Political Thoughts in random order IV _ Freedom

And so it happens, you know, some times the people make their voice heard. Screaming off top of their lungs from the mute voting paper. All very pacific. One cross expresses a preference. Millions of crosses scream "we don't want you anymore. we are fed up." And, as it happens a candidate - or a group of - wins over another and a party gains more support. And squares explode in celebrations. People celebrating throughout Italy, like crazy. People overjoyed. People celebrating freedom. Or the first step towards it.

This should tell you how bad the state of Italy is. Elections are routine democratic institutions. A candidate winning should not equal freedom. And yet it does, in a big way. It does because the feeling is one of oppression. So yesterday's results resound like a warning shot for the revolution to come. Even I, from miles away, felt it. The shiver of excitement that no one else could quite understand "freedom. L'Italia s'è desta. finally." But, again, it shouldn't be. Oh Italy! How did we get there?!

John Barleycorn must die.

Reflections..

.. sometimes you wonder what it is that makes you win the battles you win. I, by default, do not consider myself to be particularly worthy of anything.. and yet I find that I am extremely lucky in life. Maybe it's true what Michael Marmot has been preaching for four decades that if you come from a privileged background, you just win at this game a priori. Maybe I have some merits after all (although I'm not comfortable with that option). Or maybe it is as the Greeks put it and too much luck will result in some major catastrophe, which I will have to look out for. I do not know what the answer is. What I know is that I have been pretty damn lucky in life. I don't know whether I deserve it or God has just been too kind with me. I don't know where it will lead me. I don't even want to try and read something into it. I'll just take the fruits and give thanks. And I am not just talking about my achievements. I'm talking about the people I meet that make my life worth living. And the experiences I make blindly, following the instinct of the moment, that turn out to be not only amazing, but also useful later on. And the totally inherited and not at all conscious gift of making people like me. For all this I praise the Lord. And my parents. And all those who accompanied me in this crazy roller coaster of a journey making every bit of it totally amazing. You know who you are. Thank you.

Christmas Carols

Beer the Turtle

There was once a turtle called Beer. He was crossing the road when he got stuck on a piece of gum and he couldn't move backward nor forward. In that moment a car came and run him over. But he didn't die. His shell however, got cracked. The driver stopped, came back and filled the cracks of his shell with crack. That made him feel better.

Hip

There was once a girl called Hip, who fell off a cliff and landed on her hip. Falling, she banged her head against a rock and her brain popped out her skull. Luckily a man was passing by and he put her brain back into her skull. She was so grateful that they had sex. But before they had sex a snake bit her in her ****** but she didn't realize thinking it was the man. So the man had to suck all the poison out, and saved her one more time. And then they did it doggy style.