try to remember that kind of september

Pausing to reflect on the events of 11 September and recalling the sorrow shared over the fact that the perpetrators, whomever they might be, felt that what they were doing would result in a greater good, however that might be measured. The events and the reverberating response, magnfied and rippling through the years, are tragic and with little solace.

The conditioning (the "new-normal"), posturing and policy that came about through loss and fear projected should not be coddled and commemorated like the endless state of war and blind vigilance these prevailing attitudes have inspired. For those who suffered personal loss on 11 September or in the decade of conflict and incarceration that followed should never be expected to forget or move on and should be allowed to grieve in their own ways, but no matter how sadness is screwed up into revenge, hate, vitriol and unthinking, I do not believe that the legacy of those losses of that day and of the days and years that followed should be transmuted into practices and protocol that have radically changed things for the worse, bred intolerance and curtailed liberties.

That's the other shared sorrow, and that is no tribute and a grave dishonour. Too many words already lost their meaning in theatre and farce.  If anything the solidarity and the recognition that we all belong to one another, should be the point-of-departure of 11 September and not what's been sown.

green thumb or fait accompli

Considering the jungle of plants that have invaded our house, sometimes I think there’s something a little bit sinister in all of it. I wonder if plants are not really the intelligent-designers, exceedingly patient, and having selectively-bred human, their caretakers, to do their bidding. Millennia ago, plants got the means to realize agriculture, worship and veneration, lumberjacks, then coffee and tobacco and other medicinal uses, florists, victory gardens, earned a place in our homes and many industries and then even genetic engineering to augment their own evolution. That’s a clever possibility and none too innocent, even if humans have gotten to be rather neglectful of forests and surely not part of the master-plan… I for one welcome our leafy-overlords.

confabulation, conflagration

The unprecedented scope of the wild-fires ravaging central Texas is a frightening thing, already in superlative year for natural and man-assisted disasters, though recent record-holders are quickly outdone and not allowed to bask in their glory or infamy for very long. The latest in the series of governors from that state have invited scorn and courted wrath and maybe there is a parallel, close relationship--the ability to peer into his soul, between the current sitting governor and presidential aspirant and the Russian leadership.

About a year ago, unquenchable wildfires were also threatening the Russian countryside, and the administration was criticized for its crisis-management and possibly handicapping the whole process of response and prevention by cutting back on support for firefighters. To what degree that criticism was warranted remains unclear, though the Russians who suffered lost because of the fires were cared for and the fire crews are fully-funded. It is however less of a question and more substantiated fact that the Texan leadership has shut down firehouses and curtailed support for voluntary (Freiwillig) firefighters, and so many Americans resist evacuation in the States because they have very little faith that their losses will be restored. It is a bit ironic that the aspirations of the Texas governor are built on the shaky principles that federalism is the cause of all woes and is loath to ask for its aid during the crisis. To some extent, this purging by fire sweeping through the forests and grasslands is a natural cycle, unavoidable and necessary, but poor stewardship and response fuels its destructive power. I hope that those affected survive this disaster and re-emerge with refreshed strength to guide policy and priorities in a sensible and not superficial direction.

meritocrazia

Threatened with municipal redundancy, an ambitious local government council from the village of Filettino are drawing up articles of cession from Italy and declaring themselves an independent principality. Part of the austerity measures of the Italian government propose that small villages be annexed by their larger parent commune, in order to save on administrative expenses. Outraged at facing the end of their village as a separate political entity, Filettino has anointed its mayor, are seeking a prince, and has even issued its own currency. Villagers are very enthralled with how this will go, citing Italy's long, divided history of enclaves and city-states and the fact that San Marino has survived for centuries in its own right. The most serene republic, as opposed to a principality, is however not quite the same animal as a toy kingdom with shifting alliances, having endured as a democracy since the third century. I for one wish Filettino well, in whatever form it takes, and think that it would be pretty neat to be king or even subject there and it is a very creative tact to take in protest to what may be misdirected hardships.