the truth is that I don’t think about it at all. I know I’m not quick because I spend too much time agonising over the correct word in each situation. And I hate waffle, so I try to reduce the length of the things I write. I wonder whether it’s these two traits that give me a style well-suited to blogging?
I call that widdling, as in wood. I think I spelt it wrong. I do that, so did Hemingway. He called it holding words up to the light before they make the page. I’m paraphrasing a bit, but you the gist.
I think the word you’re groping for is whittling. I like Hemmingway’s style of writing, though he always seems short on punctuation to me. I had not thought to emulate him in any way.
God I even spelled Hemmingway wrong. Shame on me.
What about using spellcheck, Susannah? Technology is your friend! It will make life easier.
I do, but I still make errors. Go figure. I’m a tad dyslexic so we have that too. Thanks though.
I didn’t notice: shame on me too!
Call me a cynic, but the in the Bible, right after the creation of the world, comes the story of Cain and Able and the first murder (first degree? second degree? You be the judge). Maybe the people who wrote the Bible tried to tell us that this is what human nature is all about and therefore we’re doomed?
And yes, spending on military and not on health care and education is criminal.
Hi Rachel,
I’m not sure that we needed the Bible to tell us about human nature. Folk were well versed in human nature before it was written.
Thanks for your feedback.
Rob.
i so agree with you, it gets my blood boiling they way this world works, so i can’t think on it too long…
Nuff said, thanks
the problem is that there are over 7 Billion people, and maybe 4-4.5 Billion jobs. If armies were to be decimated due to worldwide peace, then add another 15%, at least, to that number of unemployed!
I can’t accept that Marc. Are you saying there is nothing productive we could set the military to do? We’re already paying for them: why can’t we have something to show for it? How about digging wells for folk who have no clean water; installing hydro and solar power for folk without electricity; building schools, clinics, roads and bridges?
Could you imagine the backlash and strikes from all of the unions that represent the workers that you would have replaced by soldiers? Infrastructure projects would be perfect for the army corps of engineers, but still the unions would protest vehemently. There are already too many hydrologists, electrical techs, road, bridge and building contractors that are out of work, and you would have hundreds of thousands more replaced by active armed forces personnel? That would make the Greece and Paris riots look like sit-ins for gay marriage rights…
I doubt there would be many strikes in Sudan or Eritrea or Bangladesh or Nepal or Mongolia or Laos or Congo or………………
And, they would all welcome the US armed forces, and pay for the materials and gas, etc that the building projects would require? It’s just not a feasible prospect. Don’t get me wrong, i have written posts about how the world is all screwed up wanting to kill each other since time immemorial. Could you imagine the world’s population if all of the wars, genocides, etc that have happened in our history had not taken effect? There would be over 20 Billion people, not the 7 Billion we can’t care for as it is…
That suggests that the “system” has no controls. People breed to fill the void left by wars, genocides, famines and the like: remember the baby boom of the 50s/60s? There is no shortage of money for these projects: have you seen the price of a warship, ICBM or fighter aircraft? It’s all do-able. The problem is the lack of political will. We’re so easily conned by the politicians and industrialists.
I would love it if people came out of themselves. Would be divine. Rather than be selfish and hold on to everything they have, it be nice to see others come out of themselves as a whole. Pay it forward.
I think you mean more sharing and more community? If so, I’m for it so long as it doesn’t create more “us and them”: those within versus those without.
wabi-sabi, dark and light, yin and yang.
that which is inherently peaceful is also warlike.
one cant exist without the other.
That’s depressing.
I think its beautiful.
Ensuring that everyone gets fed, has a home, gets an education, and gets medical attention are not money-making ventures like war is. So sad.
I say you’re wrong. They are money making ventures. There’s clearly a demand. If there were not constant wars, there would be opportunity to create infrastructure and buying power to go with the demand.
They are low-profile, though. Wars get you into patriotism, and we’ve seen since 2001 that patriotism sells. lol
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel” Samuel Johnson, 1774.
“Countries are aptly named” Me, today.
Many of our legislators should study history. lol
Do you think it’s knowledge they lack or just wisdom?
Neither, really. It’s the power of money and the power of power.
I had Phil Gramm as my Economics 301 professor at Texas A&M University. He quit a tenured full professorship to be a State legislator and then a U.S. Senator. I couldn’t understand it. He was set for life. However, he ony made $105,000 a year. That was back in 1976. When he retired from politics in 1998 or so, he had a campaign war chest with $64 million in it. He got to keep that. No returning the money to supporters like me, no passing it on to the governments, etc. That’s when I finally understood why the Heinzes, du Ponts, Kennedys, and, right here in San Diego with our Darrell Issa, why people get into politics. It has nothing to do with service to the people.
Yes: depressing, isn’t it?
That’s when I really kind of lost interest in politics. I was one of those dumb ones who thought that people in politics actually had ethics, morals, integrity……………….
Yes, me too. I worked tirelessly to get Tony Blair into power. I think that’s explanation enough!