COLD WORLD

All my life I have been a happy and cheerful guy. Somewhat quiet. But don’t you get me started because then I cannot stop talking anymore. And jokes; I love to crack and hear jokes. Yes, I have always been an optimistic person. Then why this title?

In the past days, I watched two documentaries that are saved here on the computer. One was about the cold war and nuclear bombs.

When I was younger I never really was interested in these things. All I knew was that I didn’t like that kind of stuff. Now I finally saw what it was all about and it scared the hell out of me. There were about 16.000(!) bombs, each one 1000 times stronger than the one on Hiroshima. So they could have destroyed our whole planet. And I started thinking. What idiots were those people that wanted these mass destruction weapons in the first place? People that call themselves Christians, no less.

The same people that denied to give gay men and women equal rights. The same people that put women and black people down. The same people that called Nelson Mandela a terrorist. And I wonder, am I missing something here? In case you might think “that is past time”: No! There are still people enough who like to have this kind of bombs. And all for reasons, I don’t even want to know about it. These people are scared of other nations. So the just each other with bombs.

That’s a nice way to treat each other, right? Never trust others. What kind of world is this? Do we want to live in a world populated with lunatics who never trust their neighbors? Is that what we call civilization? If you ask me, it’s sick!

The second documentary I watched was about the ‘Flower Power’ period. It was 100% opposite. Being born in 1956 I was just a little too young to be involved although I did see hippies and of course I heard the songs made then. And I simply loved it all. That was such an uplifting period. People felt free and had high hopes. It was not about not-trusting others. On the contrary; care for each other, let people be who they want to be. And people stood their ground. They started protesting their rights. When the police attacked the Stonewall Inn (A New York gay bar) on June 28 in 1969 the folks in the bar said: “Enough is enough!” They fought for their rights to be accepted.

Ever since the last Saturday of June is Gay pride day. Women were no longer satisfied by being the housewife always looking pretty for their husbands any longer. They too wanted to participate in the outside world. Yes, those were the years of liberation. I still regret that it stopped somehow. Even now, listening to the music of those years makes me feel happy.

Unfortunately, there is little left of the ‘Good Vibrations’. True, African Americans get less discriminated, gay people can get married in many countries and States. Yet it seems people are less satisfied. Yes, I do have my thoughts about that. People in Western countries are under too much pressure. Too much is expected from too many people. Parents urge their children to study and when these kids don’t have the skills for it they are having a horrible time. But: society has its expectations and you cannot let society down. The people who ‘made’ it work their asses off, having 2 or 3 jobs. Quality time with the children went down compared to, let’s say 30 – 40 years ago.

The kids now are being raised by strangers in kindergartens, daycare, etc. So they don’t get too many values from their parents. To make things up with their kids, parents buy them everything their little hearts could ever want. These children lack a lot of love and affection. No wonder they become spoiled brats. No wonder the world became a much colder place to live in.

Love the ones you're with and be loved in return