March 11, 2003
…before I leave for Boston to visit my grandson, that is.
Thanks to all my connected friends and family for their birthday wishes, sent through blogs, email, and e-cards. Next year, I’ll remember that Tom Shugart’s birthday is the day after mine. Happy Birthday back to you, Tom.
As I was going through my birthday greetings, I found myself not humming the birthday song, but rather hearing the old Kingston Trio’s "Merry Minuet" echoing in the background of my brain:
They're rioting in Africa,
They're starving in Spain.
There's hurricanes in Florida,
And Texas needs rain
The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans,
The Germans hate the Poles;
Italians hate Yugoslavs,
South Africans hate the Dutch,
And I don't like anybody very much!
But we can be tranquil
And "thankfill" and proud,
For man's been endowed
With a mushroom-shaped cloud.
And we know for certain
That some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off,
And we will all be blown away!
They're rioting in Africa,
There's strife in Iran.
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow man!
It’s the same old song, isn’t it?
I noticed that Nicholas B. Kristof reprises the essence of the Kingston Trio’s lyrics in his NY Times Op-Ed piece, which he ends with:
Tensions are growing, with Iranian-armed fighters entering Kurdistan and threatening to fight not just Saddam but also the Turks. Our allies could be too busy disemboweling each other to take on Saddam's troops. And the U.S., as one American living in Turkey puts it, "has no clue of the hatreds it's walking into."
When the White House looks at Iraq, all it sees is hidden weaponry. It never notices the seething complexities in which we are about to embed our young men and women.
He also reminds us that:
The unfolding mess in northern Iraq is a reminder that if we invade Iraq, we are stepping into an immensely complex region of guns, clans and hostilities that we only dimly understand. The White House thinks it can choreograph the warfare, but if we can't control effete gavel-wielding diplomats on the familiar turf of the United Nations, how will we manage feuding troops with mortars in the mountains of northern Iraq?
Oh? Teach the Kurds peace at gunpoint? Some Turks seem to have the same problem as some Americans — they have been so traumatized by terrorism (whether by Kurds or by Al Qaeda), they are determined to go abroad with guns blazing, without recognizing that artillery may not always help, and without acknowledging that the rest of the world does not accept the nobility of their intentions.
We had the war to end all wars. I hope that his isn’t the war to end all worlds.
Over in another world, Doc and Dave are writing about the World of Ends:
To connect to the Internet is to agree to grow value on its edges. And then something really interesting happens. We are all connected equally. Distance doesn’t matter. The obstacles fall away and for the first time the human need to connect can be realized without artificial barriers.
Yes, connecting from the edge. That’s why I blog.
D&D refer to the stupidness of the Net and link to a post by Michael O’Connor Clarke, who says:
The inherent stupidness of the Net works to the benefit of humankind, in the same way Chance the Gardener’s “stupidness” works to the benefit of those around him. Sellers' character in Being There achieves extraordinary prominence, influence, and is even capable of miracles – quite simply because he “doesn’t know any better”. Same with the Net. Napster, Google, the human genome project – none of these innovations would be possible without the quintessential stupidness of the Internet.
I think it’s not so much “stupidness” as “innocence.” We do not value innocence enough; we are so used to manipulating, marketing, and maneuvering -- looking for angles as we sell our wares, our wars.
Was there ever a time of innocence?
Time it was and what a time it was it was,
A time of innocence a time of confidences.
Long ago it must be, I have a photograph.
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you.
(“Bookends” Theme by Simon and Garfunkel)
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Old Comments (1)
Anita on 14 Mar 2003
A very happy birthday Elaine. I missed the day as I was travelling into a remote part of the country with no Net connection! Hope you have a good one and of course, a great trip too :)