Food for Thought – Honi soit qui mal y pense
Whatever somebody may have done or is doing: There is only the court of law and a proper action before it in a working legal system to convict and punish them.
Nothing is an excuse for such an attack as has been made known today. Without knowing any details yet since I have learned to take in news at a measure I still feel that in view of past criticism I owe my readers this clear statement:
There is no excuse for violence.
The basics…? Food, dry shelter and clothes. Beyond that? Humans need company to feel accepted. To feel as part of a whole.
To get beyond acceptance and beyond the basics many people are prepared to do almost anything. Attention which is equalled with special acceptance is at the centre, often half-conscious. Depending on the culture, wealth may be put at the top of the list.
The bucket list?
To me, life can be full of pain, cruelty and suffering. In order to make life bearable or even wonderful, we would want to avoid pain for others and for ourselves.
Any wise book in this world you may want to try will put it in so many words. Philosophers as well as business reckonings as well as the great books of the four biggest world religions contain these elements in principle:
Life can be dreadful and it can be wonderful. We, as grown-up human beings are largely responsible for what we do and how we treat others on life’s journey.
We can see it as one big race. But, as Baz Luhrmann put it so wisely, “the race is long but in the end it’s only with yourself.”
There are times when some people wonder what to do, what to put at their list’s top.
In that case I would like to put it this way: All four religions and their central books/scrolls have their strengths and weaknesses, some parts of them having been discussed for centuries.
But, in order to live together in this world that depends on us being smart and compassionate and remember our ancestor’s ways of honouring nature – the human rights of the United Nations can be considered the best possible foundation, a rock of truth as it were, to measure everything else by – and with.
Your yardstick.
After that, the basics. And laughter, kindness and joy shared. Love.
War is not really about heroes in most cases: It is about people who die, cities that are destroyed and living conditions made unbearable.
War is also about greed.
Leo Tolstoy, one of the great Russians and a giant of literature for so many fine reasons I would not count them all, captured this concept in a compelling story:
How Much Land Does a Man Need?
If you never came across it yet, you may think that even by its title you would know anyway… ‘Try it out.’
The end may be easily predicted – but the whole ‘run’ of it is masterfully done and never misses a step…
Donald Trump has been a phenomenon from the first times he entered public record and awareness. He’s the worst version of a depraved and downright hateful human being you can probably imagine. I myself read about these types only in books – and in newspapers of course.
He’s perhaps not one of those you would outright suspect of murder – but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was secretly involved in such schemes.
What is public and confirmed knowledge though is this: he’s been involved in lies, shady business schemes and fraud to the ‘hilt’. He is so obviously lying almost any time he opens his mouth that it’s difficult to take him seriously.
The fact that he’s come all this way in terms of wealth is proof of an also comparatively commonly known concept: there always were and always will be a certain percentage of human beings on this earth who believe that money is a form of distinction in a man (or woman) to have acquired – the more the better.
If Trump wasn’t president of the USA, one could easily just have a good laugh at him – or two – and then dismiss him for the basically ridiculous person he is.
Unfortunately he is president of the US at the moment. My only hope is that an impeachment process will be started against him after all. That there will be enough people around who still have some kind of reason at their hearts – and also realize that the respect for the USA outside of it is at a historic low – and no new war even be started by them – yet…
Well, in view of such trials we have to face in this life, the only comfort left to me are two things: