Here we are in the middle of our lives.
Somewhere someone is reading a book,
Quietly, deep in thought, pages are turning
In a peaceful place cut off from the world.
It is early morning, it is late in the day.
An old woman is slowly walking to church,
Her husband dead eight aching years,
And though they never got along in life,
She’s wondering what has become of him,
Where, out of this dream, he has gone.
It is early morning, it is late in the day.
Somewhere a man is sipping a cup of coffee,
Sleepily, trying to awaken into life,
As if all the answers had arrived,
The book before him an angel in disguise.
We wait, thinking they will come,
Knowing they won’t, hoping they will.
The shadow of doubt crosses the sun.
People somewhere, everywhere, hold their breaths,
Trying to save themselves from something.
It is early morning, it is late in the day.
A teenage girl, desperate for affection,
Assiduously searches a series of esoteric texts
That promise an answer to her longing.
None comes, the world turns, nothing
Fills the emptiness she swallows.
It is early morning, it is late in the day.
Here we are in the middle of our lives,
Quietly, deep in thought, turning the pages
Of our inscrutable books, timeless classics.
Mommy, what’s a book?
What a truly realistic poem about the nature of human existence in most capitalist countries, where happiness seems absent, as Schopenhauer suggested—not only because life itself is painful, but because capitalism is a system that delivers only pain, sadness, and hardship, even to those who benefit from it. I bet even Trump, who gains from capitalism, doesn’t truly know what happiness is.
The USA has never been a particularly happy society, and in some countries like Mexico, there’s even more pain, suffering, and hardship. Even the so-called progressive liberal social-democrat pseudo-leftist governments, like those of Andrés López Obrador and Claudia Sheinbaum, are seen by some as kleptocracies, plutocracies, and corrupt oligarchies. Out of a population of 130 million, it’s estimated that only about 10 million people live comfortably.
The world can feel like a place full of pain, with many countries seeming like hells on earth. Nations such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Haiti, Palestine, Honduras, Cuba, Venezuela, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago, along with several in Europe like Moldova, Ukraine, Spain, Georgia, and Romania, struggle with poverty and hardship..
Even in the so-called welfare social-democratic nations of Europe like Sweden and Norway, poverty still exists. There’s also significant poverty in China, which many progressive liberals (who aren’t radical orthodox Marxists or anarchists) often view as a paradise. The reality is that in China, only a small portion of the population lives well. Similarly, India, despite spending heavily on its space program and boasting luxuries like modern roads, vehicles, stunning scenery, and beautiful cities, also struggles with widespread poverty and hardship.
Here in the USA, it’s the same story. In Knoxville, TN, where I live, there are really two Knoxvilles. One is a beautiful place full of nice, friendly people, often part of the privileged upper middle class and high-wage working class, which might explain their happiness. But there’s also a more somber side of Knoxville, filled with sad, weary faces—and that’s the majority here.
The majority of the 350 million Americans seem visibly depressed. This depression isn’t really due to low brain chemicals, as psychiatrists often claim, but more to low buying power. Many Americans struggle with low incomes, and when combined with an inflationary economic system, it prevents them from affording their basic needs and simple pleasures, making it hard to feel happy.
That’s why most people play lotto games—not because they’re addicted, but because there’s no united, powerful leftist option to help the 80% of the U.S. population that’s struggling with poverty and depression. For many, the lotto feels like the only light at the end of the tunnel.
The same thing happens with drugs, whether legal or illegal. I believe there’s no real addiction to drugs; people use them to numb the pain and suffering that comes from being among the 80% of the population who don’t earn enough to live a full and happy life.
Only a full anarchist, radical socialist revolution to overthrow the U.S. government and other governments worldwide at the same time, as Trotsky suggested, could lead to happiness. But as Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party USA said, as long as the U.S. remains a capitalist, oligarchic, plutocratic kleptocracy—like most countries in the world—happiness will be absent, replaced by pain, sadness, boredom, and depression.
Well said KCA.
Yeah, that’s why many people who are chronically depressed come from oppressed classes, but they’re not aware that their depression isn’t caused by low brain chemicals, as psychiatrists claim, but by the Democrats, Republicans, the oligarchic-plutocratic-cleptocratic economic system, Israel, and the Pentagon’s imperialist wars, which drain billions from American taxpayers to benefit members of the Pentagon and the U.S. Imperialist Zionist Armed Forces.
That’s why it seems that many members of the US Armed Forces enjoy great food and high living standards, all paid for by unaware US taxpayers. Most Americans, often described as mind-controlled, don’t realize their taxes help maintain the comfortable lifestyle of those serving in the armed forces.
It’s wild how if someone wins a lotto jackpot, the US government takes about 60% of it in taxes. Even people who play lotto games should be part of united revolutionary front against the whole US government and its ruling class
Something has to give !!
Hello again. What is happiness? What is community? What is fear? What is a shopper? The only truth we know is how we have lived. We have lived a complete lie! So where does the REAL conversation begin.
What should we talk about? I certainly don’t know for I only know lies! Someone might need to say something that I Feel in my naval region. Perhaps others will feel something in their naval region. Then a response will occur.
In America and other consumerist capitalist societies, many people have been led to believe that happiness comes from owning new, large, and expensive SUVs, houses, clothes, and dining out. However, this sense of happiness often turns into sadness, as the middle-class consumerist lifestyle promotes buying unnecessary items recklessly, which results in debt, overspending, economic deficits, and ultimately poverty rather than wealth.
That’s why Warren Buffett once said that in America, it’s really the poor working classes and the masses who consume the most. Wealthy, smart people aren’t usually excessive consumers. The more people buy and spend, the poorer they become; the less they spend, the wealthier they tend to get.
I wonder how the US government manages to sustain itself while spending so much money, not only on its large workforce of 22 million people but also on essential space programs and wars that seem to serve the interests of Israel and the American oligarchic-plutocratic class.
Hello again Knoxville Christian-Anarchist. You asked how the u.s.government manages to sustain itself while spending so much money. I do not know, understand global economics at the government level. I’m not sure the u.s. government is sustaining itself economically or otherwise. Apparently no one or few countries want to buy our debt. And that’s one that really confuses me. I think, I am certain the larger population has allowed, enabled a handful of people to make decisions for the many. It cannot work! So while we complain about our parents, we the citizens do not want to grow up, wise up!
It seems there are so many people who want to live ‘off the backs’ of others. Exploit other countries and their citizens. I”m no expert, however I encourage anyone to learn a little about Africa, their history of being exploited by other nations. There are some interesting things occurring in Africa today and that we might learn something from. Reruns of irrelevance will be of no help. Buy less, think more, question, Feel, cry, feel your humanity and what people, the slaves, the shoppers have relinquished so some parasite wearing an ugly necktie could exploit us for. Blind obedience to a thought. Why aren’t we thinking independently? We need non-polluted water, not beer. We need wholesome food, not toxic medicines. We need intimate, honest relations with other people, not lying sessions and one-upmanship. We need to relate to each others experiences and feelings in the immediate Now! We need to dump our fear, providing we are aware of our fear! And this is not a conversation to have in text on the internet of nothingness!
I think that one of the main causes of why most US voters keep voting for The Republican Party and The Democratic Party has to do with the psychology, sociology behaviour theory of The Bandwagon Effect. Because in order for people to caste their vote and support anti-war, anti-israel, anti-oligarchy and politicians like The Green Party, The Socialist Equality Party of USA, Party for Socialism and Liberation, anarchist-syndicalist groups, The Socialist Party of USA, most people in USA will have to become individualists revolutionary pessimists in the spirit of the great individualists Benjamin Tucker, Laurence Labadie, Malatesta, Renzo Novatore, Max Stirner, and other great people who claimed that each human should be 100% free, free from all authorities. So that each US citizen can vote and support the best parties and candidates for the nation
Definition of The Bandwagon Effect from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwagon_effect
The bandwagon effect is a psychological phenomenon where people adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so. More specifically, it is a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviours can alter due to particular actions and beliefs rallying amongst the public. It is a psychological phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads and trends increases with respect to the proportion of others who have already done so. As more people come to believe in something, others also “hop on the bandwagon”, regardless of the underlying evidence.[citation needed]
Following others’ actions or beliefs can occur because of conformism or deriving information from others. Much of the influence of the bandwagon effect comes from the desire to ‘fit in’ with peers; making similar selections as other people is seen as a way to gain access to a particular social group. An example of this is fashion trends wherein the increasing popularity of a certain garment or style encourages more acceptance. When individuals make rational choices based on the information they receive from others, economists have proposed that information cascades can quickly form in which people ignore their personal information signals and follow the behaviour of others. Cascades explain why behaviour is fragile as people understand that their behaviour is based on a very limited amount of information. As a result, fads form easily but are also easily dislodged.[citation needed] The phenomenon is observed in various fields, such as economics, political science, medicine, and psychology. In social psychology, people’s tendency to align their beliefs and behaviors with a group is known as ‘herd mentality’ or ‘groupthink’. The reverse bandwagon effect (also known as the snob effect in certain contexts) is a cognitive bias that causes people to avoid doing something, because they believe that other people are doing it.
You said; the great individualists Benjamin Tucker, Laurence Labadie, Malatesta, Renzo Novatore, Max Stirner, and other great people who claimed that each human should be 100% free, free from all authorities.
What ‘great’ law of the universe stated a few people should govern the many?
Authorities have only been crooks, enablers of lies, psychotics, parasites, murderers…, why would we want to vote for this dysfunctional condition that has existed for centuries, for far too long due to our sleeping state?
So the lady wrote about ‘When god was a woman’. All the crooks and bums mentioned above and who wear ugly neckties forget they also came from a female womb. I agree humans should be 100% free from all authorities. Now, who will awaken the sleepwalkers and while not becoming a leader for the newly awakened? Humans can direct their individual selves ethically, morally, congenially. When will this awakening accelerate. Now is very good time !
That’s why I don’t believe there will be a radical change in the USA or the world as long as people remain followers instead of becoming leaders of themselves and architects of their own destiny. Many progressive activists and supporters of figures like Scott Ritter, Judge Napolitano, Max Blumenthal, Chris Hedges, Democracy Now, Ray McGovern, Ron Paul, Alex Jones, Counterpunch, Jeffrey Sachs, various leftist organizations, anti-war and anti-Zionist movements, Black Lives Matter, workers’ trade unions, Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and other anti-oligarchy activists are admirable and more aware than those who blindly trust mainstream political sources or the traditional parties (Democrats and Republicans). Yet they are still followers, and even if a party like the Greens came to power, people would remain economically and politically enslaved. As Bakunin said, giving wealth and political power to even the most honest revolutionary can turn them into a tyrant and oligarch, much like any right-wing capitalist politician. This is why left-wing governments and states like the USSR, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and others have also failed to eradicate poverty, just like right-wing capitalist states. I was once a loyal Marxist, Trotskyist, and socialist activist, but I slowly realized that both capitalism and socialism are failures. The real problem—the root cause of poverty, slavery, and suffering for most people—lies in the very existence of states, authorities, and systems where some people control others. As long as such hierarchies exist, so will slavery.
Emma Goldman argued that marriage is wrong because, in many ways, the family operates like a dictatorship, with husbands oppressing their wives and parents controlling or even abusing their children.
SHaving said all this, I truly believe the world needs a global mental evolution and awakening toward free individuals, as a key requirement for political and economic change.
So will we awaken or simply talk about it or both?
We can help each other so to help each other.
I think conversations should attempt a fellow feeling; speak one’s guts not one’s head. Fear is the mutually shared barrier.
❤️🙏🎄🐦⬛