"At what price are the cheap clothes? Not the dollars and cents, but the human price in mental and physical pain. What of the children brought up by neither parent and without love, for there is no energy to spare for them? Is the small whim of vanity all it takes to buy our souls, our collective morality? Think not that they suffer, but wear the pretty clothes, they are so very, very cheap."
Every financial product (shares) I have found is greenwashing, especially in the financial sectors. As an example:
A: We plant one tree for each tree we chop down!
B: Don't hardwood trees take a long time to grow?
A: Yes, so we plant a different species that grows faster!
B: So it's the wrong food for the animals and it still takes ages to grow?
A: Ha, yes, that's the best the market will do though, we are the most ecological company. It makes new habitat.
B: Are the trees in the same place as the ones that were chopped down?
A: No, they are hundreds of miles away.
B: So it's a bit similar to me demolishing a bit of your house and building (very slowly) a replacement hundreds of miles away where you had no access to food and every other thing you need?
A: Yes.
Independence is a lie. It is if you are human, for we are the preeminent social species of Earth. I can be an independent thinker, but what I am doing is recombining the thoughts of the great thinkers of the ages into new patterns. I can have money, but all I am doing is exchanging it for the labours of others, be they food, shelter or clothing. And for the most part all folks want is a thank-you, an acknowledgement for the worth they bring to the species, to feel valued and loved by others. When the strong help the weaker we are all healthier, but when we recall that we are only strong in some areas and weaker in others, we are wiser. We specialise for the benefit of the group and that only works when others help us where we are weaker. If you have a great intellect but struggle socially, you need others to help you, and the opposite is true. We need each other, humans do. It is what makes us.... us. The human is born to be humane, to love humanity and cooperate.
To break me, you must show empathy. Yelling and shouting your frustrations about my lack of work, or need to shape up, won't help your cause. I'll only stand firm in my resolution to not give in to your tempestuous voice. To break me, you must show kindness. If I have a low performance on tests, "Are you okay?" instead of, "STUDY HARDER, YOU IDIOT!" will make me try harder. I want to please those who care. I want those who love me to see me do well. If you love me, and outwardly show it, you will break me.
She stumbled to the corner of the room, and with each step her stomach tightened and ached all the more. She kept swallowing, and her throat kept clenching, but no matter what she could not stop the warm feeling rising through her chest. Then she could taste it at the back of her mouth. Constance buckled over. A warm, clouded, cream coloured liquid spilled from her mouth, and sizzled as it splashed over the cold stone floors.
All the most educated people agreed that there were cases in law to show compensation required in the case of severe loss and emotional trauma. Thus, those wisely expecting environmental calamities to escalate, added up the figures of what would be required to compensate people for the loss of Earth and their loved ones. They were very impressed with the length of the number. Thus all agreed it was a rare business opportunity for the savvy money professional, a safe retirement vehicle, and the Earth Insurance Corporation came into the market place to great applause.
To reduce an ancient times master by the ignorances that were common of the time, yet not celebrate their achievements and advancements by creative leaps of the heart and machinery of thought, is cheap. It is knocking beer cans off a fence with your fist when they took the shot from a mile out with some old fashioned gun. So celebrate their wisdom, forgive their ignorance, feel gratitude for the answers which they handed to you on a platter, and strive to take your own shot into that far horizon.
The great philosophers spoke of first principles, yet to my way of thought there is only one first principle, love. As the branches of a tree grow from the trunk, all of the ideas for a well functioning society must truly from from love. And this must not be a ruse, the words of the great twisted to make a trap for others and engorge themselves. It can only work when we are truly good, when doing good deeds makes us truly happy within and the opposite brings misery. For when we can do this, intellect, intuition, heart and soul fully tuned into what love is and is not. When this can be put into practice and we create our brains to always refer the logic and intellect to love as first principle, then we are truly the students of philosophy and we will grow wise as those branches spread in liberty.
My fingers become entwined in the woollen blanket, gripping it as if it were more substantial than a square of multicoloured yarn, as if it could keep me from tumbling into the abyss. But as the flames engulfed my cottage, scorching my skin and singeing the surrounding trees, what I needed wasn't a teddy bear substitute. I needed Greg to be here. I needed real comfort, strong arms and reassuring words. I needed platitudes however empty, because if he said them I would believe it. Then from the lane comes the sound of sirens and tires throwing up spray from the puddled, rain-kissed lane. The cavalry are here to save the ashes. I look down at the blanket and release my hold of it. The once perfect knit now has finger holes, it is stretched out of shape and there is a singed portion. The charred wool stirs a memory of stamping a flame from it. Funny. The recollection seems far away. Then a gloved hand is on my shoulder and there is a tender voice but I can't focus on the words.
