It’s been an ordinary week. For me, for friends. For most. Work, entertainment, family, gatherings, thoughts on our western way of living, news from far away, recycling,  harvesting tomatoes in the garden, switching on green power as much as possible…. Ordinary week of an ordinary citizen of the world in an ordinary city of the western world.

Saturday : wedding day (not mine).

At the Arboretum, in the woods. Reception took place in a residential district of town. 

Sunday : writing, misc., gardening and later, dinner with friends.

I gave to the host a poem I had written for him, inspired by a precise fact of his family history, and the hostess (his beautiful girlfriend) was given a bouquet of roses.

The cocktail Planteur I was served was one of the best I have ever tasted, made with old Rum from Martinique and honey from the grandfather’s beehives. Wonderful evening.

Monday : Memorial Day in the USA. Some rare places open, otherwise everything is closed.

A day to honor all American soldiers who have died in service.

(Gettysburg American Civil War Memorial).

My Flag stood outside the house. There is Remembrance day, or the 11th of November. Another occasion to honor the the simple soldier does not seem redundant, so hereby I pay my respects to all those beings, men and women who lost their lives in service, or as casualties of war.

(Neuville St Vaast, German cemetery WWI. Photo ante WWII) Photo: Zinsel

I remember the war cemeteries I visited in Normandy and in the Somme.  I remember them in Besançon, Bretteville-sur-Laize, Saint-Avold, Colleville-sur-Mer, Bayeux, La Cambe, St Mihiel, Vimy, Loos, Douaumont, Ypres and Vladslo, Gettysburg, Ayette, Bapaume, Bray -sur-Somme,  Florence, Delville, Fricourt, Thiépval, Neuville-Saint-Vaast …

I remember the battlefields in Scotland, England, France, Belgium, America, Germany, Poland, Italy, India… There are so many I have not seen yet.

Recycling and gardening most of the day. A stroll on the bayou, fresh air.

Tuesday : working on the musical project .

My proof-reader came over for lunch and chat about our work (my writing , her reading my prose).

Wednesday : can’t remember.

Working on some corrected material probably. Oh, yes. Saw one ep. of “Damage”, a series with Glen Close. Liked it. Took steps in going more green, tried (again) the raw cooking.

Thursday : Alert for dangerous storms and lightening.

Water was pouring. Good for the plants and the water reservoirs. Had to cancel an appointment.  I read comments on the newly elected  French President in the papers. Skyped with my family members. Took a shot of caffeine with my fave Dinosaur (he’s on a diet, no sugar for him).

While sipping my coffee, I remembered a sentence I read on a sticker on a car : “Fight stupidization”. Nice quote. Then I felt cynical : Ok, but how? By educating people? And who wants to fight stupidization? That’s an odd job. Don’t we all want to be educated, not in the perspective to change mentalities, but to get a higher-paid job, to be able to buy stuff ? More and more stuff to stuff our closets and our shallow conversations and our empty minds and brain and hearts?

Friday :

I worked on corrections again on the techno-thrilller, wrote a poem about some oddities of life.

Later in the afternoon, met a friend at the “Beach” (a pool that looks like a resort, with sand and a lake), enjoyed the sun, a nice chat, a nice friendship, before welcoming friends for a typical Jura (French with wine) meal. Uber wonderful evening with great people.

Over that period of time, naturally, extraordinary things happened too, don’t get me wrong.

The constant flow of bad news brings the world closer. And frustrating enough, the impossibility to escape the role of dismayed witness. The Houla massacre, the crash of the plane in Lagos, the news (not new yet, dated April 19th) of another discovery of a little girl (hours old) under a tree in Gurgaon, abandoned after the  birth because she is a girl. Such a behavior is epidemic in Asia. Sex-ratio birth is unbalanced there, in India and in China. And because this violence against women and girls  has not come to an end YET (I am above anger, although this is more than revolting) , the gap deepens between number of boy birth and number of girl birth. They are lacking 10 millions girls. The deficit of girls in Asia leads now to raids in the neighboring countries to kidnap baby girls.

You read correctly.

Is is still possible that we are witnessing such stupidity and deshumanization of  mankind, in the 21st  century? After all the atrocities or proven stupidities of the past decades? After the Red Khmers, multiple wars, deadly diseases provoked/spread by stupid behaviours, uber-liberalism and reign of finance, communism, various dictatorships, hazardous childbirth policies, genetic modification of plants, overexploitation of natural resources, pollution of water, soils and air? After all those systems or concepts that have proven their limits and their inaccuracy for the sake of Earthbound livings?

 Along with Cicero, I ask thy, Earthling : Cui bono? (For whose benefit is it?)

When will “influent” people realise that money is not edible? That our brains need to be used  with intelligence? What are we waiting for? Is mankind waiting for the last leaf to drop from the last tree to start changing its behaviour?

Who said we live in a safer world? (Have you noticed? The cynical in me is back, and is seeking to become a permanent lodger).

Let’s hope HOPE HOPE that humans have not ENTIRELY lost their common sense.

But still, is there any reason why we should not think  massive stupidization of humanity is not knocking at the door?

Is the artist now still in charge of denouncing the system and the perversion of the soul by materialism and absence of ethics? Or has he also chosen money over purity?

Let’s nurture our minds, and our common sense. Let’s read Plato, Socrates, Kant, Lévi-Strauss (the anthropologist and ethnologist, not the founder of a pants company), Jankelevitch, Proust, the Good Book and more poetry…

And let’s have another bar of emergency chocolate.

Another ordinary week  awaits us…Full of surprises, fears, stupidity, intelligence maybe, act of generosity, virtues not yet defunct, and so much more. Whose side are you on?

Wishing mankind all the best not to speed up its decadence…

Floreva, very disappointed and cynical tonight, but still full of HOPE.