Too hard

I'm worn out by the relentless struggle to live, to keep my head above water, one step ahead of oblivion, one fall away from a cliffs edge. My body aches of the effort, my mind is numb from consciousness, my feet sore to the soul from having travelled so far.

I want to let go, to slip into the river and let the water carry me, guide me, place me where i belong. I dont belong here, there is no home of my making just a series of other peoples homes, people who dont seem to know me. I want to drift on the river, let it wrap me up and nurture me, be a part of it as though my body were made of water.

This planet I am born into is absurd with meaningless lives. Excess, greed, possession - they cultivate starvation, poverty and death. They watch drama on tv but ignore tragedy in life, a planet rife with parasites walking on two legs, walking all over the have nots. Our civilization is barbaric to the core, glinting with a guilt edge shiny sharp and shameless.

I was born into a cyclone, a family of the familiar spinning like headless chickens with their minds grotesquely severed from their hearts. A home spun microcosm of the greater world, a prelude to the horror. Brutality in the home is renamed 'good business' when you walk out the door, it's a seedling of the modern jungle where corporations hold the big stick and the mindless majority dance to the tune. The pied piper jiggles and we the rats run, running until our race is over. We are the final subjects to be consumed by consumerism, devoured by a pestilence of our own making.

Put me in the cool water. Let me float away with all the other rats and dream of a world where the pain has stopped, where gardens are more valued than garbage, where the sky is a home, where people are rare. That's where I belong.

Global Gasp

Until the wall street inspired credit crunch and resulting global train wreck the global economy was growing on the back of unsustainable demand from western consumers. Quite simply we were spending more than we were earning. At some point the money was going to stop flowing.

Up until the crash we assumed the question was how large a global population is environmentally sustainable? Now we have to ask if the earth's current population is economically sustainable. The consumer frenzy of developed nations has fed a trickle of opportunity to poorer countries who are now facing a dire cessation of demand. What will 1 billion people in India do to earn a living when there are no jobs exported to their shores?

Underpinning this current market debacle is the assumption that growth is good. More consumers, more production, more profits. It's a false economy because the true cost of the goods is rarely paid at the register. Credit spending is the economic equivalent of logging the rainforest. What is the cost to the next generation? Sustainable economics is the key to long term stability of a globalised world, and quite possibly is the flip side of the environmental coin. Unbridled greed for goods is not kind to the planet or its people.

Skinny Facts

Someone told me that Australian's are now officially fatter than Americans. Good golly, that's pretty fat.

At least that's what I first thought. However, my recollection of super-sized entrance gates at Disney Land tell me something different. Maybe the average Aussie is less inclined to be fit and fab, but they're neither likely to be blobs of flab.

There is another explanation. Maybe the new figures don't so much reveal that Aussies are much fatter than we used to be, perhaps there's been a dramatic increase in Anorexia and other eating disorders in America?

Think about it. Aussie girls aren't as obsessed with being match stick skinny, and tend to avoid the mega chubby syndrome that keeps Ford F-100 trucks in high demand. Big girls in big cars?

Of course Australians are working more hours a week than ever before. Less time for family, fitness and fun. If we all cut back to a 3 day working week just think how much healthier we'd all be.

Mr President

At last America has a president. Thank goodness.