"News that's not known, or not known enough."
Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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Most of all we fear Fear
Some people eat when they are afraid. Others hit the bottle. Most people go into a state of denial trying to shut out reality, pretending that what is happening really isn't. Different tactics, same cause. There's the head-in-the-sand Ostrich defense, the play-dead Possum defense, and the touch-me-and-die porcupine defense. And of course the join-a-mob Monkey defense, which is the worst, most dehumanizing of all ... and that is the one that scares me most, because when men become mobs they stop thinking. Every one of these 'tactics' makes things worse in the long run. Boozing makes you more of what you already are and less of what you could be. Anger makes you stupid. Overeating, well, that just makes you slow in case you actually do need to Fuck Everything And Run!@#$ And joining a "mob", an army of frightened sheep and monkeys? That doesn't help either ... Denial of reality is the worst response, in my opinion. When we're in Denial we are living inside our own heads, entranced and deluded by our emotions and desires instead of focusing on what is actually happening, and thinking about workable solutions. Everyone has been there, it's just a matter of how long it takes you to admit the truth to yourself and WAKE UP. If you keep living in Denial you will be fighting the wrong enemies and befriending people who couldn't care less about you. Let's not name names here. OK? Just think about rich "religious" people who are afraid of dying. Maybe they're angry at "sinners" on top of all that... I'm not naming religions here, just saying, hypothetically ... Now, if a person is "saved" and has true "faith" why is that person afraid of dying? And why is that person luxuriating in wealth when there are more than one billion people on this planet who are suffering greatly in poverty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year? Back when I was just, maybe, 4 or 5, I visited my great grans and their ranch out in the desert. One of their big problems was mice in the corn barrels. Somehow I got the idea in my head that mice were horrible Evildoers. Well, making a short story shorter, I spotted one of them thar Evildoers in the corn barrel and caught it in my bare hands! I grabbed it and squeezed the life out of it. Then I opened my hands and saw what I had done: It was just a baby mouse, a hungry little baby mouse which I had killed. I thought I was doing a good thing, but as it turned out, it was not a good thing. That taught me a lesson Really, there are two lessons: Think for yourself and don't wantonly destroy things. In my philosophy (these days), Good and Evil boils down to being a Maker or a Destroyer Personally, the thing that frightens me the most, now that I am relatively old, is dying badly. I don't want to die stinking of fear. I don't want to die a long, slow death in a hospital. And especially I don't want to die stupidly, because of a moronic, careless error. If I have to go I want to do with dignity and without dishonor, unafraid and unashamed. Preferably fast. (If I can dream it I can achieve it ...
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