Time to brush off the cobwebs of your creative selves and share your writings under the banner of FFF - remember to link back to this post (I tell you how in the 'rulez' page up top) - and if you want others to visit your posts, link them in the comments section here. It's all about waxing lyrical based upon the prompt from a photograph you have taken yourselves.
For my own entry this month, I had an echo in my head. I was wondering what on earth made dear wee Moushka's eyes pop like this...
It haunted me, and then it struck me... I recalled the October post of four years past in which I shared a poem I had written and recalled some childhood terror. If you don't remember it - or weren't around then - I recommend reading that to make sense of this.
You see, just as the wee me was struck deep to my core with fear of The Bomb, I now think that the young generation around us is equally afraid. I think some of them have that same sense of utter dread that the wee me had fifty years back. I looked at Moushka, and all I could see was the face of a strident and determined young lady from Norway; I could see the face of my late niece who was passionate about environmental and ecological matters; ...and I could see the wee me, frightened to the very marrow of my bones.
The big me is every bit as disturbed at the mountain of resistance to be climbed to get the powers that be (read megazzily-dollar companies invested in raping our planet) to pay heed over their greed. The big me is equally distraught at how many individuals in society are prepared to say, "I'm okay, Jack, it'll get sorted in the future."
THE FUTURE IS THE MINUTE AFTER THIS ONE!!!
It is true that the earth has always had climate cycles - who doesn't know about the ice age?! Of the widely tropical nature prior to that... but what needs to be fully understood is that what is changing now is accelerated beyond all previous measures and the most significant cause of that is the expansion of the population of the earth's primary predator.
Forget COVID19. It has nothing on the virus known as Homo Sapiens. Be afraid. Be absolutely underwear-damagingly scared... that's what that expression on Moushka's face tells me.
© Yamini Ali MacLean 2021
Worth noting, if you have not already, that there is a meeting about to commence in Glasgow; COP26. Two of the major players (China and Russia) are already not attending; many of the minor ones most directly affected are also unlikely to make it (think sinking islands). Never was such a gathering so crucial - yet the chance of anything truly paradigm-shifting coming from it has never felt so distant. Is there a will to enforce the change we need to see???
Moushka is right... that's the only thing we have to fear...
ReplyDeleteI have started reading a long essay on the age of anxiety. If possible and appropriate to do so i will link it once i have read and digested it. I look at Mr B's kids and grandchildren and never have i seen such concetrated collection of paralysing fear - all but the very youngest being treated professionally for anxiety related issues (even an 11 year old). What the hell have we done to their generations?
ReplyDeleteInteresting to compare the anxiety that the Bomb threat caused when we were children to the current climate-related anxieties. The climate issue is different, less obviously dramatic but perhaps an even more difficult one as it's so hard to see individuals (at least in developed democracies) willingly making the necessary changes to their lifestyles. And then, of course, the Bomb threat has not gone away...
ReplyDeletei agree 100 percent that Homa Sapiens are the #1 cause of fear and anxiety and our world wide problems. about half of the USA believe that climate change is just hoo ha... that is the scary part. it has become political here and people are choosing sides. HS are choosing sides on any and all issues here. I was born in 1944 and have lived under the bomb threat all of my 77 years.. in the late 50's early 60's my town of Savannah Ga was the expected target from Cuban bombs, we had monthly practice of siren goes off, hide under your desk. like that would help.. as I type this, I think nothing has really changed except what we fear, we watching a movie last night about an island that Rome wanted and 100 years of attacking them with crusaders they finally took them. the people lived in constant fear and fought like vikings... that was in 1297. the cave men had to fight dinosaurs, each generation has lived in fear of attack. I believe that what I am using right now to communicate with you and my other blog friends is a very large part of the anxiety in children now.. Facebook and instagram and snap chat and Social Media has escalated the fears because of access to the world. and people can say and do hateful things and feel hidden, so they say things that hurt others. it was always there but now we KNow it is there...
ReplyDeleteHari Om
DeleteThat is absolutely the case and, I suppose, what I was indicating - every generation will have its fear subject. And it is not that previous causes have necessarily gone away, as Gail says, but the focus is different and I couldn't agree more that the mass communications we have now exacerbate things - yet also provide the means (as here) to bring calm and salve to the soul... Yxx
Hi Yam - yes tomorrow is the future ... and we need Homo Sapiens to remember it can think ... and that it can think about the future it is leaving for the generations ahead. I'm thinking, but laying low ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteMoushka is very smart. It's the peeps who are the issue.
ReplyDeleteOh YAM indeed I remember the fear the adults. Many homes were building bomb shelters. The kiddos no clue of any fears.
ReplyDeleteOf course my parents spent their teenage years during WWII.
After 9/11, I understood the fear. It sits in the back compartment of my memory; however, it is often popping up now.
Hugs Cecilia
The weather is sure different.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on and stay safe
And Canada's Overall rating is Highly insufficient (in the climate action tracker). I could go on a rant having lived in Alberta (oil) and BC (mining and forestry) and worked in both. I won't. It just makes me angry about things I have no control over.
ReplyDeleteWe have failed to learn to take care of one another as well as to take care of the earth and its many inhabitants. If only we would learn the lesson of "love one another" in all its depth. Thank you for this thoughtful (as always) post.
ReplyDeleteAll our eyes will be on Glasgow, and on the protests in the streets. And we're all with Moushka and Little You in our heart of hearts. I spent my 20s and early 30s doing non=stop anti-nuclear work. One of our slogans: "Better active today than radioactive tomorrow." Since then there's been Chernobyl and Fukushima floods, fires, droughts, pandemics. Now the horrors of rapid climate change are there for us all to see--unlike invisible radiation. But even when it's staring us all in the face, are the "megazzily-dollar" executives willing to get out of the business? Arghhh!
ReplyDelete