#Gratitude

The way history is told, it usually omits the savage details. I imagine eras such as the spice trade era, silk road era as akin to the drug trade today. Could you imagine that? People dying over having allspice. You bet not use that garlic powder in your recipe at your restaurant, have some patron yell "WHERE YOU GET THAT FROM!!" Nope, I'm glad to live in the era I live in as messed up as it is. 

Gratitude! 

(How many people died to get you that allspice?) 

Islands on Land

I find myself depressed today

My super thick, "f**k these White people" shield usually makes me immune to whatever corrupt vibe they're giving off. I observe them like Darwin, I find aspects of their culture quite fascinating in fact. Today was one of those days where I was particularly annoyed, out of line. There's a certain lackadaisical, la dee dah type mentality that many White people have. It's as if there's nothing important and life is a game. Everything is said through cheerful, unserious eyes, as if nothing means anything. As if everything you deal with being Black means nothing. "I'm not worried about the plight of my people", why are you disrupting my fantasy?!!" I'm sure I'm not the only Black Man that feels this way. 

Fiction writing.

Ancient epic city of lights, with three ways in to visit. The sides of the valley where this city resides, has epic stairways down serving as entrances, for people who would be metaphorically comparable to airplane passengers today.

The Greyhound and Amtrak entrance would be through the official gates, which has a lengthy section that serves as a "moat" of sorts. This section is nothing more than a pit, a giant burning pile of trash, filth and whatever else one can burn. Squatters routinely reside and live on pits of dirt that have not yet caught on fire. This area is a free zone of sorts, where any thing goes. From that point the city is broken down into tiers based on classes, going up the hill. People passing into the city via the lower class can only hope their carriages don't get raided as they pass through the pits. They ride through with cloth over it, shielding their eyes from the horrors outside.

This city sacrifices defenders of justice in many brutal, bizarre ways, but the most popular is the combat arena. The announcer and organizer of the arena, is also the enforcer for the city, a corrupt zealot priest from the outside, who is also the Boss of the pits. The city has networks of aqueducts, canals and rivers, some of them underneath the ground, some of them going right through buildings. This water is recycled and pumped back up to the highest peak of the city, where the richest people preside.

Celibacy/Abstinence.

I don't have any political or religious reason to be celibate. I'm very skilled at seeing the anger, frustration and entitlement of people who expect it from me. I understand where it comes from, but it still turns me off. I tend to relate to people better, and spend more time with people when it's not on the table. I'm old school like that. 🙂

When hedonism becomes insidious.

Every big party during this period, (unless health precautions are dilligently enforced) is going to have a very insidious, negative vibe. People are not partying to have fun no more, they're partying in defiance, in angry, vitriolic, vicious rebellion. It's not the type of rebellion that starts positive social change either, the good kind.  It's the "I can do what I want to even if it hurts myself and others, and I dare anybody to say something about it" form of rebellion, the nasty kind. I don't know why anyone of any reasonable intelligence would want to attend one of these functions.

R.I.P. to the victims of the Park Manor shooting. Let's do better y'all. 

Progressive.

Ideas that are "too progressive" for certain cultures will cause culture shock, not necessarily born out of a feeling of being forced to adapt, but out of a feeling of being rushed to learn the specifics in a specific time frame. Every unique component and facet that is changing has it own unique way to be absorbed and accepted, so a rich planning process can emerge, and move things to progress. The attitude "Progress now" is just a catchphrase without specific, audience-based, individual planning.