Final thoughts of the day 2

During my many times of contemplation, I have often felt low and spiritually exhausted by the depths of man's sheer inhumanity to man. This inhumanity grates upon my nerves and stabs at my innermost consciousness like glass shards penetrating into my brain. Just reading the daily newspapers can cause my mood to nosedive as I take in how someone has just killed or maimed an animal for fun, or tortured some innocent human being, or murdered somebody for their training shoes!

Entire forests, the Earth's natural respiratory system, are being cut down for profit, pollutants and toxins fill the air and threaten extinction of every living soul upon the Earth, and yet so many seem to care not one iota and it continues on with no thought as to the outcome of these puerile actions of man.

Kinda reminds me of an old Cree Indian Proverb which goes something like:-

"Only when the last tree has been cut down and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will the white man realize that he cannot eat money."

It never ceases to surprise me how callous and cruel we, as a species can actually be. We are a species that is capable of such beauty and such creativeness and yet this is how the majority of mankind chooses to carry out their lives. Our relentless pursuit of financial gain and profit whilst people are starving and struggling to survive makes me sick to the core and yet sometimes, in the midst of all of this a day will come along that will fill me with hope once again.

Today was one such day....

The location was the cellar bar of a local Plymouth pub, the event, a small gathering of like-minded individuals enjoying a glass of ale whilst singing folk songs of love, freedom and fun times come and gone.

As I sat there enjoying the atmosphere of this place and listening to these pleasant and playful compositions, it suddenly dawned on me that not all of mankind is filled with the inane desire to corrupt, strip and maim. This small group of people, in whose company I spent this particular evening welcomed me regardless of who I was, I could have joined in and sung along with them of course but my confidence has never been of a level that would enable me to indulge in such things.

Just for a while though, the utter madness and the angst of the outside world all around me seemed so distant, it was really very nice in fact and I found myself wishing that I too could play a musical instrument and just join in. Needless to say however, I never did learn to play the guitar that my mother bought me for my twelfth birthday, unfortunately it was stolen from my garage along with a number of other personal belongings by some toe-rag youth before I could get around to this.

It actually pains me now to know that that guitar is very probably in said toe-rags bedroom, classified as his own personal property now and there is nothing that I can do about it. The law is an ass, see earlier post...... This said however, I don't want to go on another downer right now as I finished this day on a high, I wish to lay my head on my pillow in the same frame of mind.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah, the folk night at the pub. This folk night that I speak of is actually run by a really nice guy by the name of Joe, if you were to meet him I'm sure that you would not fail to like him as I truly believe that through talking with him on a number of occasions now, there isn't one solitary bad bone in the man's body.

Actually, if you met him you might say that he looks rather unconventional compared to some in that he sports a very full beard, invariably wears a floppy brimmed hat or a flat cap and has trousers which are often held up by a pair of braces, not a common site in these parts I might add. It all gives him a certain character anyway, Joe oozes mellow, he is so laid back as to be pretty much horizontal and I must say that it was an absolute joy to spend some time listening to the songs of both himself and those of his compatriots tonight.

These are actually the times when I feel that the world is not such a bad place after all, that not everyone in it is so selfishly driven and so single mindedly greedy. These are times when I have hope again and when I look to the future with the thought that man is not such an absolute waste of flesh after all. It's people like Joe that give me faith again, nothing seems to phase him and even though I suspect that he may not suffer fools gladly, he always has an ear for those that need it.

I shall sleep well tonight, the effects of ale no doubt assisting in that ;-) But I cannot deny that I'm already wondering just what horrors tomorrows paper will bring.

Adieu