Sunday 29 September 2024

Names. Invitations to be friends. Confused seasons. And ideas of war.

What’s in a name? Facebook is always throwing at me photos of “people I might know”, ie people I might want to request as friends. Even if I recognise the person it doesn’t mean I want to be swopping Facebook posts with them. But the majority are people I have never heard of, presumably friends of friends of friends. One of the latest has the wonderful name of Jesus Risueño, or Smiling Jesus! If you gave that name to a character in a novel, people would say it lacked verisimilitude, or that you were seeking comic/ironic effect, which is what I tend to think about the mean character in “Io non ho paura”, Felice Natale - aka Happy Christmas! 


Yesterday we had frost! One of the neighbours commented to me that we seem to have skipped autumn and gone straight into winter. It’s not really quite that bad but it’s getting on that way. Today is marginally less cold and so far - mid afternoon - it’s been quite bright and sunny.


We still seem to be finding as many ways as possible of destroying the planet. Well, not me personally. I recycle just about everything and try not to overuse the world’s resources. But some parties are intent on starting as many wars as possible. 


Something I read this morning suggests that the concept of all-out-war needs reviewing. It no longer necessarily means tanks rolling into a country, boots on the ground and troops lined up to beat and shoot each other to pieces. It’s a more distant affair - just fire bombs and missiles into whoever is considered to be your enemy.


I suppose it was inevitable. Once man invented projectile weapons of one kind or another, it was bound to go on from there. 


Here’s a picture of the consequences of such actions: 



A woman stands among the items she has salvaged from the damaged Unrwa relief agency building in Gaza City, 12 July 2024.


Time to do a Candide and concentrate on cultivating my garden … or in my case, putting together family meals in the kitchen. 


Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone! 

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