The first laundry load change over is due in thirty minutes, the windows are open with the blinds still up for now. All this to let the cool air in which is always available here in Calgary at 1100 meters above sea level, more elevated than many an Alpine village!
The fires are still burning in the Fort McMurray region continuing so needing some good solid rain to douse them. That is a good down pour of ca 40mm for some hours, but the opposite is in the forecast :-(!
I am now reading in chapter 3 of my book on the Congo, which deals with the period to 1908 to 1921 under Belgian state colonial regime. It had been under king Leopold’s personal rule from 1885 to 1908, which became more and more oppressive in the end.
The start was gentle, but it took all the king’s money until the discovery of rubber and the profit motive became the all important criterion to the detriment of the indigenous populations.
We have to discover new criteria and make new rules about living together and sharing the Earth’s gifts equitably.
I nosed into my portable Emerson’s chapter on ‘Self-Reliance’, which I’ve read in part, but will need rereading. It is a chapter crucial to understanding Waldo’s thinking and motivation.
It also relates to my present thinking about humanity having to realise its own responsibility as a species on this planet. We have to discover new criteria and make new rules about living together and sharing the Earth’s gifts equitably.
Yesterday was the centennial of the ‘Sykes and Picot’ agreement about Syria, which held until five years ago. Not bad for two guys who did their best in a cloud of unknowing. The agreement gets dissed in today’s press, but no one is even hinting at what they should have done differently.
Time for the next load at 9:26am and back at 9:43am.
Not bad for two guys who did their best in a cloud of unknowing. The agreement gets dissed in today’s press, but no one is even hinting at what they should have done differently.
I doubt that the Arabs one hundred years ago would have been able to live in peace under their own rule. Even today the parties in the Syrian conflict have to be pushed and coerced by the two big guys to stay at the table and negotiate.
Learning to make political compromises is something the Netherlands, England, France and Germany learned over time and with success, as did the states in the new world. There was much strive and conflict, but agreements came about in many cases.
These lessons are now being passed on to others for the love of overall stability and the prevention of anarchy. The Arabs have a saying they should keep in mind: ‘One year of anarchy is worse then one hundred years of dictatorship‘. This is a sandal that would wear well on Arabian feet today!