It seems I've made it another year. So what have I learned in the last year? What old lessons are still holding true? What are some new things life is going to teach me? Let's see if I can answer these questions in a way that actually makes some sense. Remember friends life is always about learning. I've done a lot of reading n the last year or two. I usually divide my reading- one serious book The Seawolves- A History of The Vikings and then something less serious Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick. Life is short- mix it up! I count audio books. It's a different experience than reading for me. I do the same thing with YouTube, serious and not so serious. Let me see if I can structure this ramble. What have I learned about the world, my country and my state and perhaps most importantly myself.
Want to know what climate change looks like? Simply turn on your TV. More than 1/3 of Pakistan was underwater not too long ago. I don't think derechos are necessarily new. But they are somewhat new to me. A derecho is basically a small hurricane like storm that forms over land. They are insane! Over the last month or two the sky is not the usual summer blue. It has a weird ash tint giving it a sort of metallic look. This is from massive wildfires many hundreds of miles away. I can literally look out my window and watch climate change. It seems the weather is only going to get more and more out of whack. I plan to do another post on Climate Change soon. There is no such thing as too much awareness. I hope people learning more will lead to real action soon but we have more problems / opportunities here at home.
Like it or not, the USA is a driving force in the world. We export our culture all over the world I think for both good and bad. We import limitless stuff from all parts of the Earth. In the last year or so I've started reading Peter Zeihan, a geopolitical strategist. In his book, The End of the World is just the Beginning , he argues global free trade is going away. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States no longer has the incentive to guarantee free trade. In North America we have everything we need. Don't get Peter started on China! Yes they are building a numerically large Navy. But it is not near as advanced as the US Navy much less the other navies in the Pacific like Japan and Australia. China along with Russia are in a terminal demographic collapse according to Mr. Zeihan. He is optimistic about America's future. Personally, I think the verdict is still out.
Our democracy is not quite dead yet. There was
last year nor a takeover of our election machinery by the Trump wing of the Republican Party. Even this right-wing Supreme Court did not buy Independent Legislature Theory. Had they agreed, democracy would be simply dead. The idea is a state legislature can basically throw out election results they don't like. I have come to realize there are no mechanisms for holding Supreme Court Justices accountable to the people. It seems they can do whatever they want up to and including be as corrupt as they want. This is something I hope we figure out how to change. So what are some things I've learned about myself?
Most importantly, I keep my mind busy reading and creating. Also, the little things are the big things. Sharing ice cream in the carport with my wife after walking our dog, Ava, is pretty hard to beat!
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