It's been a week.

I sit on top of this wall, thinking about myself and things, which in most ways are not even remotely connected to me; this brick-laid ledge between frailly-hopeful ideals and the reality beyond. At times it sickens me how bastardized this country has become; through greed, pride, and all those other machinations of the runaway marionettes which lead us. It seems that humanity, at least in small but influential quantities, actually believes that War, with the most wholesome and benevolent intentions, can bring about the Peace that everyone else seems to want and celebrities throw around like the buzz-word of the season. Could my choice of resting-area be a metaphor for the state of the world and its gradual stroll to a global war that looms on the horizon like a massive wave rolling toward an already-ravaged shoreline, or is this merely another delusion of grandeur brought on by boredom and unnecessary amounts of coffee?

Nixon [it seems] has risen from the grave to infest our president, and he wants revenge on the reincarnations of all those fuckers that gave him so much trouble last go-around; and this time he's got a lot of the country on his side. Ashcroft's resignation makes... what? Three? Four resignations this term? And so close to inauguration too. I'd say it's like rats deserting a sinking ship, but to say that Bush was ever afloat is giving him too much credit. Do you think they sense WWIII coming? Iran and Syria are banding together to stop outsiders from policing them. North Korea has publicly announced that they believe Japan to be conspiring with the United States to invade. All they need is one more country on another continent to get pissed at us and he can finally start firing the nukes we taxpayers have been funding. The asshole has been daring any country who thinks their cock is bigger (with the worst Clint Eastwood impression possible) to swing it at us, and finally someone has stepped up to bat. His patriotism won't be adequately sated until he's demolished any and every government and economy that threatens to be different from ours, and who can blame him? I mean, where else can you eat a Big Mac and fries, smoke ten Marlboros, sit in a padded square in an office building downtown and move numbers from one column to another, then visit an S&M club and have 3 scotch and sodas, and finally go home to your family and watch Jeopardy and The Swan? And all in one day. To live life any differently would surely kill you and everyone else in your country. We should have elected Al Sharpton.

The sad reality is that there is very little a 21-year-old college delinquent, like myself, can do to prevent this from happening. Sure, I could join protests and rally with other like-minded individuals to confront the injustices of the governing body that I didn't vote for, but was elected nevertheless. But the 60s and 70s are over, sadly, and the kind of power that was derived from large groups of people actually forgetting their petty and insignificant differences and nonviolently fighting for Peace/Love/Harmony, like a pitbull for a bone, is something that will probably never occur again. But the bruised and battered romantic within me still hopes for it; possibly in vain. We tried recreating Woodstock, but that failed miserably with the help of MTV and commercialization.

Part of me understands, and even sympathizes with, why you did it. That same part of me, after taking a long and hard look at the world I live in, would love to join you. At times. But the dominant part of me cries out in protest at your cowardice; your selfishness. You walked out on us when we needed you the most. Who else do we have that can fill your shoes and sagely lead us in the direction we must go in order to avoid our species' tombstone? In the end, I simply mourn you as the mentor I never had. I hope you understand if I put off your wake until such a time as I can properly salute your life.

There are so many things that NEED to be done in order to avoid the inevitable and so little time to do it in. Money needs to be abolished as the inherently evil tool that it is. In actuality, currency/haggling/bartering needs to be abolished altogether. Maybe then, things like scientific research and goodwill can occur simply for humanity's benefit, and not for engorging our bank accounts. Weapons, of all sorts, need to be dismantled, and their components need to be scavenged and used to construct things like housing and irrigation. That metal can be used to give some dirt-farmer in Uzbekistan a home instead of a bullet in the head. Education, of all sorts, from elementary school to college, needs to be free and physically reachable for anyone who wants it. Jobs should be given to those people best suited and able to perform them; and anyone without a job should be placed in one they can perform by a civilian agency run by Buddhist monks. Graveyards should be abolished. That land can be used to house the homeless and those dead bodies can be used to fertilize farmlands or to feed the hungry. Seriously, they aren't being used any more. There are so many other things that could be done to benefit humanity, but most won't be done because our greed and pride; qualities which can not live in harmony with the Peace we so desperately want and need.

We live in a world where Death is feared and reviled, and yet we bitch about our planet's overcrowding. Maybe plagues like A.I.D.S. and Ebola are merely Mother Nature's way of controlling our cancerous population, as are Famine, Drought, and Natural Disasters. That's not necessarily a bad thing. We, as a global society, really need to get over our fear of death. It comes to all of us. Live with it. The point is that no matter what religion you subscribe to, the principle teaching of them all is LOVE, and humanity seems to be forgetting that in favor of the Religion of Fear. The adage had been changed from, "Through Love, all things are possible," to, "Through Fear, you can get what you want," and I find that idea nauseating.

Whether humanity decides to change for the better of us all, or we blow ourselves to smithereens in mushroom clouds of Ignorance and Self-Loathing, the next twenty-five to fifty years are going to be quite a trip.

We'll miss you, Doktor.