(I actually had written most of this at the end of 2017 and never got around to posting it; however, some of what I wrote then is still relevant today – sadly..)
And,
what a year that was … !!!
As
we begin 2019, the world continues to be in turmoil – reeling from political
blunders to natural disasters – although how much mankind has contributed to
these latter events is definitely a moot point. While I do not profess to understand in detail
what global warming / climate change is all about, there can surely be no doubt
that humans’ actions nowadays are certainly exacerbating – and accelerating certain
weather conditions, thus affecting the earth’s eco-system adversely.
There
is so much anger around that it’s frightening.
Still, if like a lanced boil, all the ‘stuff’ that is erupting and
coming to the surface can be dealt with and cleansed, hopefully healing can
take place and mankind can start to move forward to a more peaceful
existence. (Having said this, I’m not
holding my breath…)
One
example from last year; the ♯metoo movement. Ironic that this should happen during the
tenure of quite possibly the most chauvinistic, misogynistic president to have
ever occupied the White House. Sure, there’ve
been other very badly-behaved presidents when it comes to sex (think Bill
Clinton for starters). However, while
their behaviour was pretty appalling, they – outwardly – at least weren’t quite
so openly denigrating about / towards women.
However,
I’m somewhat inclined to agree with Brigitte Bardot. It is one thing to have a genuine grievance
against a bully who used / uses his status to demand sexual favours from an
aspirant (in whatever field). It is
quite another to cry ‘wolf’ when the aspirant might indeed have used her
sexuality to advance her career and now sees a chance to get back at bad
treatment she may have subsequently experienced.
Those
who are guilty should indeed be called out and punished. However, with so many women now coming out of
the woodwork, how to distinguish between the real victims and those who might
conceivably be seeking revenge for being slighted at one time could be a bit of
a minefield.
Indeed,
hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Just
a thought..
What
is it about power that so goes to people’s heads that they think they are
invincible?? Don’t they realise that
what goes up must come down?? It is
rumoured that when the early Caesars were celebrating their Triumphs, a slave
stood behind them, murmuring ‘ Remember, Caesar, thou art but mortal’ or words
to this effect… (however, I haven’t been able to track down an actual source
for this phrase; could merely be an
urban legend)..
And now, as we begin 2019, the USA faces a continuing partial government shut-down – including freezing a federal pay increase (actually, not a totally bad thing; many government employees actually earn far more than many of their counterparts in the private sector – some of whom contribute to their company’s bottom line). All the while, the petulant child rants and raves on Twitter about the Democrats’ refusal to ‘negotiate’ (in Trump parlance, this actually means cave in) – even though he had earlier intimidated that he would be taking responsibility for a shut-down. As usual, his short-term memory forgets this rather important consideration.
He is so fixated by his bloody wall that he is prepared to cause a lot of grief to a lot of people – no matter what the cost. (And for all those people who think that he is keeping a campaign promise; what happened to ‘Mexico is going to pay for the wall’??) !! What a prick..
Interestingly,
haven’t heard too much more about the right-wing loony who has purportedly
raised over $10 billion (maybe more) from private donors (idiots) to go towards
funding the wall. Even though this
person is a US Vet (a three-time amputee), he is still a right-wing nutter.
Dark
forces do indeed abound; let’s hope that
2019 – being a Universal 3 year – will see a change for the better and that the
forces of light prevail.
Oh
Brave New World.
If only…