My Seventy Year Old Eyes

In a World that is getting more and more Bizarre, Chaotic, Dangerous, and  Heartbreaking I was at a total loss as to what I wanted to write about today. Surely, I said to myself, those terrific Humans reading my posts are absolutely aware of all that is happening on this Planet. So am I simply going to reiterate what they already know all too well? Then my mind wandered off and oddly settled itself on Pandora’s Box. Remember that Mythological Story? Here it is in case you wish to refresh your memory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora’s_box). However, to simplify, the Oxford Dictionary defines Pandora’s Box as: a process that generates many complicated problems as the result of unwise interference in something. What, I said to myself, could be more appropriate a definition for what we are all experiencing of “complicated problems” all due to Political and World Leaders who are making “unwise” decisions thus releasing so many Unnecessary Evils Upon Us All? It is confounding, to say the least!

The Upside of Pandora’s Box is that while she released so many Evils upon the world she managed to trap “Hope” and keep it in her box. Perhaps that is what we can all rely on at this precarious moment? Hope? Hope that some bolt of enlightenment will descend upon Humanity and avert us the almost certain disasters looming in the not too far horizon? That’s all?

Is Hope what Gaza and the Palestinian Humans now need as they are being Genocided and Annihilated? Is Hope all that the World can offer them as they wallow in their Pain and Grief? How nihilistic is that solution? How pathetic? How more indicative of  the ineptness and failure of all those in power? How Racist, Bigoted, Inhumane and Cruel is their inability to end this catastrophe!! And, do we call that Inability, or Unwillingness? Or Both?!!!! A few voices on the Right (yes, you read that correctly), as well as other voices in the US and Europe are articulating their observations that Israel’s Cruel and Criminal behavior is endangering All Jews across the world. If I was Jewish I would be very concerned about this. Very concerned, especially that this is no different from how the Nazis were scapegoating Jews with slanderous actions and words that eventually led to the vile Holocaust which is the same Offensive, Hurtful, Untrue and Toxic language that some Radical Elements in Israel’s Political Structures and Government are saying about Palestinian Humans in an effort to justify a Genocide! And this is acceptable to the world that has been chanting: Never Again for decades? How do we explain this without losing our minds?

However, if we are doomed by the Powerful, whether due to cataclysmic Climate Disasters, or Dictatorships and Authoritarians who are Suffocating us with what we do not want or desire due to their Ineptness, Unwisdom, and Inaction then the least we can do is to go out Protesting and Resisting in any way that we can, or are able to. Paralysis is not an Option! Giving up is not an Option!

Here, in these United States, we have a Puppet of a President who is Overseeing the Execution and Evil – Absolutely Evil! – Project 2025 that promises a Utopia based on White, Christian Zealous Supremacy. The Chaos we are witnessing is Deliberate and part of the Project 2025 agenda of making us all quake in our boots in order for those in power to be able to control and subdue us better. Some aspects of that same Insidious Evil Project had been emulated elsewhere, including in the Arab World even though it is predominantly Muslim, which is totally besides the point in this case, because it seems that the Political Leadership of the Muslim World must have been dangled lucrative Financial rewards and continuous Power for their spineless acquiescence. Unfathomable! Exasperating! Heinous!

As a result of all that let us please, and for the moment, forget Democracy, Freedom, Justice, Equality, Human Rights, Civil Rights and Due Process, as well as World Order and International Institutions! Eliminate all those out of your dictionaries! They have been rendered Invalid and Inapplicable! Moreover, do not for one nano second rely on either Political Party in these United States! The Republican Party does Not Exist Anymore! It is now the MAGA Party! As for the Spineless, Bribed Cowards of the Democrats’ Party Leadership? They are even more disappointing, more hypocritical, more feckless! Much more! We are so much in need of Other Parties and of Eliminating Money from our Elections. Long Live America’s Moral Conscience: Bernie Sanders!

The Billionaires, Those who are well-to-do, The Most Well-known Corporate Oligarchs, The Mainstream Media in all its forms with most of its show hosts and anchors, and All the Sycophants, Hangers-on and Yes-people of whom there are millions are all very okay with the way things are going! They too are worthless arrogant, greedy hypocrites and self-serving slaves!

Yes, Pandora’s Evils are viciously circulating throughout the atmosphere of our world, but hold onto the Hope that Pandora kept in her box, and hold on to the fact that Karma is Persistent, Unforgiving and she will exert her Justice sooner, or later! Moreover, continue to Protest and Resist in Any damn way that you can, because going out kicking and screaming is much more Honorable than bending the knee!

Yes, this is where we are at this point on this Planet of Lies, Deceit & Propaganda where “Good” (depending on your faith you could say: God) and “Evil” (depending on your faith you could say: Satan) are being defined to suit one Political Agenda, or Another. I think of them as a Seesaw when throughout our existence on this Earth there have been a few times when the Seesaw was on an even keel, otherwise it had been tilting sometimes upwards for “Good” and sometimes downward for “Evil.” Where would you say it is balancing these days? I tend to believe that it is tending upwards for “Evil.” You might say that this is a Pessimistic Outlook, or you might believe that it is a Realistic one. You decide!

“Evil” is when Climatologists and Nuclear Scientists are both, and with equal fervor and evidence, ringing the alarm bells and saying that Political Leaders aren’t doing nearly enough! Climatologists are saying that unless serious action is taken Dangerous Climate Incidents will be occurring more frequently and will be deadlier. Nuclear Scientists are saying that unless Nations de-escalate their warmongering, belligerence, arrogance and greed the Nuclear Winter is getting closer and closer. It is enough to see how fires, tornadoes, earthquakes and other weather related events are occurring more often, or to watch how last week Japan was commemorating the devastation that the United States wreaked by dropping Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for Political Leaders to pay attention and reverse course. Will serious steps be taken or we are in for a whole lot of tragedies? Yes, as long as “Evil” is on an upwards tilt tragedies will be our fate.

Listening to and believing Trump expounding on how his tariffs are making us richer by the day, how “hot” this nation is, how the Big, Beautiful Bill will benefit everyone, how swimmingly everything is going you might think that you are living in Utopia unless you can see through the Lies, Deceit and Propaganda, because simply looking at what’s going on in Texas with the totally discriminatory redistricting, or with the callous immigration proceedings, or with ICE now waving the racist recruitment slogan of “Defend your Country and your Culture” (whose culture pray?) and being turned into Trump’s Private Christian Supremacist Militia, plus all the other Retributions, Petty Vengeance, Laws, Executive Orders etc. etc. and you will realize that Fascism is not sometime in the future. it is already upon us! This is very Dangerous and Threatening to Every Single One Of Us!

Note On The Margin: As I was re-shelving my few remaining books after our recent move I saw many interesting titles that I decided I needed to read again. One of those was “A Prayer For Owen Meany” by John Irving which I had read many moons ago as a Book Club choice. I just finished it last night and I enjoyed every page of it! Irving is my contemporary being, if I rightly recall, a year older than myself. We have lived through similar Events, Political Figures, Wars, Coups, Religious Angst (although his heroes in the novel are both churchgoing believers, and I am not) and Dramatic Changes that were going on during that tumultuous period of the Sixties to about the Eighties. The novel had not resounded as much within me when I first read it. I believe it is what I have always maintained in that in reading, or listening to, or watching any written, recited or enacted piece we bring our own baggage, mood, circumstances, and age with us. So while reading Irving’s novel for this second time I surprisingly realized how much I had evolved in order to allow me to Feel so profoundly what John Irving was conveying and I was delighted with him, as well as with myself! Irving’s novel, as well as my own perspective made me recall a recent cartoon strip that I saw on social media in which the brilliant Charles Schulz of the famous “Peanuts” characters that brought us so much joy portrayed Snoopy and Charlie Brown having a conversation in which Snoopy asks: What do you miss? And Charlie Brown responds: I miss the way I viewed the world before I knew too much about it.” Priceless! I am pretty sure that this is exactly what Irving and I experienced as we came of age. Yes, Priceless!

This brings me to the Villainous War On Gaza – being that this is the third? the fourth? the fifth war on that strip? – and the Lies, Deceit and Propaganda that have been perpetrated by one after another of Israeli Governments in Israel’s humongous efforts, especially since the Criminal Holocaust, to portray their “Victimhood” which they believed deserved the entire Planet’s support No Matter What Evil the Israeli Government Inflicts On Innocent Palestinian Human Beings. Specifically, Yes, the Israelis suffered on October 7, but that was not the beginning of the Palestinian Catastrophe. The Israeli Government has been inflicting numerous and humongous Pain, Murder, Assassinations, Displacement, Expropriation of Land and Property, Incarcerations, Torture and Starvation of Palestinian Humans since 1948. Does anyone remember amongst all the other insidious events how Israel measured the number of calories allowed to be consumed per person in Gaza and only allowed that amount to be brought into the territory? The brutality of Israel throughout the Gaza Saga far, far outdoes any brutality shown by Hamas on October 7. Hamas are designated as terrorists by the Israeli Government and All the Western Nations, but Not Israeli Settlers who have been menacing Palestinians, cutting down trees, burning orchids, homes and humans since 1948, and especially recently? Is that Not Terrorism? However, the Lies, Deceit and Propaganda continue blatantly, in everyone’s face, against all the World’s Institutions, Conventions, UN Resolutions, Humanitarian Laws, Legality and on an on and on! And, the half-hearted chiding by those voicing their horror at Satanyahu’s continuing an ignoble Starvation Campaign; bombings, daily murders of Journalists, Children and Innocent Human beings; threats of Occupying Gaza and Annexing the West Bank are Totally and Entirely Ignored by the Fascist, Racist Israeli Government and its complicit supporters. So too are the ignored Israeli Protesters, Jewish Holocaust Historians, Writers, Organizations and Thinkers. Confounding!

Yes, the United States and Israel are Allies and both are going down a Perilous Fascistic Extremist Path! The seesaw is titling upwards for “Evil,” and the tumultuous period between the Sixties and Eighties that Irving wrote about in his novel A Prayer For Owen Meany will be remembered as only the beginning that brought us to the disastrous hell we are living through now! Only a Miracle Owen Meany can probably save us now, and it cannot happen soon enough!