The day came. The day went. The remains of it are currently trying to sneak past without me noticing. Somehow, nothing has happened and the day would be recorded, if I could be bothered, in the column headed “As days go, this one as a waste of air and light.”
That is, of course, a very self-centred view of the world. If I lived in Kiev or Gaza, it would have been a very eventful day. I’m afraid that, having known Russia as an aggressor all my life, and having seen endless trouble in the Middle East, my basic humanity has been worn to a mere stub. Probably there is a blogger in Russia, has known the West as an aggressor all his life. We would probably get on fine if we started to communicate. I honestly have very little interest in politics. There are probably bloggers in Gaza and Israel who would get on fine if their respective governments could stop killing people.
Should I feel guilty about this, or do other people also find their stocks of compassion running out?
I’m seriously thinking of engraving my memoirs on sheets of titanium, sealing them in an airtight box, burying them in concrete and then challenging all the world leaders to start a nuclear war. In the short term it will be bad, but if you think of it as pressing the reset button it’s not the worst idea I’ve ever had. I’m not sure that we deserve a planet when you see how we act. In a couple of thousand years the Earth will be green again, people in caves will start killing each other with sticks and stones in disputes about land and a time traveller will dig up a big box of titanium pages . . .
Or is that the script of Planet of the Apes?
Medals from 100 years of warfare . . .
The news is depressing. No two ways about it. If you want some diversion, you can turn your attention to what’s happening in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Republicans inability to elect a Speaker of the House. All the while, a debit crisis looms in November. Good times!
Looking at America would only upset me more. What has happened?
It is depressing to think about.
It’s a tricky decision – think and be unhappy or don’t think and be cheerful.
Oh, a long story. It didn’t happen overnight. The seeds were planted long ago, and now they are bearing their ugly blooms.
It was a remarkably bad year when the joke candidates turned out to be what the people wanted in US and UK. At least Boris isn’t fermenting rebellion.
Sigh.
You have a wonderful husband and a son-in-law with a beard, you live in Maine and you are an internationally known author of YA fiction – that’s a lot of positives. I have banana bread. What more do we need? 🙂
Right?
🙂
Script or not – we become desensitised to it all. The scariest bit for me is how Gaza has pushed Ukraine off the news
There is a science to the study of newspapers, they developed it WW2 to interpret the mood of the German people. I son’t remember much about it, but in the days of Apartheid you never found stories about Israel/Gaza and South Africa/Soweto running together – it was one or the other. As I recall both stories often featured armed police and civilians/school kids being in conflict.
Jeremy Hunt spoke about the Ukraine effect this morning
Life is so complicated.
I can see that you have been watching the news again. I try to avoid it as much as I can. Once a day is more than enough.
I find I am much healthier mentally if I avoid the news completely. I once managed for over a year. My knowledge of current affairs suffered but my temper and happiness were much improved. I am going to start doing that again.