Every day just feels like a bad dream. That’s the recurring thought that strikes me every morning at least. Let’s put my own depressing shit to one side for once. I often keep thinking to myself: “this planet is a fucking joke”. Sadly, I’ve recently come to realise that this statement is false and I’ve had to correct myself.
The planet is absolutely fine. Away she goes, tumbling forever through a barren vacuum, caught in the gravity of a giant fireball – just close enough to it that she can cultivate life in many forms, but just far enough away that she doesn’t burn to death. No, the planet is doing well and, frankly, would do so much better if she wasn’t interfered with so much. And it’s our lot that does that. Might I refer you to my earlier thought and slightly modify it: “this species is a fucking joke”.
Us human people beings are, by and large, idiots. Especially large. Get a giant group of us together and the integrity of the collective consciousness takes a complete nosedive. We collectively decide on things that go against any kind of long-term logical reasoning, in favour of knee-jerk responses that can provide personal benefit right away. In the last few months, there have been more political developments than I can care to get my head around any more, and my head’s already trying to deal with too many things it probably needn’t worry about anyway.
Despite being of the same species, cultural differences develop and, ultimately, we end up with some kind of twisted “Us vs. Them” mentality because our group is more superior than yours because we said so. Before you know it, mass hysteria ensues, people revolt against elected leaders, countries squabble amongst themselves, people fleeing violence get washed out to sea and die anyway, and a 70-year-old billionaire hotel owner looks likely to lead a superpower.
The news is just depressing. Shit just piles on top of more shit, and even if the shit doesn’t affect you directly, it still feels shit, and weighs on your already shitty mind that’s so full of your own shit that you can’t really handle the other shit on top of it. But you do, because it’s there. And it’s shit.
Somewhere along the way, I realise the futility of taking life too seriously and begin to relax in my own situation and roll my eyes at the ridiculousness of events happening on a more global scale. There’s nothing really I can do about them. Hell, I already feel limited in what I can do for myself and those directly around me. Does any of this really matter? After all, like most of this moronic species, maybe I shouldn’t think long-term and logically. Maybe I should just focus on what I need right away that will be of a huge personal benefit. When that thought comes around – usually of an evening – I just look forward to the fact that I can wrap myself up, shut my eyes and, for a matter of hours, be completely oblivious to any of the terrible things that are prevalent on this beautiful planet.
Then the morning comes and the nightmare starts again.
I’ve been trying to find the words to describe the feeling when listening to this. I keep finding myself torn between the gentle guitar melody invoking a sense of relaxation, and lyrical stings that set off the world-weariness inside me. Eventually, I came to notice that the words were in front of me all along, thanks to this soulful (and beardful) man and his apparent fondness for repetition.
“Ba-bah ba-dom-bom.”
Michael Kiwanuka – Love & Hate
Jamie Walsh 
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