Sticks and stones

Well another Anzac day splutters on by and why not make a cheap shot at all those whining about not getting a day off – Just be thankful you’re not charging up a bloody great hill headlong into machine gun fire. Stop.

*Wonderwall by Ryan Adams comes on - notices it’s only got a **** rating so changes it to a *****.

Watched Saving Private Ryan on Saturday – I’ve seen it plenty of times but it still blows me away – the sacrifice and so on. Like many people my age I have no concept of how I would feel if forced to fight in a war – Yes completely spoiled and softened by comfort.

I found myself watching that opening scene with the charge up Omaha beach saying ‘Our generation could use a good war’. What the bollocks do I mean? Dunno really – but I often ponder the fact that these dudes were in a just war fighting true tyranny – it was very black and white to them – The evil of fascism needed to be stopped (yes a disputable yet common opinion). You don’t really get wars like that these days – look at the American invasion of Iraq – what a bubbling mass of confusion that is. But it’s very easy to firmly say that war is wholly a waste of life - but there must be some occasions when fighting is just - surely.

Martin Luther King Jr said, ‘War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow’… Sanguine but true… Hmmm what if there are no other tools in the tool box? I’m reminded of an idiom involving omelettes and broken eggs. What if the men and boys of World War II hadn’t sacrificed themselves against what was oozing through and out of Europe? How would the world be now? Better? Worse? Hard to say – but an instinct deep down tells me that it’s the former… I’ve always held the opinion that war is muddy – there is no truth only a buzzing confusion, a fog of darkness – I think I’ll stick with this opinion as it sings to me.

So could the world use another good war? Well it certainly would solve the population issue – but it’s a loaded question really – of course not. But I do believe the last 50 years or so have left people soft, weak and spoiled – most of us couldn’t fight a war if our life depended on it – or could we?

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” – Einstein

Affluence - Serious Blog for once

Right time to get back into this blogging malark - call me Bloggy McBlogsville.
(By the way the D key on this keyboard is bung so forgive the lack of a D or two).

Topic for today: Affluence

Hmmm we’re all just rich bastards really. Now I understand it’s no monster revelation for most of us and by no means do I mean to thrash out a spent topic or drag out western guilt - but I’ve had a few thoughts so bare with me while I thrash these out.
A friend of mine is reading a book called “Affluenza” and we got talking about the burden of wealth. We’re shown the juxtaposition to our wealth quite frequently in the media and you see this little moral dilemma that people struggle with of redistributing wealth to charities (World vision etc) and I guess we do this to appease the starkness of our excess. But what’s interesting is the deeper implications of affluence – the long term psychological effects of having everything at our disposal pretty much when and where we need it.

I sourced this off the mighty internet:
'There is currently an epidemic of “affluenza” throughout the world — an obsessive, envious keeping-up-with-the-Joneses mentality that has resulted in huge increases in depression and anxiety among millions.'

I kind of relate to this eh. Now Im not complaining here as I have it very well but I long for a struggle. Life is so easy and even the petty little challenges one throws to oneself don’t really compare. The movie fight club has a great line: “We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives.” And I’d say this whole notion is growing and growing. Prescriptions for antidepressants in New Zealand surpassed one million in 2006/2007. In the last two years the number of anti-depressant prescriptions to middle aged Kiwis aged between 45 and 64 has risen by 69% (Ministry of Health figures). 10% of American women and 4% of American men are on antidepressants (and increasing exponentially). People aint happy and it’s spreading.

When going to Thailand for our honeymoon one of the first things you notice is how many people are living day to day. They’re selling their wares on the streets not to save for retirement or that 4 bedroom house in suburbia – they’re selling those wares to feed themselves and the family that evening*. This really got me thinking – surely these people feel more fulfilled with their existence than Bob Smith that goes into the office and does the accounts for Superglobalmega Corp Inc? Maybe? This book indicates that this is the case - now I haven’t read this book yet, though I do plan to - but from what I understand there is some research and the general conclusion is the wealthier you are the less happy you become. Interesting no?

A lot of this for me kicked off when watching a movie about the life of Mother Teresa – the woman truly had a fantastic perspective on possessions and life. The movie was fairly b-grade but it captured all it needed to of her. A tireless woman of such charity that it seem to empty her:

'I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.'

I kind of connected with one of the lines when she was being told that they needed to make bigger networks and structures and policies and so on:

'I like things to be simple...' - Mother T Dog

Me too man! She didn’t want to make mountains out of molehills. Humans love to make beautifully simple things complex (though this isn’t always a bad thing) and we loose sight of the important stuff so so quickly. Our lives are so complex.

'Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world.' - Mother T Dog

The bible says a few thinks about wealth too. 'Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also'. (Matthew 6:19-21).

Where moth and rust destroy. I find this all interesting. But what can you do? Does anyone relate to any of this? Or have opinions?

Disclaimer: This is all just my opinion and in no way a fully rigidly formed argument so I welcome your criticism.

*And then along comes Mr and Mrs Affluenza to try to haggle these schmoes our of 20 baht as it’s a part of the experience – “Gee honey that guy was really trying to rip us off – lucky I haggled him down to 10 baht– Im such a local!”.