Go tend to your garden

I guess only two wars are not enough. I guess three is the number. I guess the price of $55 million for a day’s worth of bombing is a great bargain for a cause that’s undefined and vague.

Is any action always better than no action? Buddhists would not agree. The main goal should be to do no harm. Any military operation does harm.

The picture of the world is frightening: a catastrophe in Japan, a new war in the Middle East, political hypocrisy everywhere, greed and self interest as the sole motive for any political / social action.

The beautiful, smart man who we believed would be different turned out to be the same. But, to quote Matt Taibbi, it’s us who are at fault for believing he would be different. We were stupid. It’s certainly not the humanistic principles that rule the world. How many proofs do we need to finally understand how the world operates?

A tomahawk missile costs more than $500,000. But that’s ok. A teacher’s position costs $85,000. That’s not ok. Let’s fire the teachers. Who needs them anyway? What the ruling few need is not the educated masses. The less education, the better. The masses should not think. They should not pose questions. They should silently obey. A couple of basic skills should be enough. More would be dangerous. More would be subversive. So, there will be even more cuts to public education. Let’s see how far it can go? Can we squeeze 50 or maybe 60 kids in one classroom? Maybe the whole system should just be shut down. So that only the rich can send their children to expensive private schools they feel they’re entitled to. Why even bother pretending about everyone having a chance?

Today, on March 21st, the first day of Spring, I feel like abandoning this dubious attempt at a continuing blog. It’s just too depressing. I don’t feel that anybody would want to read it anyway. Who cares? People want an easy fix for their worries. They want “the positive” at any cost. It doesn’t matter if it’s a lie. Just don’t depress us. Give us hope, even if it’s false. Give us more reality shows, give us more celebrity news, more Britney and Lindsey and Kim and more idiocy and vulgarity and stupidity, so we don’t have to think. And feel. So we can spend our lives in half sleep, drugged by the TV and by the assorted drugs, readily supplied by friendly pharmaceutical corporations.

Maybe the only wise way to live is by following Voltaire’s advice: go tend to your garden. And that’s what I’m doing. I’m planting carrots and zucchini and arugula. I’m watering them and watching them grow. I’m cuddling with my cats. I’m listening to my son’s happy laughter. That’s all. I’m also shutting up. There’s too much noise in the world. I don’t want to add to the destructive, hostile, irritating noise. I’m choosing silence.

For now.