If someone could take from me my guitar, my Greek New Testament, and my Hebrew Bible I would grieve and mourn, but I will also be certain that the very memory of what those things have contributed to my life will dry my tears and embrace me with perfect comfort. My guitar needs fingers, so they are most dear too. The two halves of the Bible, sacred to hundreds of millions worldwide, need a hungry and curious mind, so my mind, as designed, is on that list of most dear. After all, thinking is a thing too.
Unlike Jimi Hendrix, who on discovering his lover was no longer residing at the Red House, said “I can still play my guitar”, I, without sacred text and guitar, would play the memory.
What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?
My dad was a harbour pilot. My interest in his work was once an idealistic dream. He learned the waters of our nation from his dad, and I never saw how he and I could be in a similar situation. I will be happy piloting other kinds of ships to harbor and be satisfied knowing his pride in my work.
I vote religiously in political elections. Were it not for the freedom to select who represents my interests in “government house” I would be at the mercy of tribal tradition, religious monoliths, despots and tyrants dressed up as people’s representatives. The political vote is one of the few remaining havens of freedom and privacy. Long may we vote!
Pollsters begone! Phony freedom-fighters, hit the road! Pundits, bury the nuts and forget where you stashed them! Proponents of divided houses, board the lifeboats!
I vote religiously in political elections. Were it not for the freedom to select who represents my interests in “government house” I would be at the mercy of tribal tradition, religious monoliths, despots and tyrants dressed up as people’s representatives. The political vote is one of the few remaining havens of freedom and privacy. Long may we vote!
Pollsters begone! Phony freedom-fighters, hit the road! Pundits, bury the nuts and forget where you stashed them! Proponents of divided houses, board the lifeboats!
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
I do not pretend to have found a single maxim that informs or empowers my lifestyle. In my opinion that kind of consciousness is playacting. Everyone who is purposefully thoughtful knows that a person’s intellectual and moral usefulness does not come from the quantity of thoughts. Just look at all the patriotic and paranoid leaders in the paragon nations of the world. Do they not all have rigorous and exhaustive legislative processes that fail to protect human dignity and even seem indifferent to human safety? The thought that comes to mind these days is about stopping fascist, conservative, nominal Christian leaders from keeping people in fear and capitalist Gehenna because they are afraid of caring for others who are neither Christian, conservative nor fascist.
The love we deny in a tragic deathroll
I do not live by asking myself “What did So-and-So say?” The vast majority of my actions have sprung from patterns that have been around long before I came into existence. I affirm that I am the product of love. My parents were attracted to each other, grew to be friends, were undoubtedly erotically active, combined their philanthropy into caring for me way past my own journey into attractive, friendship and caring for my own love products. If I wanted to appear grounded in a single thought I would have to express loyalty to one of the death cults that passes as a guardian of sustainable life. Every wise person is the product of his environment and more often than not is an unapologetic disciple of his nation’s philosophy. There will soon be nothing to live for or by if life continues to end tragically in pursuit of a single thought or action. We are better off recognising that life is stewardship over a variety of domains and not over one another. Having a single thought to guide a lifestyle is like the deathroll of an alligator; pure and egocentric consumerism. The relationship between my thoughts and my lifestyle is more autonomous than deliberate. I do not have to THINK about helping someone who has fallen by and needs help, nor do I have to THINK about accepting help when I myself have fallen and need help.
Like most people who are not living the cloistered life I have something to say about the paths humans take. The things people say about their chosen lifestyle is a primary interest of mine. I keep my shields up against debates and forums where the participants have a wide range of opinions and are not committed to learning, and have neither competence nor expertise.
I like to discuss, in the appropriate settings, misanthropy, philanthropy, misogyny, xenophobia, tribalism, cultural heritage, the intersection of religion and politics, and Christian theology. I will always make room for a discussion of African liberation, primarily with people of African descent.
Egyptians are building no pyramids in the twenty-first century and they still depend on the waters of the Nile. The Fertile Crescent is no longer a place where a man can migrate his 300 plus family and livestock to a new country thousands of kilometres away. The Iraqi people, the successors of the great and golden Babylonians, live in a world where any thoughts of being in charge of the world as far as their boots could reach has to be a result of a mental illness. The Chinese people are still scared of the outside world, making the national army the living version of the famous terra cotta figurines. Across the globe tribalism, greed and political buffoonery are keeping people from acting as humans, and spilling innocent blood. People can change and the conclusion rests on the transition between the changed and the changer.
The inhumanity of people rides a conquering horse
Can people change?
People can change the environment and landscape more decisively than they can change their minds. The will power to change behaviour is a shallow pool and saying yes to the contents of a viral and even noble video does not change the composition of the human heart. People are still liars, selfish, rebellion-prone, proud and stuck in their traditional silos. People change from squirming infants, to precocious juveniles, to focused adults right before our eyes. “People change” ought to be observed first in families, then in villages, then in cities, then in nations. Something else is riding a conquering horse in the arena of people change. It is nevertheless a rare thing indeed for people to change themselves from inhumane beings headed for the grave. To quote from a two-term and unsullied American president’s campaign slogan, “Yes, we can”.
It may not be recognized as a common wonder but having literate parents is a huge advantage when you are curious, preschool and juvenile. My mother taught me all the things that, I think, many still get primarily in school. Reading, writing and arithmetic came to me from my mother.
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 