With the use of chemical weapons in Syria, the talk of nuclear weapons in North Korea, and the ever-rising tide of populist bullshit around the world, most recently in Turkey – not to mention, of course, the actual rising tides thanks to our catastrophic abuse of the environment – these feel like dark days on my home, planet earth.
In the face of such looming shadows, I often find myself wondering, “What the hell can I do?” All I can do, I think, is share the stuff that reminds me about the better parts of humanity, the stuff which confirms my belief that there is more that unites me to the others on this planet than could ever divide us.
Below is a picture of the earth from about six billion kilometers away. Earth is that white pixel in the sunbeam on the right. If you think the earth looks little, you’re right. If you think it’s just because this picture is taken from really far away, you’re wrong – it’s taken just past Neptune, our backyard. Check out Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot.
I was recently given a copy of Allen Ginsberg’s monumental Howl and Other Poems. Here’s the opening to his poem America:
And then this is how he closes that poem:
Of course, today it’s not really ‘them Russians’ so much as it is ‘that Russian’ – that dickless piece of shit in Moscow who doesn’t deserve to have his name mentioned in the same breath as Carl Sagan’s nor Allen Ginsberg’s. Nor John Lennon’s.
G I V E P E A C E A C H A N C E
Two, one-two-three-four!
Ev’rybody’s talking ’bout
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Hit it
C’mon, ev’rybody’s talking about
Ministers, sinisters, banisters and canisters
Bishops and Fishops and Rabbis and Popeyes and bye-bye, bye-byes
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Let me tell you now
Ev’rybody’s talking ’bout
Revolution, evolution, masturbation, flagellation, regulation, integrations
Meditations, United Nations, congratulations
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Ev’rybody’s talking ’bout
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Alan Ginsberg, Hare Krishna, Hare, Hare Krishna
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance