Feathers

[degringolade]

 

Abstract Expressionism / Walasse Ting/ Girl with Orange Hair and Flowers

I think that I just received my last copy of Foreign Affairs.  I cancelled my long-term subscription and now it is just going to play out.  FA went the way of the Economist in my reading.  Both publications are simply mouthpieces for the people/ideas that got us into the predicament that we are currently failing to deal with effectively.  

I will miss the quality of the writing though.  The folks that write for the big boys like this are pros, they can manage to make what has been reproducibly shown to be bad ideas with bad outcomes as reasonable and obvious.  Then they go out and explain just why doubling down on bad ideas is the way to get out of the quicksand.

I suppose that I could keep them, just to keep track of what the “right” people are thinking.  But you know, I can’t really say that I am all that interested in the antics of the powerful.  

I suppose that y’all will sneer at this little bit of heresy.  But truth be told, big scale politics just doesn’t interest me anymore.  The kerfuffle’s of Bush, Obama, and Trump and the way that decisions made and doctrines promulgated on the whole have had zero effect on my life.  Short of an invasion or a nuclear exchange, what they do is meaningless except to people with too much time on their hands and an interest in things well beyond their ken.

My days and night and the time that I have available to me are better spent looking at things close to me.  Yesterday, on the walk to the train, a flock of geese passed overhead, raising hell as their species is wont to do.  After the flock passed overhead, honking away to the north, I noticed a movement in my visual periphery. A single down feather was drifting downward toward the ground.  

I stopped and watched the feather drift down for what must have been ten or so seconds.  Now that is a good use of my time.

Comments

[temporaryreality]

This random (and of little account) internet person won't sneer at you.

I wish you many more such moments of beauty.

[joelcaris]

Not much to add, but ten seconds caught in the beauty of nature is always worth the time. I have been meaning of late to get out into the backyard more. I find that when I go out there and sit quietly and just watch and listen, it's an entirely new world, and one that's really much more satisfying and energizing than my usual one.