May they rest in peace

Wow, what a way to start the week. An Air France plane goes missing over the Atlantic. Like in a movie about the Bermuda triangle. The sad thing is, this is for real. And 24 hours later still the plane – or what’s left of it – has not been found. And thus more than 200 people feared dead. Just like that. For no reason. Civilisation might make daily technological improvements and advances and discoveries, but still we don’t control everything everywhere. I just can’t think how it must be when you are waiting at the airport, in this case Paris, for your loved one or best friend, or daughter or parent and you wait and wait. Plane is announced as delayed. Then more delay. Then rumours. Then an airline official comes with brief news that the flight is missing. It’s just incomprehensive. And in our modern society it is even more incomprehensive if we can’t see the event, the tragedy on TV. It makes it so much harder to grasp that something dramatic has happened but there is no clear information, no eye-witness accounts, no sound recordings, no photos, no TV images. This is reality that isn’t real.

And then the same day in a court in New York the giant of the American dream General Motors files for bankruptcy protection. Yes it’s the end of the dream that the US motor industry was on top of the world. The end of a legacy. The end. But let’s be honest too. It’s also the in your face realisation that GM’s management sucked. They were riding for many years on arrogance and grandiose schemes that were far out of touch with reality. They were so out of date in models, production, management planning, and on a road ahead built on delirium. They could not grasp that the grand lady of the almighty American car industry was just out of touch with economic and environmental realities. Some years ago they launched the ugly, over-sized Hummer in a period where every other automaker on this planet was looking to develop and promote fuel-efficient cars. GM was just doped up. Bigger is better. Bigger wasn’t better. Bigger was the road to ruin. And who will suffer once again. The blue collar worker across the US, but also in Belgium, the UK, Germany, Poland, Spain to even South Africa. And in many cases when a plant closes or is seriously sized down whole communities collapse. It’s the domino effect. While the GM board members just probably slip away enjoying their early, fat pensions and buy-out bonuses. It’s sick and sad.

It’s another blow to Obama’s debut. He is just facing one serious challenge after the other. Mind blowing. Luckily he seems to have a clear cut approach to most of them and plenty of guts and energy.

Oh and following up from the last days and slightly forgotten because of the Air France tragedy, it’s been reported that North Korea seems to be preparing for another missile test. This time maybe with a bigger warhead on it. Very scary. I would not like to live in South Korea right now. Wondering also why China isn’t more on the forefront of tackling this threat. They are the world-power-in-the-making. They are already the regional kings. They are neighbours to the Korean mad man. They have a responsibility to the world. But they seem to go quietly about it. Maybe, surely, it’s time to seriously speak up. Condemn. Keep a hand reached out, but be firm. Tough diplomatic action is required by all now! This North Korean nuke games will haunt us for a long time to come I fear.

Moving on from a mysterious tragedy and an edgy world to personal space and time. It’s sacred. And peer pressure invades both too often. Or at least tries to invade. Stand-offs.
Some people in your social environment sometimes disappear from the radar. That’s honestly fine. It’s a personal choice, and life’s journey has its T-junctions. But it’s strange, to say the least, that after more than a year for instance these missing people return to blame their forgotten friends for not attending a specific social event. Peer pressure with a sour taste. Peer pressure with an edge of unfairness. Peer pressure with memory loss.

Let me say it simple and straight out. What give you the right to come and push other people around about their time and their social plans? Where have you been all this time? This is the polite version of my question.

This holier-than-thou attitude sucks. Unacceptable. Misplaced. Nobody should tell me how to use my time and my space as they don’t know the conditions of my personal and professional life. These are the real pressures of life, not some social peers!

I got my life scars. I don’t need peer pressure from youngsters. Don’t need it from anybody in fact. Peer pressure is never positive. I see and feel my life scars every day. I’ve been down. I’ve been high on expectations and hope. I’ve been foolish. I’ve judged too soon. I’ve judged correctly. I’ve balanced things out. I’ve put things in perspective. I’ve been drunk, in fights, in arguments, slammed the door, got injured, survived an emergency-landing with a British army chopper in Bosnia, talked my way out of a mad African mob, got friends killed for doing their job, have been arrested by army and police in Africa, survived Somalia (twice). I have seen and smelled dead people (civilians, rebels, soldiers, cops), seen destruction and hate, seen helping hands and survivors-against-all-odds. I have witnessed the destruction of floods. I’ve seen hunger and despair. I had my personal traumas and childhood struggles. I’ve been financially at ease sometimes, while other times had money worries. I crashed my car (twice) and fell of a bike,... so leave this peer pressure aside because I don’t need it, don’t want it, don’t desire it, and it certainly don’t stimulate me or makes me smile. It sucks!

Throw out. Listened to US punkers Anti-Flag’s new album “The People Or The Gun”. There is a line in one of their songs that goes something like this. “I’ve seen the bail outs for the rich, where is the bail out for the poor”. It ain’t as simple as that but it put certain things in perspective. Food for thought.

C-Ya

collateral – early June 2009