You Are Who You 'Own'

or who you depend on for your wealth.

When slave owners accepted 'compensation'

from governments for the loss of their slaves

it was not just the ultimate in property values

repeating themselves over the value of humanity.

 

Those compensated became immeasurably wealthy

twice over again when they invested their wealth

in the trade in goods from the countries 

where former slaves remained tied to the lands

where before they had been owned as slaves,

this time owned by the debts 

that made them indentured labour.

 

In completing this cycle

of ownership without responsibility

the new 'traders' in human misery

became the ultimate passive citizens

of where their wealth came from.

Active citizenship of where the wealth was made

would have meant the rich dividing their riches

among the ex-slaves who had made 'the traders' so rich.

No such investment was forthcoming.

The truest solution for all those once colonised

was an independence via 'The Commonwealth'

where those peoples and countries could start again 

to rediscover what being invested in actually meant.

Charity, Cynicism, And Self Interest

The difference between the worthy poor
and the unworthy as they were in the England
since the founding of the welfare state
was rarely one of self-identification.

However poor and dependent anyone was
everybody identified themselves as worthy,
as compared with the unworthy poor
who were always somebody else who lived far away.

But there was a guide to the difference
between the worthy and the unworthy;
the worthy gave to these shops
thinking their gifts, however worn and used,
still had enough life left in them yet,
whether such life was there or not.

The unworthy would be the buyers
of this clothing, the ones with worn lives
looking for life in the goods they could afford
which they hoped would have just enough wear left in them.

To always be the last to buy those clothes
before they were fit only for the bin out was a duty;
how else were we to hide the poverty of our ambitions?   

Are Friends Electric?

In old age you bet they are!
Because that is when stillness
means the need for a warmth
that comes quickly and to order
from outside of yourself.    

 

Sympathetic Magic

One habit I have s an adult that I cannot stop
is that when I finish using my laptop
and press to turn it off  I will wave it goodbye.

Logically I know I don't need to,
and the laptop does not care what I do
but still the idea that there is something live
that I have been interacting with
that i only know in part
but that part I must respect
comes from a scene I was part of
a long time ago.

I was baby-sitting some children
and their parents had set them
a video of the BBC 1950's series
'Andy Pandy' to watch. As the show
drew to it's close Andy waved goodbye
and the children waved back
I liked that, enough to want to
repeat it, with computers when I use them.

Who knows when they turn their screen off
what they are saying 'Goodbye' to? I don't.... 

Choice Vs Waste

When most of us imagine choice
we don't think of fifteen different brands
of one product on the one supermarket shelf,
all of which are different priced
with different claims made for them.

But when we want choice
that is what is what choice means
to the providers of what we want.

It is not what we need,
but 'need' is want cut down to necessity,
which in supermarket terms
would mean a lot of empty shelf space
and ultimately a much smaller shop
as the inflated language
of advertising and choice
had all the hot air taken out of it.

Modern Capitalism could not
withstand that for very long
before imploding. 

Elections Are Like Planned Accidents

Accidents and elections will be approached
with great caution by those aware of their own bias
and capacity for not seeing all sides of the event.

Those unaware, or uncaring, of how biased they are
will rush in where fallen angels would not set foot,
for not caring how heavy of tread they are
as they make their mark on their countrymen.

Elections are calibrated accidents
where campaigns are planned and timed
leading to computerised calculations
about voters and their values
which make the voter
no more than a series of numbers
in vast calculations by one side
and then the other
where both are desperate to win. 

I prefer real accidents where less reason
and less explanation are required
and there is much less desperation
and much less fear of losing.  

There Is A Draught In Here, Somewhere....

because for as much as going nowhere 
seems fine for a while
 a sense of destination is what keeps us alive.