The last potatoes digged up, the field rakened and green manure sowed, one morello tree shortened by about two metres, peppermint and sage picked and dried;
... that happened end of August. Ah! And the magic of all those flowers ...
Meanwhile almost four weeks have flown by; since, there has happened quite a lot on this planet quite a few of which you might even have come to "know" as it has been covered in (y)our media.
One daily news you will neither have read in your daily newspaper nor heard elsewhere, though, as being published / told day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, decade by decade that yesterday approximately 30 / 40,000 children have been dying of starvation would be bloody depressing ... well, at least damn boring, would you agree?
Life is difficult enough to thoroughly enjoy, isn't it? If only I think of that the other day a bit too much sea-salt in the tomatoe soup spoilt my dinner.
Who in our civilised world would be able to care about how many women have been raped in Congo or elsewhere, while I was kept busy with picking plums, for hours? I mean, it's not my or your business. I can't change anything, can I? And neither can you, hm?
Not that I would not feel pity, whenever I come to think of it for some seconds now and then; but that's life, isn't it?
One is getting raped, a second tortured, a third murdered, while I am busy with watching butterflies and (bumble-)bees enjoying their kind of milk and honey that is flowing in Seanhenge, and while you perhaps are struggling with what outfit to choose for tomorrow's dinner party.
Ah, I should not have started this. Did I write 30,000 children per day?
That means, 750,000 children within 25 days, doesn't it? Phew!
Coming to think of it: Isn't it wonderful, magic well-nigh, that despite of this marginal phenomenon not worth to daily make its way into the news, there are living more than six billion human beings on this wonderful planet, thus about four times more than when I was born, about half a century ago?
Thinking positive - and aren't we told to always think positive?! - we are blessed that day by day 30- / 40,000 children are dying of starvation, aren't we?
Ah, no! Really! See? Such easily a post's content is being manipulated by thoughts about marginal daily phenomenons that are not worth mentioning.
Let alone, that I can be absolutely sure that those who are reading this are able to distinguish cynism from sarcasm, it's a great relief to know that most of those poor? nameless? anyway: unnamed creatures - and I am not talking about those 40,000 children who day by day are leaving this planet to enjoy life in this or that paradise, depending of the god their still somehow surviving parents are made to believe in - are analphabets.
In this sense.
A most joyous weekend to those
able to read.
May your god bless you,
and if it (read: your god) were the head of a dead sardine.
Enjoy
the peace of the night ...
in which - provided you are sleeping eight hours - approximately some more than 10,000 children are dying of starvation.
These figures don't stop me from breathing Sean, in the contrary!
ReplyDeleteAs long as there are idiots out there with there ism, ideologies, etc. they have followers and they have folloers as well so they create other followers and this goes on...and problems are not solved because they are too busy with following and admiring...
I see it daily here in Turkey...and the only thing they don't have in common with a sheep is that they walk on 2 legs instead of 4..)!
So I decided to start writing again for a TR daily...articles with some anarcho-syndicalistic tints...be prepared..))!
kindest
hans
Why worry about starving babies when Paris Hilton's had a fashion faux pas...
ReplyDeleteI wonder about our priorities...
I read somewhere the richest man in the world could not starve himself enough to help all the hungry children nor could all his riches be more than just a temporary fix. In the end we have to rely on the ripple effect of our own daily compassion and good works to those around us eventually reaching these children - the 'butterfly effect' I believe it's called.
ReplyDelete@Jams
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget Madonna, who granted herself a place in Heaven by saving a Malawian child from backwardness.
@Sean,
It is terrible, it is awful, it is horrible, it is disgusting, but il faut cultiver votre jardin.
Bertus
Hans,
ReplyDeletelooking forward to read.
It will be written in English I suppose?
How many of those you want to reach in Turkey, do speak English and read English newspapers?
Jams,
is there a Hilton's in Paris? :)
Yes. Moreover, I am worried about many priorities.
Janice,
like chaos-theoreticians I am convinced almost everything on this planet is interconnected. However I think rather a butterfly beating it wings somewhere, will create something none of us wants to experience in his lifetime.
As this may sound very dark, again: I agree with what you say.
Bertus,
yes, back to the garden! :)
Perhaps I wrote this post rather for me than for others - to remind me of that I have no reason to whine? :)
Sean,
ReplyDeleteSome people have a right to whine, others haven't. I think you belong to the first category.
Bertus
Bertus,
ReplyDeletedid I ever mention you are very kind? :)
Thank you.
Dearest Sean,
ReplyDeleteHow I have missed your lovely posts. The pain and torment in your words hits the reader straight between the eyes. One feels incredible shame and guilt.
Recently in Melbourne, being within a business community I was invited to have dinner with the Ambassador of Turkey. I looked up his curriculum vitae prior to the dinner to know a little about him. It interested me to know that he had previously worked as 'Ambassador, Director General, Consular Affairs,
National Coordinator for Human Trafficking,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs'. So I had a few questions I wished to ask about the progress that was being made with human trafficking.
Instead of asking my planned questions, I made gracious small talk like everyone else. I did not want to be the one to spoil the evening even though it was perfect opportunity to seek answers.
When he realized I was of Cypriot descent, he smiled and told me that he had met with Rauf Denktas. He thought that I would be impressed!!! I smiled and said that was lovely. Denktas is a Mafia figure in my eyes, and I was insulted that he would think that I would find that impressive.
So you see Sean, it is not within protocol to ask our leaders at celebratory functions, questions that you find imperative. For (1) It is rude to put our leaders on the spot (2) you may spoil everyone else's evening and (3) you will not ever be invited to ever attend such a prestigious (?) functions again.
So what do we do? We focus on important issues ... the tomato soup being marred with too much sea salt. :(
At least I know that I have a soul blogger friend in you Sean … a friend who wears his heart on his keyboard. :)
Painful post to read, Sean.:)
ReplyDeleteAfter I read it, I wrote to Ottawa. "World hunger shames us all. What is my country doing about it?" It's very complex.
As you told us, Sean, Jacques Diouf says "Every 6 seconds a child dies of hunger." He heads the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which will host the three-day World Summit on Food Security in Rome beginning Monday (Nov.16,09) to address the crisis.
Ottawa told me that Canadien Prime Minister Harper has made boosting food production the chief priorities of our 4.7 billion aid program, and he has promised to double our financial support. He also has scrapped Buy Canadian rules on food aid. It's a start. A small start.
I don't know what other countries are doing.
$44 billion a year is needed from US, Canada, Europe and other major donors to help the world feed its expected 9 billion people by 2050. Presently we're giving $8 billion!!!!!!!!!
Global military spending is $1.3 trillion!!!!!!!
What can we do, one person at a time? In Keynia, some women have set up a soup kitchen mostly for kids. Hard to believe that we also have hungry children in Toronto. Now that doctors have settled my heart, I'll see what I can do here, and in far away countries. And I'll keep badgering my government.
:) Please, Sean, keep opening my eyes. It's much needed.