[Written on paper the 1st of October, 2014, finalized 13 Oct.'14)
How many Octobers will there be? Not as many for you as there will be for me. You may live longer, many more years, but I have lived Octobers long gone. Before the rise of the dawn of humanity. Some will tell you, tell me, tell us, do not live in the past! Live for now! Live for then! Live for the future in some wonderful expectant date.
That is someday, and I can and will comply to the here and now, the next and upcoming test. But if you tell me I cannot roam through the past, imagine, re-create and live past ages and times, I must tell you I cannot not. I can't not do it. I cannot forget or ignore the past; it is a long chain that has me fast. Passed years, passed centuries, are part of our DNA. It is who we are now, whether recognized, realized, exemplified, rectified, revivified. Or ignored.
There are some historians and scientists who trace our back stories tens of thousands, hundreds of millions, even billions of years. Before there were Octobers. Barely equinoxes. Most of those practically incomprehensible, or perhaps difficult to fathom epochs and eras do not include humanity. Easy enough. Humans, homo sapiens, homo erectus, us hominids have been crafting our way way about the earth, the stone three times removed from our sun for many generations. Almost too difficult to count, but not really. We can account for our human history. Do we?
Some of us try. Some do it by writing what they imagine, piecing together what is known, then inserting conjecture, guesses and stories into what has been the near or distant past. They call this: historical fiction. Others uses philosophical or religious systems or principles to guide their structures, theologies, world-views, paradigms, the way that life and history enfolds. To some, there is a plan that is being enfolded. There is a beginning, middle, and an end to all we know. (Teology).
Less than a hundred years ago (now 2014) there was a revolution of sorts in Moscow, Russia. Its purpose was to liberate the masses. Did it succeed? Most feel it has failed grandly, sadly, tragically. And yet, that revolution impacted the human population greatly. It did set in motion a million or a billion smaller stories in reaction to it. Do we fight in the Marxist way? Do we aspire to topple our current governments? Do we fight against socialists and communists, sacrificing our lives and stakes and military egos, fighting for democracies underpinned by entrenched corporate oligarchs and capitalist systems? Apparently we do.
And what of religious and separatist movements? Are they all rebels and fanatics, terrorists and criminals? Whose definition do we use to determine an actor's criminality? The "winners", as pointed out to me by an educated and intelligent German trooper, a trusted cohort. He and his country were the losers (twice) of huge wars, the world wars of the 20th century. Therefore, he cannot argue that the answer that he disagreed with in his history class is incorrect truly, because his US professor made his point about winners. They define what is right. The US being so, the US (American) professor asserted his supremacy. His correctness, defined by the winners. Obviously there are many world viewpoints, most of them not from the United States, but it does seem to dominate the sphere of popular consensus. Winners? Mightiest? Perhaps.
Octobers past, like in Moscow, did change the world. It polarized priorities; it gave legitimacy to millions of people with the accompanying idealistic ideologues who believed this socio-economic political revolution would change, inextricably, the world into a better, more fair and just, more equitable place.Egalitarian. But it brought a lot of contention. The haves, particularly of the the Western wealthy capitalist nations, stood geometrically opposed. For differences apart from the economic changes, such as the the revolution of political economists like Engels and Trotsky, Germany (once known as Prussia) found itself craving old claims of its perceived grandeur. And the world paid, and paid again a short generation later. It was contained, this Darwinistic nationalism, and now (60 plus years later) each country deals with its power struggles and aims more diplomatically, commercially, in spheres of cultural authority. Of course, due to sea trade and empire, other powers like the United States, Britain, France and others staked their parts of all hemispheres. Let us not forget Japan or China, and India and other Eastern powers.
The dance of the first world capitalists, largely industrial, or now in the cyber age post industrial, versus and simultaneously domineering, in relation to the the world survivalists, the peoples of perpetual subsistence. Those peoples and nations who do not control their fates as much as those waiting or hoping, praying, cringing that they are not be the next puppet tragedy of present or future Octobers to come.
How many Octobers will there be? Not as many for you as there will be for me. You may live longer, many more years, but I have lived Octobers long gone. Before the rise of the dawn of humanity. Some will tell you, tell me, tell us, do not live in the past! Live for now! Live for then! Live for the future in some wonderful expectant date.
That is someday, and I can and will comply to the here and now, the next and upcoming test. But if you tell me I cannot roam through the past, imagine, re-create and live past ages and times, I must tell you I cannot not. I can't not do it. I cannot forget or ignore the past; it is a long chain that has me fast. Passed years, passed centuries, are part of our DNA. It is who we are now, whether recognized, realized, exemplified, rectified, revivified. Or ignored.
There are some historians and scientists who trace our back stories tens of thousands, hundreds of millions, even billions of years. Before there were Octobers. Barely equinoxes. Most of those practically incomprehensible, or perhaps difficult to fathom epochs and eras do not include humanity. Easy enough. Humans, homo sapiens, homo erectus, us hominids have been crafting our way way about the earth, the stone three times removed from our sun for many generations. Almost too difficult to count, but not really. We can account for our human history. Do we?
Some of us try. Some do it by writing what they imagine, piecing together what is known, then inserting conjecture, guesses and stories into what has been the near or distant past. They call this: historical fiction. Others uses philosophical or religious systems or principles to guide their structures, theologies, world-views, paradigms, the way that life and history enfolds. To some, there is a plan that is being enfolded. There is a beginning, middle, and an end to all we know. (Teology).
Less than a hundred years ago (now 2014) there was a revolution of sorts in Moscow, Russia. Its purpose was to liberate the masses. Did it succeed? Most feel it has failed grandly, sadly, tragically. And yet, that revolution impacted the human population greatly. It did set in motion a million or a billion smaller stories in reaction to it. Do we fight in the Marxist way? Do we aspire to topple our current governments? Do we fight against socialists and communists, sacrificing our lives and stakes and military egos, fighting for democracies underpinned by entrenched corporate oligarchs and capitalist systems? Apparently we do.
And what of religious and separatist movements? Are they all rebels and fanatics, terrorists and criminals? Whose definition do we use to determine an actor's criminality? The "winners", as pointed out to me by an educated and intelligent German trooper, a trusted cohort. He and his country were the losers (twice) of huge wars, the world wars of the 20th century. Therefore, he cannot argue that the answer that he disagreed with in his history class is incorrect truly, because his US professor made his point about winners. They define what is right. The US being so, the US (American) professor asserted his supremacy. His correctness, defined by the winners. Obviously there are many world viewpoints, most of them not from the United States, but it does seem to dominate the sphere of popular consensus. Winners? Mightiest? Perhaps.
Octobers past, like in Moscow, did change the world. It polarized priorities; it gave legitimacy to millions of people with the accompanying idealistic ideologues who believed this socio-economic political revolution would change, inextricably, the world into a better, more fair and just, more equitable place.Egalitarian. But it brought a lot of contention. The haves, particularly of the the Western wealthy capitalist nations, stood geometrically opposed. For differences apart from the economic changes, such as the the revolution of political economists like Engels and Trotsky, Germany (once known as Prussia) found itself craving old claims of its perceived grandeur. And the world paid, and paid again a short generation later. It was contained, this Darwinistic nationalism, and now (60 plus years later) each country deals with its power struggles and aims more diplomatically, commercially, in spheres of cultural authority. Of course, due to sea trade and empire, other powers like the United States, Britain, France and others staked their parts of all hemispheres. Let us not forget Japan or China, and India and other Eastern powers.
The dance of the first world capitalists, largely industrial, or now in the cyber age post industrial, versus and simultaneously domineering, in relation to the the world survivalists, the peoples of perpetual subsistence. Those peoples and nations who do not control their fates as much as those waiting or hoping, praying, cringing that they are not be the next puppet tragedy of present or future Octobers to come.
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