When you feel overwhelmed by the brokenness of the world .....

 

Every time you hear news of "big men" conquering the world, remember those who got in the way and died before they knew they were in danger.

For centuries we have glorified the power of "great" warriors, their ability to kill thousands, control land, wipe out any semblance of peace, control people and animals, rewrite religious texts, ordering the people to follow, remember what you are glorifying is the ability to discard any connection to your heart and mind and your ancestors.

Life is not a simple screen that you can re-arrange like a chess-board. Cherish your life, cling to what freedom you have that doesn't hurt others. Be kind to yourself.

The broken world wants you to be what will benefit them. Be what you need yourself to be. Your life is not just an opportunity to invest in the economy. The economy is what you might produce but it's not the reason for your being here.

Sing, dance, write, draw, play, listen and laugh.

Those Who Choose To Ridicule Others

 

... have lived an empty life. Something is missing and they don't know what. They need others who are different to ridicule because they feel inadequate yet don't know why. Is it because they are not the prettiest in their class or the one with highest marks? They are hoping that soon they will shine at something, be discovered as a great talent. They might even enter a beauty contest just to meet others. They don't expect to win. They may play a sport to see if they will be the star player.  

It is rare to hear them complement others because in their life it never happens. They live with people who become experts on what's wrong with the world. Their tension is to prove they are good, worthy or extra smart. They are alone in their psyche but they pose as the star. Must prove themselves as special because they have not shone in some area.

This all sounds very narcissistic because they live in a world that glorifies power. Only those at the top are worth anything, the richest, the most beautiful, the most gifted.

Next time you come across a bully try to give them a compliment that is not ridiculous. Something like enjoying their company, their observations, their friendship in a way that's not ridiculous. Something like I enjoy chatting with you and listening to what you think, then use a phrase which raises up a small but comforting thing. We are unique and the same in many ways. You are a friend I can talk to.

Voices of Humanity and other living creatures

 

I was listening to Yuval Noah Harari earlier this morning, talk about the future of humanity. As usual I am impressed, yet on edge.

Whatever conversations there are, in TV or internet, about our future, it doesn't go into the power we have. It's about power to change the world.

I say let's stop focusing on how to control others and forget the language of fear and darkness, and think about the gifts or habits we do have.

Here I must point out I am a mother and a grandmother, but I'm also a friend, a writer and a thinker.

What skills do I possess to "save the world from violence and war"! 

I love historians like Yuval. He is clearly very intelligent and highly regarded, and too smart to become a political powerhouse like that jolly man with the yellow hair. But also he doesn't use hate and fear to "win". He sounds sincere and certainly very knowledgeable.

This is where we are at. "Saving our Planet is not cost effective"! A bright and beautiful woman who is willing to stand for President. Is dismissed as a childless cat lady by right wing media.

If misogyny is what it takes to be in a position of power then send me some sleeping pills so I can sit out the next hundred years.

But it's not that easy. How do we turn off the profit driven media that loves money more than life?

Who cares about truth when the party is over and there is no food or water, no home or family. Nothing to love.

Do you get the feeling that those privileged to be "at the top". Do not dare to love and care for others, care for humanity, and are more preoccupied with their bank account than the health of their children?

I don't believe that. The upper crust may seem heartless by its politics but it's more likely they have invested in appearing strong than dismissing life itself.

Generalizations kill us all. Anything that tells us it's naive to believe we can save the world, is the killer.

Life is supposed to make us fall on our knees. We are supposed to grieve, lay awake some nights, worry.

The upper crust is what we cover sliced apples with before we place the pie in the oven.

Saving the world will be hard but if we care for our home and get real with our appearance as a living breathing sometimes intelligent being we can organize groups to save the world by caring, by healing, by thinking and feeling.

Replace the power of drugs and money with our own desire to care for this world.

I know it sounds simple at a time when we have been taught to seek answers in very complex machines.

Dear human - I love you. Yes you are flawed but so am I.

Women and Men Save The World

Reposting this from 2023:  

Friday 20 January 2023

Women Save The World!

Listening to the CBC Broadcast about the rise in misogyny I am stirred to state some of the obvious factors of our world.

Women do the labour of caring for the life that needs support - health, education, cleaning, laundry. But does it matter today? Most of our resources go to bank accounts. They pay for weapons or mass destruction. They create entertainments that indicate popularity.

Right now we are hearing about lack of emergency health care and 'the news' is concerned about the kind of help we should give to Ukraine. Most of the help given to nations is about saving lives yet most of the money goes to winning the war with weapons. As humans attempt to escape violence there is the help given by people who are exploiting the refugees, demanding thousands of dollars then leaving the vulnerable in a dinghy to cross oceans.

Most of the wealth is made by men - as most of the suffering is felt by women, children and old men.

We are at risk of falling into the ideas of fascist regimes and hate groups. Stalin, Hitler, Trump have inflamed the hearts of people who have been publicly shamed for falling into that vast camp of 'losers' in the game of life.  Power is the game of winning no matter what or who is harmed. We are wowed by the lack of compassion of great warriors who destroy societies.

At a closer look we would see what is destroyed is civil societies while exalting the power of men who have created under the banner of power - disruption, violence, racism, sexism, extreme poverty, cruelty, and fear.

Fear is the main product in fascist societies because the only thing promoted is power. The power to kill millions of people, the power to display terrible tortures in public spaces.  See I am so powerful I can do whatever I want and no matter how much it harms, sickens and offends - there's nothing you can do about it, and furthermore we will create entertainments to help you feel okay about brutality.

The centuries long tradition of machismo displayed in war and the circus tells us there is nothing we can do. Even acknowledgement that our world is no more advanced than the Roman gladiators of three thousand years ago.  This is the age of great bullies.

Should women give up their role as helpmate, mother and wife? Should everyone focus on getting rich and bullying those who have less?

No. The title of this post is erroneous. The world is saved by men and women who love, care and fight against injustice. Men and women who know better than to be active pessimists. Our world is saved by the tears and heartaches of humans who have not swallowed the business model of disinterest. Those unimpressed with power for powers sake.

A Recent Photo of Joe Biden Says It All

I am 81 and I have fought for my country, even tried to win the election for the Democrats, but I feel unwanted.

This is the image of Joe after he gave up the Democratic position for the next election.

Of course he is not wanted. He is a human with feelings and hopes. He looks and sounds too human for USA - the most powerful nation in the world.

Kamela Harris has agreed to stand, but she is a woman and a person of colour. Colour is what we need most. Smiles. Eyes. Hair.

The news keeps changing every hour, every day.

Dear Joe, dear Kamela, thank you for your efforts, but power has new sources now even made up, invented weaponry, lyrical memes and headlines.

I am trying to figure out the meaning of it all before our planet blows up or breaks down.

Where is superman when we need him most? Where is our mother?

What Caused the Shooting of Donald Trump

 

Other than the lie "this doesn't happen in US politics" it means we are lying to ourselves. 

The public political narrative uses violence as bread and butter. Keep the masses confused and afraid, terrorized, this is the main ingredient of the campaign including corporate media reporting.

Women, men, thinkers, teachers and neighbours know better but getting their thoughts printed in a corporate newspaper is rare.

I don't know exactly what or who would be recognized as a voice, other than the obvious staff and celebrities, but what I do know, is the publication of wise thoughts is not favoured often.

This means we do not have open and honest publicity. We don't know what letters to the editor didn't get published. We do not ask why articles that tell readers the future is out of our hands and we are powerless to change the world. "This is just the way things are" as if we are talking about a tree in the garden or a giraffe in the zoo. 

We are doomed because "we are isolated units competing for the most of what each of us wants."

Wars, battles for profit and land, psychology, machismo, misogyny (silencing the voice of those who carry embryos to delivery) and capitalism, have taken up the space we think of as normal behaviour. City and village, workers and customers, parents and teachers have been brow beaten into a concept called "reality" which reports injustice, crime and greed, until we lock our thoughts inside the house, upstairs. 

My children are confident they have more wisdom and intelligence than I. They live in the city, travel the noisy highways, keep up with fashions and know of ways to avoid being a victim. They are awake during the day. They drive on major highways, deal with corporate bosses, and keep the house clean.

What I offer here is merely my thoughts on how, we as living creatures, have come to this.

First, in order to get along and keep our jobs, we  are not looking to let our hearts bleed over the commons. We know we are not in control of the world and are mostly okay with that. We also know that some egos are willing to kill children in order to conquer a domaine mostly in their own imaginations. So politics is more interested in the likely stories than the ideal ones.

Ideals have been dowloaded to the corners and the temples, while we "get on with life".

Nothing is static if it breathes and moves, so we must, in the dark night believe what we experience.

Confession: I have been called "a dreamer", "an idealist". I cry easily. And I focus on the world as I experience it. I know that's not science, and while I admire professors and teachers, I can only write what comes from my thoughts and feelings, while I seek to learn more about the world.

Lesson 1: good teachers have patience and compassion.

Lesson 2: there is nothing rewarding in getting the last word or dominating the conversation. 

Lesson 3: many people are kind and caring. This doesn't get counted in economic charts.

Lesson 4: living in community where people see and hear what's going on around them, is wealth.  Living with people who care about you is worth a million dollars at least.

Lesson 5: everyone has an opinion on something, even the wounded.

Lesson 6: saving the world is possible, not easy, but possible, if we fix the gap between power and nurture.

Lesson 7: all living entities need food and water and air.

Lesson 8: we don't have to be in control of the world, but we do need to get comfortable with our own limitations.

Lesson 9: Love is not for the week. Love is for the preservation of life.

Answer to the question of the title? Please send it to janetvickers@shaw.ca. 

Is This The Result Of Misogyny?

 

Thousands of years of Patriarchy has come to valourizing one gender. Modern societies work on the capitalist theory of two genders. Male or Female. Your gender is decided at birth by the shape of your genitals. If you are declared Male you shall have a difficult life serving the dehumanizing ideals of Patriarchy. 

You are trained to not think too much, to always be strong, strive to win, to not be sensitive, to get the job done, whatever that may be.

While rates of hate, crime, starvation, homelessness, rise, the possibility of nuclear war, you are trained to not think about it. While it might seem obvious that humans are destroying the elements, the doctrine of manliness has taught you to dismiss these feelings. You are not here to be sensitive, you are here to serve the hierarchy.

Ruling ideologies have changed little since the end of the Roman Empire but we are more open to compassion, or is that wishful thinking. Every century must have war to decide who is in charge. We don't need to say it any more.

Competing for the most of what each of us wants doesn't result in a serious conversation about what humans want. It's decided by the authority of numbers. 

Bleeding hearts are sissies who bleed every month until they are old, fat and with wrinkles ... witches who have lived long enough to know better than to smile sweetly.

If you work for a company it will be where males go to work and forget about the troubling thoughts of life's meaning. Lack of time and tension is enough to keep your mind on what should be done for the profit margin.

Corporations are the highest on the pecking order. We need them to make things like pizza and trousers.

We are taught we must never give up fighting with the devil.  Christianity has been coopted to entrench the value of fighting. Your life will be one long struggle to kill the inner sinner. 

We humans have been very clever to turn the teachings of a Palestinian Jew into one long crusade against our sins, the human tendency to think about pleasure.

Sure there are many pleasures to be had on earth. Music, singing, dancing, love, cooking, eating. But what about the ego?

Who is in control? 

This question requires organization, planning, education. But not thinking. Satan dwells in our quiet thoughts and desires.

Even from the time of the Roman Empire, men had to be separated from mothers and sisters so they don't become indoctrinated with the nurturing side of nature but brave soldiers trained to kill.

To save the world is feminine. It requires nurture, love, kindness.  Even the only begotten son was crucified by men who thought they were doing God's bidding.

Doesn't make sense does it? You must be indoctrinated to understand little children must die too.  

If the world wasn't so cruel, women could run it.