Dragons, Blood and Gold Part III - The End

What makes you alive?

As the nightmare lingered as the fire continues and charred bodies turned to ash, the two brothers lay in silence as their screams took their voices away. The story of their tragedy took them from settlement to settlement. Some people believed their stories, yet had no courage to say anything. Some did not believe any word that came out of those two brothers. Either way, the two brothers could never feel welcomed in any place at any time after they would tell their story to anyone and everyone that was willing to listen. Having lost friends, companions, wives, children, neighbors, the two marched on. Why were we even born? asks Baldbert. I don’t think there’s any other reason than our parents love, says Austrulf. I can’t help but wonder, continued Baldbert. It won’t do much good. Things happen. Looking for a reason when what happens is pointless. What happened to me, to you, it doesn’t matter to them. It doesn’t affect them. It doesn’t change the way the world is. None of the dragons know your name. None of the history will remember it either. We are doing our best and that’s that, Austrulf finishes his rant..Then what’s the point anymore? asks Baldbert. Whatever you want it to be, Austrulf. As weeks turn to months, all the two brothers can get is some pity or sympathy from people. At this point they can’t make the difference whether it’s one or the other. As they continue to live in tents or caves along the road as they try to dodge the dragons.

On a rainy night they muster the courage to find an inn to sleep at. As they enter they are greeted by a couple of tables of people talking politics, drinking and shouting lewd jokes at each other. One big drunk man with a long beard looks at the two as they are about to go towards the stairs and shouts at them. Oy! I can smell people with a good story from far away, and you two lads look like you’ve been through hell. You certainly smell like it, the man continued. As the two recounted their story the man laughs. I told ya I have a good nose for a story. And that’s a hell of a good one. Let me get you some ales as a reward, insists the loud man. So, where are you two headed? asks another man from the table. Anywhere and everywhere that would listen to our story, says Austrulf. But why? asks the same man again. Let me rephrase what my friend is trying to actually ask here, says the loud man, what do you think doing this will bring ya? asks the loud man. I hope when the dragon comes and burns you and your loved ones alive in front of you, says Baldbert before taking a gulp of the ale, that you remember us telling you our story, Baldbert says before taking another swig of his ale. Do you really think that complaining and telling everyone what happened to you that it will change anything? asks the loud man before laughing. I did not say that. I just told you to remember me and our story before you die, Baldbert says. Appreciate the drink, says Austrulf as the two get up to leave. Cowards, scoffs the loud man. Austrulf turns around and looks at them. We’ve been through countless settlements, villages, towns, we’ve told this story to many. How many of them do you see here today with us rallying to do something about it? None. Yet we continue… says Austrulf before they make their way upstairs to their room. What makes you alive? asks Baldbert. What? asks Austrulf. Nothing. Good night, says Baldbert.

The next morning the two brothers make their way out of town. They are both hit over the head with some wooden bats. Baldbert falls down hits his head on a rock and dies there. Austrulf manages to catch himself as he falls with his vision blurred by the blood dripping on his eyelids. He falls down. He wakes up days later with a headache and bandages around his head. A travelling merchant and his daughter took him on their carriage and nursed him back to health. He tells them his story, he thanks them and leaves on his own after reaching the next village. Not wanting to stop, he continues onward. As the night falls he hears a howling in the woods. With a big wooden stick he walks slowly trying to get to a place where he can camp overnight. As he walks, he feels something tugging at his leg. He turns around a wolf is biting his leg. He hits the wolf over the head so hard the big stick breaks and the wolf runs away. He keeps walking with fear that something might attack him again. He manages to find a small spring of water to clean his wound and drink some water. He gets up and moves along, fearing that animals might come to drink here as well. From exhaustion he decides that the first giant tree he finds he will rest next to it. As he walks through the dark forest he finds a big tree, he leans against it and slides down breathing a sigh of relief. Austrulf falls asleep. For the next three days, Austrulf wanders the forest trying to find his way out of it, as during the night he went off the beaten path. In an encounter with a boar he breaks his left arm as he put it forwards to defend himself. In an encounter with food, he slips and falls, hurting himself again. It takes him four days to get out of the forest. and find a village. Bruised, beaten, bitten, hungry, sleep deprived, dirty, lonely, alone, broke and smelly, he tries to comfort himself. I am alive. I am still alive. I hate this world. I hate these people. But I am alive. I have not been born in the right time, in the right place, around the right people, but I am alive. And that means that I have the opportunity to make the right time, make the right place, create the right people. People that are decent to all people, a place where your burden is as much of a burden as mine is, where the right time to solve whatever problem we have is now… Austrulf tells himself. Fancy seeing you here muttering to yourself, says the loud man with a big smile on his face. Before Austrulf even gets the chance to raise his head, the loud man bashes his head with an axe. You can’t just complain and expect people to change. And you dared call me a coward, when you couldn’t even face reality… says the loud man.

Levels to Life

Each is born to life his life to his whim… But his whim is limited by where they were born and to whom they were born to.

Level 1 - What should I do?

This is the first and last important question many people ask themselves while trying to figure out their life. Which is fine. We need everyone to do a bit of everything and pull in the same direction. So people stopping here is absolutely fine. Survival in this violent work is as tough as ever, as greed rules in this world of ours. But people at this level can be easily manipulated as their sole focus is on survival and not much else. And in order to survive most do whatever needed. And siding with the side that guarantees they keep getting paid for the work they are doing. Without much in order of principals to be had at this level. 

Level 2 - Who am I?

Not that everyone that got to this question figured out the first one. But usually people that get to this level have a desire to know more, to define themselves, to stand for something in this world good or bad...

These people struggle, some for a little, some for a lot. Some might struggle until they find something that works for them and then they don’t care for any further development. They have success, so why bother looking further into things? Those that get to this result, usually are conservative and love the way the world works. Even if confronted with the reality of the situation they usually brush it off, since if it worked for them, it should work for everyone. And if it doesn’t it’s clearly their fault. But for everyone else that gets to this level, they keep pursuing the questions as they keep changing with time. Whether due to outside circumstances or their interior ones, these people will better themselves and will try to have a solid life philosophy which will fulfill them and also bring them a lot of pain.

Level 3 - What do I stand for?

The elevated form of “Who am I?” this part deals with the person trying to fit into the world and how the world works and how they see the world in accordance to their philosophy. All of which they developed by asking themselves “What should I do?” and “Who am I?”. While the other two levels are hard, this is going to be one of the hardest questions in order to define yourself, if you have not given up the moment you have found something that works for you in the last question. Why is this so hard? Because you have to truly face the world.

While in the first question, you face the world at a superficial level, trying to survive. At the second level you are trying to find yourself and find yourself in the world around you. Here, you will have to confront friends, family and the world, as you find that your philosophy does not gel with most people. Or simply that most people are horrible and you need to rid yourself of them as they are toxic. That and that they’ll probably make you unhappy with their presence. And while listening to the other side is fine and well, you will find that those that base themselves on hate, greed and ego, have little to say that is worth listening to. As it’s usually is uninformed, in bad faith or straight up evil. Because all while asking these questions you do learn about the world.

Level 4 - How can I make the world a better place?

If you ever got here, you are brave. Most people do not get past even the first question, nevermind use any of their precious time to think of others. Or to think about the future and how to make it a better future for those to come. And I mean in earnest, not in a using the future as an excuse to do or say hateful things. This is the elevated version of what I stand for, where you have to be selfless, sacrifice, and now that you have stood your ground in terms of who you are and what you stand for, you can take action. Action trying to do what’s best, no matter the scale, this is very hard. As you can do this multiple ways and with different types of success, depending on the scale.

Level 5 - Is it worth it?

Doing the right thing is worth it. No matter how many people will dislike you, hate you, won’t understand you. Trying to be on the right side of the history, while wanting peace, people to be fed, housed, with access to clean water. Being anti-hate, anti-genocide, anti-fascism being pro-human is always worth it. Because history will remember very well what is wrong. And knowing that should make it worthwhile. All while helping people, giving others hope that it can be better. And finding a way in a violent, hateful world is tough, but no one can take your goodness away from you, if you hold onto it hard enough. Because being good is tough, it is sure better than being an asshole.

Dragons, Blood and Gold - Addendum - Bootstraps and All

With ash in mouth humanity bowed…

As the war between humans and dragons began, fire and death was about to fill the lands. While indiscriminate, dragons would burn with horrifying precision every human settlement. People tried any and every weapon at hand to fight off the giant beasts. As the first day ended, a hundred villages were burnt. to the ground. As the next day dawned, the first a hundred villages surrendered to the bid of the dragons. As the second day went on, more settlements burned, more settlements surrendered. Those that burned, were most long forgotten. Those that survived, knew their shame…

Yet that shame, with time, it dissipated. The privilege of seeing the sun another day, as they woke up and basked in its rays, felt like a blessing after all the death and destruction. And for the brief moment humans fought shoulder to shoulder and side by side, their own peace felt like a missed opportunity. As the years passed, the new generation had all but forgotten about their parents’ shame as they grew. They also forgot about the wrath of the dragons. Time had passed, and those that forgot about the shame had children of their own. Those children slowly grew to despise the dragons. Their grandfathers had lands, houses, connections to the dragons. They? They were promised that with humility and hard work above all, they’ll live happy, fulfilled lives. Yet while food was plenty at the mines, the hours were long. Shelters were compact to fit as many workers as possible, while more and more were forced to move towards the industrial settlements that humans needed to build in order to survive. The requirements were drastic, the amount of gold, gems and precious stones needed every month would fluctuate not on the reality in the mine, but on the whims of the dragons.

With times, the conditions only got worse for those that could not mine as much as they did before. Whether the mines were emptied, or it was too dangerous to dig to reach a new vein of gold, the dragons could not care less. While dragons would share in their spoils, they needed places to store all the wealth. Constructions in the mountains, and from rocks were build to acomodate both dragons and their wealth. Those that were not built underground or in mountains, were built as big as the mountains themselves. Much like mice in the house of the man, humans were puny and their paths were few and dangerously small to pass through the constructions in order to reach the dragons inside the giant constructions. 

Thus the first humans directly obeying and working for the dragons directly appeared only to work and live within those man-made constructions. The dragons liked the idea so much, they destroyed all housing in all the human settlements. All wealth they had gathered, all memories and history that they had gathered and remained from before the dragon’s wrath, gone, in one afternoon.

Everyone will get their fair chance. You will all have your chance to own your own plots of land and build upon them the houses you desire. But it will all be based on your merits. The fruits of your labor. The harder you work, the more you will be able to build. The more you prove your worth, the more you will earn. I expect that we will see no one unworthy. You have the chance to pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps. We will build something beautiful, worthy of the castles you’ve built us. As long as we approve of it and as long as you provide us with the quotas for those of us who hold the share of the gold, everyone will thrive as the wealth will spill over to everyone, was the speech dragons spread across the world, before taking flight and sleeping on their piles of gold in their giant castles and mountain lairs.

Part III will arrive soon…

Dragons, Blood and Gold Part II - The Gilded Blood Era

Where there’s blood there’s fire…

For thousands of years humans and dragons lived peacefully. Humans built their towns, grew their crops, domesticated animals, created their tools and societies. When the first wars between humans began, the dragons were baffled at their hubris and arrogance to fight over land and draw random lines in sand and call it their own, with no regard for other. Yet they were entertained by their brutality, as they were spectating over battles. Until one day, when some humans discovered gold. Its beauty enthralled the dragons and created a never before had need to have something. Power, might and now gold, the dragons wanted it all. Yet in their hubris, the humans wouldn’t give the gold up without a fight. Thus, the long war between humans and dragons began… Yet much much later…

We have checked every single home, twice now. Anymore searching will be for naught, as we can not see much anymore and these lanterns do not help much with the search, says Austrulf. All remaining women and children went towards the mine, some of the elderly and some of the teenagers escorted them, says Baldbert. Good, good, says Austrulf. I already sent the rest of the men towards the mine, in case anyone or anything would come back, they’d find just us and not them, says Baldbert. I don’t want to think about that, Bald. I don’t want to believe that someone betrayed us, says Austrulf as the two began their walk towards the gold mine. When a hundred of our people burn up in flames, when two hundred flee due to their fear of the dragons, you have to realize that something is very wrong, brother, says Baldbert. I know! Isn’t that why we built the cellars for everyone? Isn’t that why we made a second exit to the gold mine? asks Austrulf. But you have to recognize that not everyone is like you, says Baldbert. I recognize that. I just don’t care for it. If we pretend we’re human, then we should at least pretend to have a line we do not cross. Betraying and killing your own people is simply vile. You either care for all humans or for none. And when you only care for your own survival at the price of anyone and everyone around you, you care for no one! exclaims Austrulf. You are one of the smartest people I know, yet you can be so naive, says Baldbert. I am not naive, I know how they think. It doesn’t make it right, says Austrulf. It’s the gold, says Baldbert. It corrupted even the dragons, the one who needed nothing. The ones that lived to observe, to know, to be free from it all, now are bound to Earth by gold, says Baldbert. It’s not the gold. If it weren’t for the gold, it would’ve been something else. At some point they would’ve considered us a threat to their existence, explains Austrulf. Where does this idea come from? asks Baldbert. Do you remember when we lost father? We went hunting for the wolf that terrorized the village. When we cornered the beast at the edge of a cliff. What did it do, Bald? It attacked. Did that make sense? No, it didn’t. We had weapons, the wold just its claws and fangs. But what did the wolf think and feel? “I have no way out but through. I need to attack or they’ll kill me.” What would you have thought, Bald? asks Austrulf. Probably the same thing, he responds. Exactly. At some point if our tools got better, if our fire power was more impressive, the dragons would’ve seen us as threats. That’s why they divide us, that’s why they murder us, village by village. It’s not because we didn’t work hard enough. It’s because they don’t want us to get better tools, to get to be more people, to be stronger together. That’s why they need to corrupt any and all. Sow doubt in our hearts. Convince us that we’re the worst to one another. There lies their might, explains Austrulf. I see smoke from the other side, Baldbert interrupts Austrulf as they reach the entrance to the mine.

Let us hurry, says Austrulf as they enter the mine. Do you really believe anything of what you are saying? asks Baldbert. Why would I not? Humanity has thrived long before the era of gilded blood. I still wish to have seen the palaces of old, the giant structures we used to build. Yet now they are lost to time, says Austrulf. Have you not kept your books? asks Baldbert. With time they were got covered with so much ash, that it was impossible to make out anything that was in the pictures or the text, explains Austrulf with a mournful expression. As they move through the mine, both get silenced by the tragedy of the day. Glad we dug into the walls here, much easier to traverse through, says Baldbert. All your idea. I would’ve put some ropes on the wall and called it a day, says Austrulf. The awkward tension brought back the silence as they focused on getting through the mine as fast as possible without fumbling. The gold shines in the bedrock of the cave as the two move towards the exist. The smell of burning wood and pig is felt by the two as the get closer and closer to the exist. Yet as the crackle of the fire and the sound of their footsteps is heard, nothing else follows. No voices, no laughter, no anything is to be heard. As the two see the exist, they are blinded by the light coming from the fire outside. They both rush out, the camp burnt to a crisp. The forest burning around them. A hellish light at the end of the tunnel crushes the men to their knees as they scream in agony into the night…

The tragedy will continue…

Dragons, Blood and Gold Part I

Long time ago, as it was, and it was told dragons ruled the earth… This is their story.

A shadow appears on earth, moving fast, people run to take shelter. A gust of wind follows the giant shadow as houses shake, roofs of straws and wood come off as dust fills the air. The sun clouded by the dust. A roar vibrates the dust as a giant rumble shakes the earth as the dragon lands. An explosion clears the dust as a barrel explodes as the dragon breathes fires and starts torching the houses. The sound of screaming people echoes as they are being burnt alive. As every house, every building, every single person is burnt, the dragon huffs and puffs, smoke fills the air covering the sun completely. I have told you this day would come. You lazy, entitled, puny little critters wanted it all! Yet you could not work! You could not mine! You could not saves your skins even though your lives depended on it! The dragon shouts as the fire rages around him. All you had to do is mine the gold, get the the precious stones and gems. And what did you do? You lazed around, you lied to me about everything! You tried to keep it for yourselves! When we had a deal which you do not betray! We keep you safe from any danger at any time, and you, worms, provide us with gold, precious stones and work them for us. And now look at you… Burning… Screaming… In agony… And for what? Your arrogance? You thought you’d outwit us? You just could not listen! Shouts the dragon as no one is left to listen before taking off. The flames whirlwind, the smoke clears as the dragon flies off, before covering the sun up again. As the flames crackle, the smoke thins and buildings crumble, in its wake only ruble and charred bodies are left behind.

Hours passed, the sun started to set as the flames died out and from the rubble a noise is heard. From inside a well a man climbs out. He looks around and starts moving from house to house, moving rubble trying to find the doors in the floors. Stone by stone, charred wood moved piece by piece carefully as to not burn himself. With the smell of burnt skin with the ash the flowed through the air, he felt nauseated as he tried to move things around. At last, he finds the first door. He knocks on it. No answer. He moves to the next house. Finds the door in the floor. Knocks on it. No answer. As he passes the charred bodies he can’t help think that no one that remained in the village survived. He goes to a third house. He knocks on the door in the floors. An answer. As the doors open slowly before thumping down hard, another man with a sweat on his brow and soot on his hands smiles at the man from the well. They embrace. Brother, Austrulf! The man from the well shouts. Brother, Baldbert! he responds as they now shake hands. Uncle, a little girl exclaims as he hugs the man’s leg. Ingrid! Austrulf exclaims with a smile on his face. Austrulf, a woman sighs of relief from behind the two men. Arngilde, glad to see you are all safe and sound, says Austrulf. How did you manage not to get yourself killed? asks Baldbert. Luckily no stones fell into the well and the water kept me alive, explains Austrulf. Which houses have you been to? asks Baldbert. This is the third one, I went to old Ulbert, but no one answered. And then to the Waldbert, no answer. Every building seems to have collapsed, so clearing out paths has been quite the difficult taks, says Austrulf. Let me help you, says Baldbert. You two, stay safe, in case the dragon comes back, be ready to get down in the basement, he continued.

Power, gold and precious gems, the dragons have it all and we can’t have it, says Baldbert as they clean the neighboring house of debris. But luck with you and your idea to build these shelters inside, exactly for this day, he finished his thought out loud. This is no luck. After Waldbert and his family moved here and told us their story. It was only a matter of time until it happened to us, says Austrulf. Yet not everyone listened, said Baldbert as he raised a stone to find a set of doors on the floor. He knocks. No answer. These dragons, they come, they demand, we either deliver or they kill us, says Baldbert angrily as the leave the house to move onto the next one. Remember when grandpapi used to tell us stories from before the dragons care of our ilk? Before the gold? Before the stones? asks Austrulf. Grandpa Steinhard, he built this village stone by stone… Simpler times, says Baldbert as they enter another house. Back then the only real threat to us was another human, a wolf or a bear. And even then villages like ours never saw this level of destruction, says Austrulf. If we could only do something other than hiding, says Baldbert. What can you do when a baby dragon is already the size of a house and a half? asks Austrulf. Grandpa Steinhard talked once about killing a dragon, says Baldbert. Those are just stories, they were legends. Just like the legends of the people taming and riding dragons. These creatures are as old as the world itself. They were born from molten lava and pure fire. That’s why they all have those amber eyes and fire that melts stones and turns sand into glass. Luckily, they never use their fire enough to do that often. Yet still, you saw, you can’t underestimate these creatures. They’ve enslaved people, they corrupted people with their power into taking their side. Who knows who here was a spy, says Austrulf. Don’t speak like that, not now, at least. Let’s find everyone first, and then we’ll try to figure out what happened, says Baldbert as they continue to clear houses.

The story will continue….

You're a Victim

Brutally brutal system to create brutes that upkeep the system that brutally subjugated them…

Have you ever struggled with money? You’re a victim of this system. The system should have paid you better for the work you were doing. Or are you telling yourself that you were doing bad work and you deserved no recognition or respect cause you were that bad? Of course not. Have you ever struggled with health? You are a victim, bad health education combined with lack of proper access to good health care is something the system should provide, right? But it doesn’t. That is a failure of the system. Or are you saying that you were born wrong and that you do not deserve care? Of course not. You can’t help how you are born. That would be a silly way to discriminate then, wouldn’t it? Have you ever struggled with time? Have you seen your friends less and less? Is your job ever more demanding without any increase in pay? You are a victim of the system. You are told that if you work hard, you get a better pay, you get to do what you want, but it seems that all you get is more responsibilities, less free time, more stress, and not nearly enough money. But you wouldn’t say that you don’t deserve your free time, right? Considering how much you’ve done for the company already and how good your work is, right? And for what? A promotion after 7 years and you still make only barely the medium net wage of the city you can’t afford to buy a home in and only rent? But hey, at least you get those two precious hours to yourself in the car, stuck in traffic, drinking your coffee and vibing to your music right?

But it’s all fine, as long as you don’t start adding up the money you put into the gas you are using every single day to go to and back from work. Or if you start paying attention to your lifestyle and how sedentary it is now and the effects of that plus the lack of that cooking you can’t afford to do anymore. Or to think about how much the rent prices went up and how a third of your salary goes to just that. Instead of using it to save up for your own home. Or by how much everything costs now in any supermarket or grocery store anywhere. Or if you put any thought in anything that you are doing, will fill you with dread at the realization that you might actually be stuck in a dead end job with not enough money to do shit, because you are being outpriced from every single facet of this nightmare we call life. And how you’d move to another country, only to find out that you can’t, cause that’s not how money works and unless you are filthy rich, which, you aren’t, you can’t just fuck off somewhere else. Or that if you want to be able to afford anything you will have to overwork your ass for a pay that is good, but will destroy your mental health, your physical health and a lot of your relationships. 

But you know… Are you really a victim if you don’t feel like one? Can you really be complicit if you are also a victim? Of course, you can. Have you ever heard the phrase “it builds character”? That phrase is one of the most used ones someone uses after committing something of an abuse. If you uttered the same phrase, after someone uttered it at you, congrats you are complicit and implicitly not just a victim but also an abuser now and part of the system. A useful violent cog in the violent machine that is this system. Of course, this is just one silly example, and of course you can probably think of many others. If you don’t think that this is a problem or can’t think of any others, you are either very lucky to have had a very happy and fortunate life, or you need to go to therapy cause you have some unworked shit to deal with. After which, I recommend you come back and read this with fresh eyes in half a year or so. So, unless you are born stupid rich, you are a victim of this system. There is no if or but, any sacrifice you have had to made, any institutionalized hurdle, any unsolved problem our society and its governing tools have make you a victim of an abusive system. Much like an abusive boyfriend or girlfriend, except that this system keeps you poor, which can make you unhoused or which can work you to death. Either way it ain’t pretty. And it is hard to realize you are in an abusive relationship. And even if you realize that you are in an abusive relationship, your ego might be so big, that you might turn into an abuser in order to normalize what happened to you and later down the line to say “well, look at me, I turned out well. (they didn’t) It builds character.” And if successful you can look years down the line and say that “that’s just life” or better yet “it’s normal.” And then look at this post and say that it’s nonsense…

Cybaship

Count your sheep and sleep.

You need rest. You might have only one life you get to live, but without rest, you are shortening it to a dangerous degree, he says calmly. I am in no such need of rest. I have walked this world round and round from north to south and east to west on these two feet alone and all on my own. I have carried myself to every mountain top this world has. I have seen as deep as physics allows us to see in the oceans and seas. I have brought glory to us! And due to my actions the world reacted and we got where we are today, he responds passionately. I understand. You might not understand now, but when you will, it might be too late. Rest. Breathe. Try to take time to revisit what you have done and what you want to do next. You still have plenty of time to do so, the old man continues warning him. I will, but not now. Not right now. I feel it. The air in my hair, the wind in my back, the time is but now not later, he responded again with enthusiasm. This is the last I will speak of it, but please try to listen to some doubt and put some question upon your doings. Otherwise all your good work will be for naught. This is the moment most precious, you are right, but this is the moment most vulnerable to mistake, he warns. If I fail, I’ll fail, it just wasn’t meant to be. But I have to try, he rebuttals before leaving the old man’s office.

I am as artificial as they come, I don’t sleep, I don’t sleep, I don’t sleep. I don’t have dreams, I have ambitions, I have goals. I have achievements once I reach those ambitious goals, but I don’t have dreams, ‘cause I don’t sleep. And as well meaning as that old man is, I have overachieved, under-promised and over-delivered. I am a high powered, high return, low risk individual that can please almost anyone at any time in any circumstances. I have the build of a world wonder and I have wandered the world to woe them with my wonders. No blunders, no mistakes, no judgement and no risk, everything I’ve done has been done in the greater good, that’s why I can’t please everyone. I am not a string of currents with ones and zeroes flowing through my head, I am not just a stream of artificial consciousness, I am a fucking torrent of innovation, a flood of emotion with an overflow of presence anywhere I go. As I bring an influx of new ideas and hopes and goals as I drawn the insecurities and inundate the heart with an outflow of confidence in order to reach the estuary into the great sea where dreams die and people with their future achievements take wind and sail towards their goal. And we all have the potential to embark on such a journey, but for that they need me. They need me to go and build their ships, to lift the anchors of their hearts and fan their sails and move them in the right direction. Which is why I can’t stop. I am a machine of the people for the people, he thinks to himself as he sits at home plugged into the wall, recharging his batteries.

The beloved android named Kaneda was found brutally dismembered last night in the state of Nevada, after a group of self proclaimed Proud Men ambushed the android with AR-15 rifles as he was out for a stroll late yesterday evening. Kaneda was one of the first androids to ever hit the market back in 2080 by the newly formed Akompany which rose in the ruins of the 2077 terrorist attack in NC. Yet Kaneda managed to exceed expectations as he grew to learn and became solely independent. He traveled the world in order to help people in need and lend his expertise as part of the UN charter. He became a beloved mascot for many and the Akompany put out a statement saying that they mourn the death of their beloved Kaneda. And they wish that Kaneda would be remembered as he was, the best of us. Later that same evening the Nevada state police had a shootout with the self proclaimed “Proud Men” who had killed Kaneda as they in their words were standing their ground and taking back their humanity. The police have release bodycam footage from the incident and we also have video of the murder of the beloved Android. Warning! The following image contains graphic content and may be disturbing for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised…

And A Solution - Addendum

I think it’s really important to clarify something. Because if you do not think about it, what I wrote last time can be interpreted as quite ridiculous or silly and easily dismissive, because you can put the sole responsibility on the person partaking in the action. Which I find silly, a person is not their own little island disconnected from the world. We are shaped by the world, we do not choose where to be born or what material wealth to be born with. So, if you are born into a toxic environment, and I do not mean that as in Flint, Michigan, I mean in a family with trauma, bad habits, bad coping mechanism, violence, abuses and lack of access to good education, healthy relationships, healthy food, good jobs, good public transport. Well then, your chances are royally high to not do very well in life. Especially when the system does not care to fix the problem it created and it thrives off the racism and abuse. You can find many such examples, where communities were left to starve out and get poorer, only for capital to move in, buy property cheap and evict everyone. Since they cut out public transport and funds to the area and cut the community from any jobs or prospects, the place got poorer and people couldn’t afford anything anymore. This is not a bug, this is a feature of the system. You can see these practices everywhere. And you can not fight that on your own. Meaning, you can ride your high horse to stoicism as much as you want, but if there is a system out there which allows for such behavior, and you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, there’s not much you can do. Those that escape are very few. Because the system does not help you.

Here also lies the hypocrisy of those that preach the “pull yourself by the bootstraps” lie. There are no bootstraps in these situations, no one will hire you, no one will educate you for free, no one will shelter you. There are plenty of studies to show that the only remedy is money being poured into these communities to lift them up and when you do the state makes bank. Because investing in people always produces a positive outcome. The same goes for the homeless problem, there are no bootstraps to pull yourself out of being homeless without great help and effort from others. And even then, without long term support, the possibility of going backwards is always real. Because to get over these things people need time to heal. So when you hear someone “Well, they should’ve been useful and work harder in order not to get here”  that is bullshit. I live in a town where I can’t afford to buy a home, I make more than the medium income of the city, but when the greed of the system is to such a great height, there is no helping it. I might be working, but I need at least another job that pays just as well for me to even think about affording a home here. Because when the anual median salary in the county is 700-800 euros but housing starts at 100.000, there is nothing you can do except work yourself to death for something that shouldn’t be this expensive for such low wages. Now think about a homeless person or someone poor with no savings, because they were born in a poor place with no jobs prospects, with poor education, with no or bad public transport making it out. You have to be lucky to make it out and you have to struggle an inhumane amount in order to create that chance. And if housing is that expensive in a place that might have all you need, you might not make it there, cause you won’t be able to afford it. Now for the hypocrisy, those that have managed to escape will look at this and dismiss it, either because they were lucky enough to work hard at the right time, get the fruits of their labor and managed to still buy housing before the prices jumped up in an obscene amount of manner. Or they got out when things were still relatively cheap and you could afford to move from bumfuck-no-name-town to a big city, struggle, but still make it from month to month with relative ease. And the same people enjoyed meeting the right people at the right time. Most people do not interact with those that are down or uneducated or have an addiction or any sort of acute mental problem. So their chances to “pull themselves by the bootstraps by networking, working hard, taking care of themselves” is kind of a meaningless statement these people make to brush off their own hypocrisy and downplay the role timing and luck had in their own development. Thus downplaying the privilege they enjoy now and how time has changed enough to where to replicate what they did is nearly impossible.

But that’s just a small part which needed a lot of explaining. Now to hit home my point about how we are all responsible I have a few more easily self-explainable examples for you all.

You have a child, you send it to school, there is a bully that bullies your child. Your kid comes crying, what do you do? You have a coworker that keeps sexually abusing another coworker, what do you do? You have a child, they go to school, comes out a teacher there sexually abused children, what do you do? The same happens at your local church. You are at home, you hear your neighbor screaming and beating his wife, what do you do? You see someone beating someone else on the street, what do you do? You see someone stealing the purse from someone, what do you do? You see your brother or sister abusing alcohol, what do you do? You see a dear friend who hit some hard times, now he got addicted to gambling, what do you do? You see a successful friend with money get disillusioned with life and get addicted to drugs, what do you do? These are all things you are surrounded by right now. These things are happening to someone you know somewhere near you right now. What is this society doing to and for those people? You don’t know. Why? Because your answer to the question what do you do is probably “I don’t know”. Because we don’t have an education about what to do in these situations. The system isn’t built to protect, serve and help really anyone that can’t do that for themselves. Which means the institutions meant to protect us and do all that are either incompetent at best, corrupt and badly funded at worst, but in either case, it makes them useless. And this is on purpose, a violent system needs violence at all levels of society for it to work and justify itself. That’s why there’s a “war” on education, identity, Christmas, religion, millennials, gen z, gen alpha, this, that. Strife, division and violence is a feature of the system to keep us engaged in its violence. Which is where the idea of personal responsibility needs to be broader than just “me”.  Because this world and how it is, involves all of us on all levels. And these divisions are silly if you take a second to actually think about them. 

Sunita Williams:

“You don't see any borders between countries from space”

And A Solution

There is a solution for EVERYTHING…

If the last few posts haven’t been clear enough for whatever reason, I am rather optimistic. No, not because of some sort of delusion, but because the pessimism and idealism within me have worked me to the bone to face reality, to search for answers, to look for both the worse in humanity and the ideal we could achieve. And having people who can argue with you in a civil manner and who know their shit, pardon my French, is rather helpful. But this was a half decade process where I had to deconstruct myself, deal with panic attacks, manic episodes due to the lack of information or the quality of said information or due to the toxic people I was interacting with. And many other processes which come due to my privilege of who I am, where I was born, what I have access to and the people I have access to. I am just mentioning this as not to leave any impression that I want either pats on the back or a pity party. But context is key to understanding where I am coming from and why I believe what I have written and the point I will make next. And yes, this is the last post in this series about real problems we face. I promise you.

You are sitting in front of your TV, it is raining outside, it is outcast and it is an evening, which means it’s getting dark. The sudden freeze of your TV jolts you back to consciousness. Suddenly, all your problems come back to you, reality hits you. The escape you had while watching that movie or show is now gone, you need to buy a new one as it won’t budge even after you plug out and back into the socket in the wall. But you can’t afford that, because that is the least of your problems. And you are well off, considering you aren’t homeless and can afford to buy food. Sure, you could watch it on your laptop or phone, but now that your TV is broken, the charm of the moment is gone and ruined. So your mind starts to wonder why did it break a month after it was out of warranty? Why are new electronics so shit? Why are they made from such cheap stuff? All while forgetting the small price you paid for your toaster, microwave and TV, which were all made in China. But that doesn’t matter you have a hard day at work after this weekend. And that thought puts you into a spiral about all the problems you have, have had or will ever have. Then you try to distract yourself with the problems the world has, by opening up your phone and scrolling through your timelines only to get distracted by someone close posting something you don’t agree with which only makes your blood boil. You have to talk to someone, but you can’t. You’ll look like you are fucking crazy if you write someone about the stupid shit your friend posted. And you can’t confront them because that would make you look like an asshole and you’d prove their point and you’d lose face and your friend. So now you get angry and scream fuck it, alone in your apartment after which you whisper to yourself that nothing matters anyways. So you put on something on your phone to distract you so you won’t go to bed angry…

And there is a solution for all of that. Whatever problem you have, you might have had, you might have, there is a solution for it. But, for any solution to work, the things that I’ve been posting about need to be addressed first. You can’t solve anything while hate and ego dominate our society. While kindness is relegated to the smaller things we can do for someone else. And there are solutions for every kind of a problem. Even problems that can’t be solved today, would be able to be solved, if we solved the problems we have today. Because if we solve the problems today that will give us a path and more pieces of the puzzles we need to solve the problems of tomorrow. But you can’t end homelessness if housing is an investment opportunity and while greed reigns supreme. You can’t end poverty and world hunger, while we exploit others and steal their resources in order to fatten up the rich to give them money for weapons to keep the resources cheap for us. And I could go on with examples, but all examples your be the same. They all boil down to hate, imperialism, rasism and greed. If we found a solution for 16 types of cancer in one medicine, we can find the solution for all of them. If we used to give out free housing to all, we can still do that today. If prices used to be affordable for all, they can still be today. But, as long as the enemy is your neighbor and not the ones price gouging, scalping, telling you they can’t afford to pay you while pocketing millions and billions of dollars, or those that should regulate telling you they can’t do anything about it. Then we are all going to be losers. For this to work, it has to work for all of us, not most of us. Because it is starting to not work out for most of us. Considering that most people now can’t afford housing. And this is just a beginning to a dystopian hell we will never recover from.

Brothers & Sisters

Over the past 5 years and now more, I’ve been struggling with responsibility. The thought of what that means. Where does it start and where does it stop.

“What fault do I have for if the world is shit? What if people are assholes? What’s that got to do with me? So, what if someone’s homeless? I did not make him take those decisions. Nor did I vote for Putin, Hitler or Stalin, so why should I worry about what’s going on there? Or about that genocide? It’s not like I am pointing a rifle or putting the gun in that soldier’s hand. Just like me laughing at my friend’s cruelty towards a minority of some sort isn’t inherently evil.  He didn’t commit and hateful act, nor did I by laughing, right? How am I to blame that hate speech is on the rise? Or fascism for that matter, I just saw to my needs. I worked, I consumed, I slept, I shat, I did not infringe upon anyone directly. Those who do it’s their freedom to express themselves. So why should I be bothered with any of the things that are happening? I alone can’t save the world. Nor can I change anyone’s mind. If someone wants to have their mind changed, they will change it. So why should we impose restrictions? The world still works and it will rectify itself when needed. “

Not that any of these are my thoughts, they are not, they are the thoughts of people you know. Of people I know. Of people someone knows, or of someone reading this. And they are valid, as opinions. Not as truths. The truth is more simple than that, as long as you are not discouraging hateful conduct, you are encouraging it. As long as we don’t face the hate, we propagate it. We have a responsibility, but when we deny it, we send a powerful message forth, “You are as free to be as evil as you like. And do as much of it as it pleases you.” And when that’s the mentality of the “silent majority”, this is a problem. As it gives a lot of power to a minority of hateful voices that will drag everyone down with them…

When fascism reigns, when there’s genocide, when food becomes expensive, housing inaccessible to most, when the pay is stagnant and hate speech is high, there are not “good people” and “bad people”. There’s just people responsible for their choices. You can turn a much of a blind eye as you wish to the “invisible hand of the market”, the imperialist racist violence that is from the civilized “west” or to fascism. And you can try to then help those affected. Or even do some actual good in your own vecinity. But that does not and will not ever absolve you of your complicity in the rise and wellbeing of said violent and oppressive system. Sure, I couldn’t do anything when I was younger, nor did I know what to do and that might be fine. But when you become aware of these things as they have a clear impact in your life and you argue to just let it be or argue that others should do better, you are pro-violence. As you condone and encourage the violent system and its way of working and existing without much to none resistance to it or how it functions. You and I are as much part of the problem as those seeking actively to enact their evil and those who vote for it. As you and I live in this world, take part in this world, and whatever happens, wherever it happens, these things do have an impact on everything.

And whatever thought you might have or rebuttal you might try to come up with, there is none. Inaction itself is also a form of action, or rather the lack of it. The same applies to apathy and willful ignorance. And I am not talking here to those that are overworked and exploited, nor am I talking about to those for whom education wasn’t very good or available to. I am talking to you. Those who live quite comfortably, can read, have some free time to think and consume and believe in “meritocracy”, “self-regulation”, “absolute freedom of speech”, “bootstraps, hustling and grinding culture” or that their lack of involvement absolves them. As harsh as this may seem, the solution is rather simple, do not look away. Do not ignore it, do not justify it, do not encourage it. If you see something of that nature, say something. If you speak out against it, you are not alone. Your actions will give others courage to do the same. Do not let yourself be intimidated by their fervor. Stand your ground against hate, that is the least you could do. You don’t have to actively go and fight someone, you just have to stop it where you are.

This post was inspired by the german writer Thomas Mann, a contemporary of Hitler’s. Especially his “Brother Hitler” essay and the following quote:

“There are not two Germanys, a good one and a bad one, but only one, whose best turned into evil through devilish cunning. Wicked Germany is merely good Germany gone astray, good Germany in misfortune, in guilt, and ruin.”