Reflections on Peace, Philosophy, and Life
Listening to the news - not always the most helpful activity - I'm reminded of something my friend Jon said in the 70s: "The only good things in the world are atomic weapons and cancer." A bit drastic, don't you think? Why would anyone say such a thing?
Isn't it obvious? The current display of human behaviour (and when was it different?) truly suggests that humankind is superfluous to creation, and Jon's comment merely states that we are busy killing ourselves and these items can speed up the process.
My own version of that statement was: "Life is hard, and then you die!" And for many people, that just about sums up their experience of being alive.
Is there any point in living? It doesn't seem to be the case, does it? Should we commit suicide and get it over and done with? Or just carry on to the bitter end?
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I had a look to see what justice means with Google. Interestingly, I found the following list of interpersonal skills required by the State of Ontario for the selection of a Justice of the Peace as an example:
- Compassion, empathy, and respect for the essential dignity of all persons
- Courtesy
- Patience
- Moral courage and high ethics
- A reputation for honesty, integrity and fairness
- Strong, dignified interpersonal skills that command authority
- Confidence, with an absence of pomposity and authoritarian tendencies
The only thing I would remove is the words "A reputation for". This list then reflects fairly closely the way I understand the term.
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Yes, good question: what is love? It's a word that is used in so many different situations that the question is definitely worth spending time on.
I'm sure it's not what I hear in the Blues; or what I hear in bubble-gum music; or what Rosamunde Pilcher films show. "I just love your outfit"; "Don't you just love the way she moves"; "I just love you to pieces"; "I love you"; etc.; etc.
I'm going to give a try at a definition. To do that, I guess, I have to establish at least some defining characteristics, as to what I mean by the term love.
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One thing that never ceases to surprise me, is the number of parents who seem to believe that the children belong to them, in the sense that they believe that they have not only the responsibility for that child's welfare, but as a result, the right to determine that child's development in a way that suits the beliefs and ideals of the parents. This is ownership. In the old days, this was that argument used to arrange marriages. Children are a commodity.
Kahlil Gibran, in his poem "The Prophet", says this about children:
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Waking up in lockdown again. The Coronavirus has taken over the world - at least, the external world. So what are we going to do with the day, when many of the usual activities we take part in, are out of bounds for the time being?
For me personally, it hasn't changed anything much except that there are a lot less people about. I'm retired, so my everyday carries on as before with one big exception - the Gym is closed where I usually go three mornings a week. So I'm substituting with Nordic walking and going into the countryside and doing a couple of hours of strenuous walking - burns some calories :-).
Actually, this lockdown reminds me that today is the only day I have, and that makes me feel very thankful.
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