Today is a little different as I reflect on the past, the present and the future of not just myself, but the world as we face an uncertain future, an authoritarian present and remember those lives lost to the past.
The reflection I am concerned with today is predominantly because it's that day again where the world turns its attention to remembrance, to reflect on the travesty that befell New York city, the pentagon and four passenger airlines, now nineteen years ago in the history books of time. We remember those innocent souls merely working at their day jobs that lost their lives along with the heroes who bravely ascended the burning buildings trying to save said lives. We remember the lives lost as a plane crashed in to the pentagon and we remember the innocent souls on four planes hijacked and crashed. I still remember what I was doing on that day as I stood gobsmacked in disbelief peering at a TV screen within the store where I worked in a city three thousand miles away thinking it can't be true. So I take this moment of silence to think upon the fact as we face global meltdown over a deadly pandemic of those lives effected not just on September eleventh 2001, but the lives effected since. The cost to the world in terms of the dead whether it be soldier, civilian, fanatic or terrorist is one of heartbreak when we are deemed to be a civilised society. The big' BUT' that comes to mind is how religion and politics combined on that day to create the devastating effect and consequence of four planes used as flying bombs to kill so many innocent lives and the fact that nineteen years later it is still reverberating through time as an epicentre of death which led to war once again. This war on nineteen year fight against terrorism along with Vietnam, Korea, World War Two, World War One and many more historical conflicts spanning two millennia or even further back is humanities past and are the results of humankind's need for superiority over each other which brings forth the need for us to mourn and reflect on those lost during battle, but do we never learn from our global history to create a better way of life for the generation of the future, the answer is 'NO'.
There is still an on going conflict within disputed territories the terrorists inhabit and there is still acts of terrorism been enacted although on a smaller scale. Journalists may now have juicier headlines to cover with the global pandemic and its rising death toll worldwide, America's 2020 presidential election, America's unrest and protests over police brutality and impunity laws, the worlds economic recession along with the debacle over Brexit in the UK and the now disastrous natural disasters worldwide due to climate change, but the repercussions of 9/11 still occur all be it less sensationalised. The point I think I am trying to make is that as a global race we are divided and that has been a historical fact for centuries, but Instead of coming together in a multinational coalition to make the world a better place for the citizens of humankind we find more ways to destroy, kill, maim and oppress each other where the person with the most money are the top-dogs rather than everyone been equal. I think a prime example of this in present day terms is the American 2020 presidential election, where while millions around the world are starving, homeless or living on the poverty line the two candidates for president have between them raised nearly two billion dollars in campaign contributions just so they can publicise their way in to the Whitehouse. This just screams immorality that so much money is given away to perform acts of egotism and narcissism when that money could be used to feed, house and create employment for those less fortunate souls or even be spent in aiding world scientists to develop a working vaccine to eradicate this deadly plague sweeping the globe.
What will it take for the moral compass of a vast majority of humankind to swing towards philanthropic avenues and create a world of equality rather than the one 'dog eat dog', we inhabit at present. You have ninety percent of the worlds wealth in bank accounts and property owned by one percent of the world population. You have people like the owners of Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and the list goes on, who have so much money they will never live long enough to spend it all. Would it not serve society as a whole for those people to relinquish some of their assets towards the betterment of humankind, where the lowliest person is helped to find work, home and tranquillity in life instead been tossed on the scrapheap to fester in the gutters of world.
This is our present a world of 'the rich get richer' while using the rotten corpses of the downtrodden to pave their way to more wealth. This is our present where the governments of the world should work in unison to eradicate the deadly plague consuming humanity, but instead would rather cure there own nations while others suffer and die. This is our present where the planet is finally fighting back for centuries of neglect due to humanities plundering of its natural resources for the betterment of humankind with climate changing natural disasters becoming more and more prevalent month by month effecting humankind's existence and all humanity would rather do is consume, consume and consume some more.
So what of the future, it is yet to be written, but should we continue on the path we are, the world as well as all its living beings will suffer greatly as an apocalyptic future unfolds where only those deemed important or rich enough will survive living in fortresses of steel away from the plague carrying forgotten lepers less fortunate. A world where no sun shines as the planet recovers from a nuclear winter after World War Three or one two many natural disasters engulfs the planet making it inhospitable to anything escaping the destruction enacted upon or within the planet. As we stand I see no future where humankind lives a life of tranquillity, serenity and equality, just agony, death and extinction.
This will be our future where the climate change of the planet or the self-destructive nature of humankind hastens the extinction of life as we know it as air, sea and land become the inevitable barren and unlivable places depicted within our past and present literature, art, movies and television. This will be our future where disease, plague, famine and drought bring forth a global extinction event to cleanse the planet of its impurities. This will be our future if nothing is done right now to rewrite the script so that humanity comes together before the mass extinction event to change the worlds direction rather than going along with the script where humanity metaphorically closes the 'stable door after the horse has bolted' and then starts to adapt to the bleak future.
I know I said I was going to reflect and not rant today, but my mind got away from me, so let me come back to the reason for today's little monologue. It is to remember those lost souls of September eleventh 2001 who died within the twin towers in New York, the pentagon and the four hijacked planes which were used to inflict such a grievous act of wilful death and destruction in the name of religion which set the world on a still ongoing crusade to eradicate terrorism, but not only that I also want to remember those who have died before or since that catastrophic event. I want to honour the brave first responders of all the emergency services and every branch of military through out the world who have always and will always put others lives before their own on a daily basis to help. So I say a great big thank you to the many unnamed individuals for their service above and beyond what is expected of any one person, you exemplify the very essence of heroism. On that I will call it a day, normal ranting resumes soon,
Rant you tomorrow!
