It's an R.E.M. kind of day. Take a walk, do some gardening, clean the house, and listen to Automatic for the People or Murmur or whatever floats your boat. I opted for Automatic and as Mister Stipe told me he would try not to breathe, I thought of the future, of what will be after all this is done. The fires and the protests and the election and the virus. Who will we be then? What will we have learned? How will it inform our decisions? I hope we listen to scientists more. Love more. Hug more. Appreciate being in a room with a friend more. I hope realize that if we think the virus is a drag, the coming environmental crisis is going to be like ten times worse. I hope we change. Evolve. Grow. That we don't exhume McCarthy. Rather, we channel the spirits of Roosevelt (Teddy or FDR, either will do) and Susan B. Anthony. We need to get our act together. We need to end our addiction to fossil fuels. We need to rethink our entire economic system. We need to grow the fuck up and take care of this beautiful planet. As far as I know, it's the only one we have.
And if the aliens land, let's make them glad they did.
I want to sit in a crowded movie theatre.
I want to go to a concert at Red Rocks.
I want to see some theatre in a packed house on opening night, when half the audience are friends and family and everyone goes crazy when the house lights fade.
I want to go to Disneyland. I know, they're corporate jerk offs. I cant' help it. I dig it.
I want this thing to be over.
And I want everyone to be well. To be healthy and alive. And unafraid.
So I pay attention to what is happening. I walk the neighborhood. I say hello to strangers. I read as many different news sources as I can online. But I really don't need any newspaper or show to tell me things are messed up. The sky is thick with smoke. Everyone looks anxious. And after that brief bit of time during the lockdown when we got to see nature unbridled, I am certain we need to the world to be like that all the time. I have had enough traffic jams, ozone alerts, oil spills, extinctions, ice cap meltings, thank you very much.
I made my way through Automatic, Green, and a bit or Monster. It was sublime.
Here's a song. It's You Are the Everything by R.E.M., natch.
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