When I was a lad, life was simpler, harder yet straightforward and honest. As the world is flooded with newfangled gadgetry and newfangled woke spoke, I find myself looking back on the post war years with a strange regret. Life is so newfangled that it is a complex place of ever-increasing innovation, and gratitude for the simple things in life is a far distant memory. We should consider how imprisoned we have become in this newfangled world which has rewarded us with so much and yet taken even more by stealth.
Read more: I remember... when newfangled stuff didn't exist - summer wine was not some whine
Yesterday, I saw a photo of a little red wren and I smiled. That pretty, delicate little creature was hopping about doing what it does best and it seemed blissfully unaware of what the world seems to think it is confronting. It was so nice to smile again.
I see images of cats and dogs, romping, sleeping, enjoying the sunshine and the joy of life and that magnificent wonder of being alive.
How the hell have we humans got it so wrong?
1942 was the most terrifying year in our history. It was the one and only time that our country was under serious threat of invasion. We have never been, before or since, poised on such a knife edge as we were when Singapore fell and Darwin was bombed. Not just Darwin. It got the publicity. What about Broome, Wyndham, Townsville, Newcastle and Sydney? Prominent figures like PM Curtin, Gen Macarthur and high profile others got the plaudits but none of them saved us from a Japanese invasion. There are three men who did.
This is such a cliche, yet today, it is more true than ever before. I have been asking myself a lot these days " why do our governments and media want to divide us? ". All I can think of is that through division we will fall into disarray and become weak. What astonishes me is how easy it has been for " them " to carry out their mission. But I keep coming back to our old mates " who " , " what " "where " "when " and most importantly " why "
Read more: United we stand, divided we fall - is it time for a Eureka moment?
Tragedies are meant to be tragic, right? No one told London’s Globe Theatre, whose ‘Romeo and Juliet’ adaptation comes with a warning of suicide and drug use and advice on counseling. The Bard must be spinning in his grave.
Listen, you woke idiots, with your pointless qualifications in the art of navel-gazing and insatiable urge to reassemble history through a 2020s lens, please just stop nannifying the world.
Stop.
Marianne Faithfull famously sung that at the age of thirty-seven, Lucy Jordan realised she'd never ride through Paris in a sports car, with the warm wind in her hair. It’s taken me a lot longer, being more than twice that age, but I’m on the same page. I used to care a bit, but I don’t give a rat’s arse anymore (No offence intended Esra).
When you think about it, we are all so insignificant in the whole scheme of things, any achievement, no matter how great and earth-shattering it may seem at the time, is illusory. You only have to ponder that it takes 200,000 years for light from a distant star travelling at the speed of light, which is about 300,000 kilometres per second, to cross our galaxy, and there are as many galaxies in the universe as there are grains of sand on all the beaches in the world. The magnitude of it all is too large to grasp.
What kind of country are we turning into?
Several rescue dogs being kept in a pound while waiting to be saved by a shelter have been shot dead by a New South Wales council in Australia, as part of their strategy to prevent COVID-19 spread. The dogs were shot and killed to make sure volunteers who were coming to pick them up would not endanger the town.... which has had no covid cases. Go figure.
Judge not the crazed Twitbook troll because he knows not what he does. Instead of training the troll to drool like Pavlov’s dog in response to the dinner bell, the master has trained the troll to make vicious ad hominem attacks in response to trigger words like the Founders, liberty, and Trump.
Read more: Mass Psychology - 13 steps to totalitarian mind control
Read more: I remember when.......there were not enough hours in the day
Thousands of people have been abandoned to the " mercy " of the Taliban and the President of the United States of America has abandoned them. Apparently, America does not currently have a specific plan to help them.
Yet, back in 1940, things were different. 340,000 troops were stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk after a botched military decision. Our troops were left behind and it took the " Miracle of Dunkirk " to bring the boys back home.
As most of you know, Dunkirk is a small town on the coast of France that was the scene of a massive military campaign during World War II. It sounds eerily familiar, after the surrender of the Biden Government in Afghanistan and the subsequent horror that is unfolding right now.
Perhaps we, as former President Donald Trump has said " facing our Dunkirk moment. "
Read more: As America weeps, someone has to bring the boys back home
Never in a million years ( as the saying goes) did I ever imagine that we would be witnessing the rapid death of a once truly lucky country. We considered ourselves lucky to call it home. Lucky to enjoy its bounty of food, natural resources, freedom and thousands of miles of sandy beaches and pristine coastline.
In 18 months, we have descended into a hell on earth that little resembles that nation we loved, felt enormous pride to be part of and an almost arrogant smugness at declaring ourselves under its bounteous protection and wealth.
What the hell have we allowed to happen? How did we let it happen? Who stole it from us? When did the rot set in? Why did we allow it to happen?
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