Monday, December 31, 2007
Out with the old, in with the old...
Almost, repeat, almost, made it through another one. A few hours to go. Sure, if I go by reality, the new year happened a week or so ago, when the day became a bit longer than the one before it. But, we're obsessed by time and what-it-all-means.
I just looked at a rap about "Mayan prophecies" for the year 2012. That's sort of like the Millenium hoop-la eight years ao: like time has such magical qualities...No, time is just an arbitrary structure imposed by our European heritage. Other than that, it don't mean shee-itt, as Mr Natural used to say. OK: in 2012, something is going to happen at the equator of the Milky Way and that will have some vague cause and effect on life on earth—like the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, I suppose. Remember that one? Sure did change things, didn't it? Didn't it?
It could be argued that things have changed, for sure: for the worse. From Nixon to Bush, Viet Nam to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Columbia—the list is long and those names are enough. The empire shudders and cracks and lintels are collapsing and cornices crashing into the streets below, but still, America lurches along, an ongoing earthquake. And here we are, waiting for the next year, wondering, will it be the last? Will there ever be a "last" or will just enough rabbits continue to be pulled out of the hat, enabled the country to keep tottering? It's going to out-last me, I know that. God help our children and grandchildren, the bills are coming due...
I just looked at a rap about "Mayan prophecies" for the year 2012. That's sort of like the Millenium hoop-la eight years ao: like time has such magical qualities...No, time is just an arbitrary structure imposed by our European heritage. Other than that, it don't mean shee-itt, as Mr Natural used to say. OK: in 2012, something is going to happen at the equator of the Milky Way and that will have some vague cause and effect on life on earth—like the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, I suppose. Remember that one? Sure did change things, didn't it? Didn't it?
It could be argued that things have changed, for sure: for the worse. From Nixon to Bush, Viet Nam to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Columbia—the list is long and those names are enough. The empire shudders and cracks and lintels are collapsing and cornices crashing into the streets below, but still, America lurches along, an ongoing earthquake. And here we are, waiting for the next year, wondering, will it be the last? Will there ever be a "last" or will just enough rabbits continue to be pulled out of the hat, enabled the country to keep tottering? It's going to out-last me, I know that. God help our children and grandchildren, the bills are coming due...
