You know, I have this very clear idea of what I want to talk about and I’ve thought about quite a bit. I left the brewery this afternoon, mulling over in my mind how I wanted to begin this story. Don’t ask me why, but most every Saturday, I take Flaming Lips to the brewery. When necessary, I give her a quick clean up for the ritual, Sunday ride with the Sons of Kauai. I always stop to get a barbecued half-chicken from some lovely folks, who setup in a bank parking lot.
I kind of like Saturday, because for years it has always been a part of the weekend. God knows, from my twenty plus years in NYC in the broadcast advertising business, Saturday and Sunday were the time to become who you wanted to be.
When I approached my motorcycle at the end of today, I looked at her, just leaning there. I immediately thought to myself that the story I am looking forward to writing had to briefly wait for this motorcycle, main-line moment. For those of you who own bikes, there are sometimes poses your motorcycle takes that seem to draw you into them, one and other, inseparable for just an instant.
So often, I don’t have the vaguest, fucken idea what I want to write about. Believe me, I am no genius and sometimes I feel stuck and other times, I feel like I am busting to tell a story. This is one of those busting times. This one has an internal richness and texture about it that allows me to feel completely fine about sharing the motorcycle scenario before I get going.
Sometimes, I wonder if anyone is paying attention to what is going on around us. Personally, I spend so much time reading about the climate catastrophe, I don’t understand why it isn’t the singularly, most important subject for all. Of course, until around ten days ago, I would have glibly held on to that mindset.
I can’t say that I’ve changed my mind at all about the world we inhabit right now, in terms of the looming, climate debacle. However, Putin has taken center stage, a man who personifies the perversion of a kind of inbred, cancerous power that is completely out of touch with any qualities that you’d define as human. It seems impossible to escape his ugliness at this point.
The Ukraine is shocking. A dictionary would have no definition to explain what is transpiring.There is no language to describe it, no colors to paint it. Let’s say there is a purpose behind this devastation and then let’s wait for an explanation. What would justify this mistreatment?
I want someone to tell my why this makes any sense at all? The herniated IQ’s of public policy, provocateurs could never justify what this kind of bestial activity achieves, even for the victorious.
Having been born in 1945, I can get a pass trying to explain WWII, the only conflict that seemed unavoidable, which is probably not true either. What does it mean to win a war and defeat the “enemy”? When you attempt to extinguish the spirit of a people, you sow the seeds for future conflict. It took Germany a number of years before they broke the yoke of being marginalized after the prior war and it unleashed the devil.
Ever since that time, I have lived through countless wars, actually giving war a bad name, because there was never any justification, just manipulation. I was around for the Korean War in the early fifties and remember the atomic blast drills in class. Some sound would go off on the PA, feeding all the classrooms and we would immediately have to get under our desks, because that is how we would survive a thermonuclear meltdown. I am not going to disrespect your limited time by running through a list of all the insane and tragically costly confrontations since that time.
OK, let me do just one and done. Nearly all the suicide bombers that ripped the heart out of the only city I will ever love were from Saudi Arabia. What did we do? We beat the shit out of Iraq! We have been putting Saudi money in the bank ever since. We closed our eyes to the brutal death, dismemberment and disappearance of Kashoggi after that. We are selling them the weaponry to decimate Yemen today.
All of the conflicts I have been around for, including good ole Vietnam, have had some, inescapably compelling rationale, no matter how transparent. The Ukraine has none! Well, that’s almost true. You could say that our behavior over the millennia has left a trail of blood that is embarrassingly easy to follow. Our history makes for a very boring, board game, absent any suspense.
However, Putin’s assault on the Ukraine stands alone, splintering the board game. I think it has been easy for many of us to ignore the world, a delusion that comes with privilege. By the way, there has been inhumane suffering in the world of the people of color for ever and it has been going on invisibly, throughout all the White Wars.
I know it probably sounds stupid, but I just don’t understand. I read report after report regarding the planetary catastrophe we have created through our gluttony, parallel with our complete lack of sensitivity regarding the suffering of others. Up until the Ukraine, I could read the summaries of most climate reports, always closing with an optimistic assessment that we still have time and at least half believe in our ability to right Noah’s Ark, creating a safe haven for us all.
I am sorry. I don’t see a happy ending. How in God’s name are we going to come together and address the life and death issues of a world that is ripping at the seams? This horrific debacle in the Ukraine has stripped away the curtain, giving us a chance to see the witch, pulling the strings of our demise.
I pray for the children and hope they decide to play it forward, taking us in a direction we have yet to follow.