Episode #68 of NOTEFLIX’s “Troubles in the Garden”: Remember our new character from last week? The Bird of ‘Mystery’, Scarlet? Well, the ‘Mystery’ is over. Scarlet is a Witch. A healer, good intending Witch. Like most healers, she has troubles, sometimes, with personal relationships and things go awry. Something went awry in the last place she lived and that is why she moved on to our Queendom. She wants to start anew. You see Mathuzala in the picture? He is here to tell Scarlet she is welcome and to do no harm. If she goofs-up, Mathuzala says he might tap her with his stick. (Director’s note: We have been told by some of our readers that some of our Stuffed Animals are not wearing their masks properly. We say: Give it a break! These are Stuffed Animals, after-all, and at least they are trying. That is better than what 50% of the Humans are doing. Scarlet will be wearing her mask in future appearances. See below for more update & action.)
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I have had time to sit around and think, lately. Do not worry, I will not get philosophical on you; but: In life (mine, at least) there are two shows going on 1) The BIG SHOW: Wars, Climate Change, Economic Collapses, Pandemics, Infrastructure Breakdowns, Immigration Flows – those sorts of things that you can do nothing about. Well, you can do some things. If you see the waters are going to rise five feet – you can’t stop that; but you can move away from the coast. You can do something to protect yourself. So, watching the BIG SHOW is not necessarily a waste of time. Of course, you have a minor influence on the BIG SHOW because just by your mere existence you leave a polluted and or a viral footprint. This brings me to the SMALL SHOW, the one in which you are the main actor. Now that you have moved away from the Coast, or self-quarantined yourself from a Pandemic – you can say you have played an active part in writing your life’s role and then you are free to go on a diet, or learn a job-skill, or marry someone nice – and so on. Those are the two shows which can keep you entertained until the day you die and the curtain falls on both theaters. That’s it.
- BIG SHOW: I have an old note (dated 12 years ago) that says “…it takes 625 gallons of water to make a hamburger”. Growing food for the cows requires water for irrigation. Feeding the cows (cows like to drink water). Transporting them …everything along the hamburger making chain utilizes aqua…and here we are looking dead-on at a water shortage problem on this planet. Who knows how many gallons of water a Double Stacked Whopper takes up? Something has to give. SMALL TENT: …I guess I could be part of the solution and cut back on the burgers. But then I’ve read that every drop of water that ever existed on Earth still exists on Earth today (minus the drops we sent off in space capsules). So, there is not a water shortage problem on earth…there is a clean water shortage problem – along with the problem that the water is in the wrong place and not near the cows anymore..
- I’ve read World food consumption needs will go up 50% in the next 30 years. World hunger: Another BIG SHOW thriller.
- Have you noticed how often, when you turn on the faucet in the kitchen sink, a spoon is right under the downpour? …and you get splashed? Why is that? This is a SMALL SHOW event and it proves there might be ironical forces at work, which cannot ever be explained by Science, no matter how good the scientists are at their craft.
- 1/4 of the world’s plants and animals are going extinct. I read where 300 million years ago there were dragonflies with wing-spans of 2.5 feet. That must have been something to see. At least we were not responsible for their demise.
- ZOMBIE COMPANIES: So far this year, over 30 companies with more than a Billion dollars of debt have filed Bankruptcy for ‘Re-Organization’…Oil drillers and the like. It is said the number will exceed 6o by year’s end. While in Chapter, these companies hope to borrow more money and delay the inevitable. This looks like a BIG SHOW story; but you will pay for it through your bank charges in the end…so it is a SMALL SHOW story as well.
- HERD IMMUNITY: (A new term to me)…it means: “…the greater the immune community, the lesser chance you have of ‘getting it’ “. I read a poll that reported 50% of Americans say the won’t take a virus vaccine when it is made available. I hope the herd I am in is in the other 50%. (BIG SHOW/SMALL SHOW)
- CANCEL CULTURE: (Also aka: X-CEL) Another new term to me…refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive. CANCEL CULTURE is generally discussed as being performed on social media in the form of group “shaming”. …it also refers to the removal from the public eye of objectionable statuary, flags, icons, etc. Life is getting complicated; you do not know which can of beans you should buy, or what flag to honor, or whether to kneel, or cross your heart to which tune that is being played. This is where a keen awareness of the BIG SHOW can help you behave in the SMALL SHOW.
- THROWAWAY CULTURE: Another description of our behavior with our material goods (See comments on ‘E-WASTE’ in last week’s post). The Pope warns us against being part of this Culture…and would like us to CANCEL CULTURE it away. (BIG SHOW)
- In the very recent past when we referred to “Advanced” countries we were speaking of the”Industrialized”…now, I think we truly mean the “Advanced” are the “Wired”…the “Industrialized” may have become the worker-bees. They won’t be CANCEL CULTURED out, but they will be downgraded. Soon, I think the “Advanced” will be in reference to the “5 G’d“. I don’t know where we go from there.
- SMALL SHOW: I have joined quite a few ZOOM meetings recently, and am astonished at how interested I am in what people have behind them on their walls. Generally speaking, I have not wanted anything that they have. So, I guess I am in a good place and not full of envy. Some people put these fabulous backgrounds on their screens that they must get from an app. I like them enough, but I find them to be distracting, and I tend to waste my time trying to imagine how awful their real stuff must look if they want to hide it so much.
That’s it. My word count is filled. Time to take down the tent, hitch up the wagon and move on.
Best,
Episode #68 cont’d.: Now that Jack the Evil and Rich Prince is banished from the Queendom, Mamzelle Pinkie is free to move about. And move about she does, as she returns to her life’s work as a Foodie Journalist. The Multicolored Bluebird of Happiness is off the set, preparing the night’s table for a romantic meal, which Mamzelle Pinkie will cook up. They are not concerned with the matters of the world at large (BIG SHOW). They are content with their lives (SMALL SHOW). All seems well, for the moment. (Stay tuned. NEXT WEEK: The “TEDDIES” will be announced…for the first time ever!)