Have I gone crazy or is something really weird going on? Do people really not realize that all of this “machinery” that keeps us fed, keeps clean water flowing, keeps grocery stores stocked, keeps electricity coming into our house, gasoline in the gas pumps, natural gas in our ovens, clothes on our backs, stores to buy stuff in, a company to work for—do people not realize how fragile all that is? And that infrastructure I am describing is only part of the fragility of the “good life”—what keeps missiles from wiping us out, or a rogue government from rounding us up and lining us up on the edge of a ditch and mowing us down with a machine gun? Or putting us on trains by the millions and carting us off to death camps just because we looked sideways at some official, or something equally ridiculous like refused to get some untested substance jabbed into our veins?
Do people really think that all of this “stuff”—infrastructure, trains, planes, pipelines, economy, food, shelter, water, jobs, etc. etc.—that we need in order to live the good life just rises up from the ether? Like magic vapor? Do people really think that a sane government, or sane authority figures who are in power, just grow on the yum yum tree like rainbow coloured, sweet natured, unicorns? If so, isn’t that a bit of a dangerous assumption?
A scant 75 years ago a Jewish family on one particular day was peacefully living in their home in the outskirts of Berlin, as well in a half dozen other countries in Europe, and the next day they were dragged out of their home, leaving behind all of their belongings to subsequently be stolen by the government, put on a train like cattle and carted off to some death camp—or they were shot on the spot and thrown in a ditch. That happened. And everyone assumed it never would.
Oh, and the sheep bleat, “we elect all those people who have control over our lives and our happiness, we put them there, they can’t be bad!” Oh yeah, sure, that makes sense. First of all, the people who are gaining complete control over the important things in our lives are NOT elected, they are leaders of the NGOs who are really running the show. The “unelected” directors and policy makers of the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the World Health Organization, among other “lettered” organizations, are the ones who have the ultimate power. Do the masses out there even know these people in these organizations are NOT elected??? How many people even know the UN, WEF, and WHO exist? Probably less people than you think.
And the few who do know about these institutions, say, “so what? They are all doing a good job, they know what they are doing, why should we worry about it?” What, me worry?—Alfred E. Neuman style. Yes, it is a mad, mad, world.
I had a shrew friend tell me the other day that he felt bad for feeling this way, but he was anxiously wishing for something really bad to happen. He felt it was the only way the world would wake up and realize something awful had happened to take it all down. I admitted that I often felt the same way. But then suggested that more than likely, no matter what horror befell us, the sheep would find some “other” reason for it other than the real reason. If people started dropping dead in the streets it wouldn’t be because of the vaccine, it would be because of “long covid” or climate change or that Hamas had somehow released poison into our atmosphere—the reason would be whatever the “powers that be” tell them it is.
I was also speaking to a client last week who started complaining about grocery prices going up, and how the reason was due to the stores gouging prices. My first thought was, “that’s odd, why would they suddenly do that now? If they could gouge prices, why haven’t they been doing that for years?” My second thought was, “here it comes, the effects of the supply chain breaking down after the Covid fiasco of ’21, ’22.” How silly of me. Logic reasoning always spoils everything. Then I heard this story again, about price gouging, and discovered that Justin Trudeau, our illustrious Canadian leader, had made a speech about it. He claimed this to be the reason prices were skyrocketing and that he will have to put a cap on it to teach the retail grocery stores a lesson. Huh? Now, this Trudeau speech is hearsay, I did not hear this speech myself, nor see the hologram of Trudeau speaking this straight out of his animated mouth (as if THAT would be reliable). But it would not surprise me if Trudeau said this nonsense.
Will this fragile system actually crash? Well, I thought it would have by now. Maybe the sheep are right, and this structure really isn’t all that fragile. After the assault to its integrity over the past three years it is amazing to me it does not seem to have suffered even the slightest damage. The economy is doing typically what it has always done—waffles around a bit and then back up on its legs. The supply chain is still flowing. Although prices have gone up all the way around, this increase could be due to normal inflation (or price gouging as Trudeau insists). The “few” deaths that have occurred that are considered above normal could be due to nearly anything (you know I am speaking sheep-talk here; I do know better.)
Basically, what I am saying is that there can be a “sheep reason” for nearly everything we have thus far experienced. As my shrew friend said, it will take a catastrophe for the masses to notice there is something amiss. If the system crumbles, and the masses don’t buy the silly “agenda” reasons for it, then there is a chance, with everyone on board, we could at least attempt to reverse it. But the system would have to break apart big time. BIG TIME. And it doesn’t look like that is going to happen any time soon.
But isn’t what I just said an example of the “deadly assumption”? Am I guilty as well of this assumption, that the world and structure that ensures my “good living” is built like a brick shithouse and it will continue to stand regardless of the beating it has gotten, and will be getting in the near future?
I do have faith in human resilience, but I have to be honest, I did not think the global resiliency would be this strong. Maybe it is just experiencing a time delay, and soon enough it will crash. And the naïve assumption that it will always be here will indeed prove quite deadly. But in the meantime, life goes on, and again in the words of ol’ Al, “What, me worry?”
I agree with your premise!
From my Substack titled:
- Something Big Happening Today -
Something big happened today!
Did you feel it?
A major quake. A shift in the rotation of the earth. An atomic bomb. An explosion. A hurricane. A tornado. A Tsunami.
Something big happened today.
Am I the only one on earth that felt it?
How could it be that I can still hear cars zooming past my street. A dog barking. A child talking with their father?
Something big happened today.
Am I the only one who knows this?
The television is still working. The radio still turned on. The lights haven’t gone out in the house. No one is running for cover or grabbing their life vests. Launching the dingy. Searching for shelter. Calling in the military.
Something big happened today.
Should I warn other people?
A shift. A turning point. A dislocation. A pivot. What was then is no longer now. The view from my window is the same yet nothing is the same.
Something big happened today.
Am I dreaming or is this real?
The mirror still reflects my image. My eyes look upon the same room. My ears still hear the sounds throughout the house. I can smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen.
Something big happened today.
Will anyone see what’s happening?
A child lonely. A veteran homeless. A mother’s sorrow. A father overwhelmed. A nurse exhausted. A politician lying. A baby crying. A friend needing. A lover lost. A prisoner punished. A teacher skipping. A president tweeting.
Something big happened today.
Who will even care?
A story told. A heart broken. A chapter closed.
Something big happened today.
And no one even noticed.
I have to laugh at how relevant this is to a conversation in our home. My husband is a public middle school teacher. This week, he was covering a particular country that is home to a famous river. He was telling his students about the importance of this river to the population, and it turns out he has a student who was born in that country in his classroom. She disputed everything he said. He asked her where they got their water from. Her answer - the refrigerator.