ENJOY YOURSELF IT'S LATER THAN YOU THINK

 

I am approaching my ninth decade and the reality is that I am well past my sell-by date.   As I look back at my life, the only one I can truly judge, I would like to be able to make an inspirational statement about the richness of human existence; but I can’t.

 

The reality has already been expressed by the Bard:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death.  Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

By an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

 

I do value my time left upon this stage.  I enjoy time spent with my wife, reading books, eating good food, and experiencing the beauty of this earthly environment; but life has no real meaning beyond personal gratification.

 

We humans claim to be intelligent creatures; but as compared to what?  Chimpanzees? 

 

The human race goes from war to war; from political chaos to political chaos; from ethnic cleansing to ethnic cleansing; the rich ignore the poor, the sick, and the underprivileged;  violence is most often racially or religiously motivated; religious ignorance permeates the human condition; the human race has brought most wild creatures to extinction, and we have decimated the environment.

 

We are a violent species – one of the few that regularly kill our own kind;  We are a virus on this earth and propagating at an unsustainable rate. 

Humans are on this earth as an accident of chaos.   The universe doesn’t know we are here or care.    

the Ol'Buzzard

 

BIDEN IS TOO OLD!

 

YEAH,  Biden's good!

the Ol'Buzzard

MY GENERATION IS FADING FAST

 

the Ol'Buzzard

DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN KEEP IT

 

Nagasaki August 11, 1945

The present danger to humanity is nuclear weapons.

But the present danger to the United States is a cult called MAGA – the worship of one man above law and reason. 

 

I am reading American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.   There are so many lessons, philosophical, political, and psychological, to be taken from this tale that it should be required reading in high schools.   

 

Early in the book Oppenheimer is studying in Germany for his doctorate in Physics. 

 

This passage I found particularly relevant and unnerving – an undercurrent that is too real in American society today!

 

"He found many Germans “bitter, sullen… angry and loaded with all those ingredients which were later to produce a major disaster.“ "

 

I don’t know what the answer is.   Is our country, after 250 years, about to disintegrate?

 

Are we all living through the end-days of a great social democratic experiment – doomed to fail because of the malevolence of human nature?

 

the Ol'Buzzard

VETS ATTACKED THE CAPITOL ON JANUARY 6

 

 

Twenty percent of the insurrectionist that attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, were military veterans.

  

The media seems shocked as to the reason, but it takes another veteran to understand.

 

We take young men full of testosterone and teach them to kill and indoctrinate them with patriotic fervor; then we send them into a warzone.

 

These men are away from civilized society and bond with their brothers and sisters-in-arms.   They have no compunction about pulling the trigger or thrusting the knife against an evil enemy that puts themselves and their fellow warriors in harm’s way.

 

These young men are conditioned to react aggressively and with violence.

  

Then we bring them back and dump them into society and expect them to immediately act with normal accepted civilized behavior.

 

Each and every one is experiencing some degree of PTSD.    You can’t see and experience the carnage of war: living under constant threat of death, injury, or capture - view the death and injuries to fellow warriors; and ever be completely ‘normal’ again.

 

Fifty years later, I cannot watch Vietnam War movies.

 

Most of all they miss the support and brotherhood of their sisters and brothers-in-arms that was so cohesive in the military.  They are among civilians that are foreign to them in their experiences.

 

Even if misguided, is there any wonder that feeling alien in society, they grab the moment to reenact and relive the emotion of movement and aggression and warrior that has become a permanent part of themselves?

 

the Ol’Buzzard

AUGUST 6, A DAY THAT SHOULD LIVE IN INFAMY

On October 6, 1945 the United States dropped an atomic bomb that detonated 1900 feet above Hiroshima, Japan killing 140,000 civilians incinerating 2/3 of the city.  

Words aren't enough

the Ol'Buzzard

TRUMP GOES TO JAIL?

 

 

Let’s get this straight.   Donald Trump will serve no Jail time. 

 

If Trump is elected President in 2024 he will pardon himself upon taking office.     If any Republican becomes President in 2025 they will pardon Trump.   If Joe Biden becomes president in 2025 he will pardon Trump in an attempt to unify the enormous split that is fracturing this nation’s population. 

 

Trump will not serve time in jail. 

 

The most we can hope for is that Donald Trump will be found guilty of all charges in a court of law and go down in history as the most corrupt President in United States history. 

 

Reality stinks

the Ol’Buzzard