HITS AND LINES

  Let's talk geometry. I can recall taking my math instructor to task for teaching things in geometry for which there would be no use in my future, at least as I pictured it. Little did I know that terms of hits, direct lines, would be used to refer not to mathematical and engineering issues, but rather to questions of guilt, questions of responsibility for atrocities, direct links to proof of guilt and conspiracy. All that reflected in the words of the 'hits' of the day, literally and figuratively.

The hits of Russian attacks and bombardments have been recorded. The direct line from site of missile landing to source or placement of original discharge into the air can be clearly drawn and there it is. The same General guilty of the unbelievable criminal bombardment of Aleppo, awarded as Hero of the Russian Federation for his abominable actions, is the same general responsible, he and his 79th Brigade, for the pulverizing of civilian targets, infrastructure and once warm, living bodies, turning Kharkiv into a field of death. 

The question is what the world will do about this, the huge multicolored elephant standing in the living rooms of this embattled world of ours, our morally challenged leaders of the world failing to see it. They are negligent, failing to uphold their responsibilities. What will the world do indeed, in deeds and in verbiage which actually carries weight behind it. Those elephants are crushing the life out of us, out of a possible future of progress and justice. 

What will the world do? My guess, my take on that? The same as they have done till now. Stand by and whimper, cowed by bombastic words and posturing of the enemy, enabling his success. An about time reaction of too little too late. Next, a throwing of arms and munitions at that enemy via the medium of soldiers of the invaded country. Using others, the human factor, to fight our battles for us. The catastrophic toll of country continues all the while the elephants remain in the living rooms of the world. Their weight shaking the foundations.

Meanwhile, the world continues on its not so merry path. The islands of the Pacific have become the new 'battlefield' of the world, with China threatening - and succeeding quite a bit - in swallowing them up. Even as some of these island nations continue to drown beneath the rising seas. And the world? Does nothing. Status quo.

Even as the cities of the world, the ports, the coastal areas, face that same threat of going underwater, not in financial terms, but rather in reality. The world? Does nothing other than bemoan and wring hands, perhaps build larger sewer conduits for the water to drain, as long term successful as the wrinkled finger of that little Dutch boy. As for the oceans, they rise, and bring along all the huge 'islands' of trash that humans have built with their harmful disregard of cause and effect. On we go.

In the national world, our country continues to eat  itself. The acid of the growing rancor increases exponentially. Corporations fund backwards thinking politicians who promise them their obscene profits even as they constrain and attack the rights of individuals, the right to privacy, the rights which make life so much better for all. Once again, we fail to draw those lines, those direct lines from the politicians , treasonous and hate filled, to the resultant consequences. The right to choose? Soon gone. Along with the corollaries for which the fangs of these devils drip blood. 

No rights to be who you are. Gay, a member of the LGBTQ+ community - criminal deviant. A supporter of their rights? Criminal as well. The right to make your own medical decisions in all areas? Gone, along with the right to choose. Rules and laws enacted to prevent raging, ugly prejudice? Brown vs. the Board of Education? Plessy vs Fergerson? Civil Rights laws? Women's suffrage? Color them gone, for the extreme right turn of these people is beyond all that we ever thought possible. Truly, the dictators of evil humanity are licking their chops, validated in all their evil.

Finally, where are the hits? This refers to the music of the world, music that soothes the soul, that can inspire both good and evil. The music that expresses the ethos and mood of a nation or a world besieged. An essayist wrote, "War has no clean edges where it ends and normal life begins." So true. The songwriters and singers of the world understand that. Their latest songs are either in denial, as the crazed music of K-pop, where acrobatics are more apparent than words, or music which serves as excellent conveyors of a deep longing of people for peace, for calm, for liberty and independence, for justice - and so deeply seeking reassurance and hope. Check out the songs of the recent American Song Contest. Most sang of longing for a time of beauty, to make a "beautiful world", for the vison and height of a sparrow which inspires the singer to be strong, to seek a better place. Or the words of longing for a past colored rosy in memory, simple days of simple deeds. And of course, the frenetic tempos of those trying to drown out the obvious, though denial is not a positive long-term policy. 

 We need to remake, to remold, to indeed, make this world a better place, to instill hope for a better future. A future where we can at least rid the living rooms of the elephants and get down to the nitty gritty of fixing the mess we have incurred through our own negligence and greed. Can it be? Maybe? Though growing faint. And fainter yet.