And In The Rooms The Women Come And Go

Talking of Michelangelo. So said T.S. Eliot. But what do we talk about in the public media? What are the things that make women and men interested enough to turn on the television or open a newspaper or click on a website?

Anna Nicole Smith's corpse?

What are the really crucial questions that should be talked about, should somehow be made into as interesting as the corpse of that poor woman, should be made sexy if need be, because they are important to talk about? Important, do you hear me!

That the earth is ailing, ready to shrug off some of the fleas on her surface, and, as a byproduct of that (because we are the fleas), all of us might be dying, too? Before our time, dead of hunger or pollution? Not sexy, I fear. The honey bees no longer buzz enough. Who is going to pollinate our food plants? - Do most people understand the importance of the humble bee to our continued existence?

That we are not doing very much to prevent a third world war, right now? Indeed, we are slipping and sliding and skipping towards the abyss, as I speak. But that is scary, too, smelling of corpses and death. Why all the interest in one single corpse and so little in the possibility that we may all be corpses sooner than we hoped. Do you think it would help to tag labels on people's chests? This 22-year old man, newly engaged, is going to die a horrible death in the war. This 45-year old woman, mother of three children, is going to burn to death in an attack. Would that make a difference in our interest levels?

That epidemics are killing millions and millions of people each year, and more epidemics are being predicted? Would duct tape help? More stocked antibiotics in the medicine cupboards? At least that way my family won't die though yours will.

This is horrible to read, the words of a gloomy seeress, a goddess exaggerating the dark cloud inside the golden lining. No wonder nobody wants to talk about any of this. No wonder, at all.

And do you know what? I don't think we should have to talk about this to get change. Proper political leaders would carry the heavy burdens for us, would arrange meetings for peace and would arrange funds for medical research and environmental protection, would make laws which keep the planet going for a while longer, would ask the difficult and horrible questions and would demand some real answers. That is what leaders are for, in my idealistic world.

Now that was a pessimistic post.