R E T A R D A T E

the world is a shit eating oyster, and i am slowly discovering to enjoy it. every last urine stained moment of it. can't talk now, wasting my life away....

OBDURATE

our past sins stand adamant in the currents of perpetual revisionism. ablutions and 10000 hail marys will not erase our collective history. blindfolds aside, the truth remains withered and without form. substance lacking, we give no teeth to justice and wimper over our comfort bread.
without resolution and penance, we are doomed to the negligent collapse of the simplicity of well-being. all is for naught if we have no future.

“obdurate conscience of the old sinner”
(Sir Walter Scott).

[Middle English obdurat, from Late Latin obdrtus, past participle of obdrre, to harden, from Latin, to be hard, endure : ob-, intensive pref.; see ob- + drus, hard; see deru- in Indo-European Roots.]

OBFUSCATE

the landscape darkens as the era of the new economics take root, branch out and spread out over the airspace. the political climate pits environment against economy, tree vs money, using the fears of negative impact to refuse discussion on climate change. we toil within the shadows of this cancerous growth of giant towering corporations, hidden from the light of day, confused and worried about social security while our children learn the brand names of their past time activities under the flickering light of a television set. our minds render to a collective dim, a fog that obscures the beauty of the natural world around us, and allows us to trade our spirituality for an oligopoly and ourselves, for dollar bills.
obfuscre exodus. the night must end, break the ruling class from the thrones of steel and concrete. pick up axes to chop the corporate giants down to a human scale and open up the skies for all of the living.
now and forever.
[Latin obfuscre, obfusct-, to darken : ob-, over; see ob- + fuscre, to darken (from fuscus, dark).]

REGULATE

with ever increasing expansion of our knowledge, there comes the opposite over compensating reaction to limit and control those freedoms, in fear of intangible future nightmare sequences.
how long will we engage in this perverse and unnatural dance?
as life organically draws us inexplicably to the edge of chaos, there are those of us who inorganically pull us back and pin us down into button down concrete cubicles.
here is required some deft skills in order to balance this contradictory life mechanism for progressive functioning. as with all things the key is in the balance. the problem with regulation is inherent in itself. the attempt to govern or direct according to rules comes with the tendency of all functions to become static and therefore obstinate. one cannot bring a thing under the control of law without killing that which makes it alive. in a balanced system, all functions will ultimately regulate themselves.
[Middle English, from Late Latin rgulre, rgult-, from Latin rgula, rod, rule. See reg- in Indo-European Roots.]

IMMIGRATE

the fear is upon us as the darkness spreads across this land. xenophobia grows and gnaws at the corner of every news channel. lou dobbs screams about border security as we morally waver between the blurred borders of our instinctual self-perservation and that of racism. we are tempted to twist and yank out that part which makes our countries truly admirable: an open country to pursue our freedom. north america was founded without invitation. in some way, we all emmigrated here. the reason we are so afraid is that we have never truly confronted our past, much less our present actions. there is so much to atone for...
[Latin immigrre, immigrt-, to go into : in-, in; see in-2 + migrre, to depart.]

MASCULATE

how long will it take to clear all the repressive, hate driven human sediment from our social collective? to wash away the filth of the human mind, purify the body and set forth to tidy the world around us. it seems that our environmental practices simply only mirrors our mental state, and our moral sense of decay.
i am tired of cleansing my soul of the social pollutants which douse me every so often. it nearly drives me to xenophobic alienation. i write these words to dispell the perverse words that were spoken.

(verbal exchange between myself and middle-aged man):

• "I could watch her working all day."
• "Sorry?"
• "Because my TV is broken. There was some action before but now she stopped. Tell her I could watch her all day."
• "I believe she'd be uncomfortable with that."
• "Oh. Then tell her that the only thing more beautiful than the chocolate is her."
• "uh, sure."
• "Probably tastes better too." (as he was walking away, just audible enough for me to hear)

this to me proves the socials ills of watching too much late night television. it allows you to justify your immorality and you begin to forget how to act around others in a social setting. it also tells me that the man must confide in his fellow man to prove he is not abnormal. i felt manipulated to share in someone's perversity, a witness to some human sickness.

"i'm praying for mayhem, i'm praying for tidal waves..."

[Latin masculus male, masculine.]

NEGOTIATE

so... everyone has learned the drill, practiced our lines and committed to memory, while we dramatically danced and played in flander's fields. the eleventh of eleventh of eleventh, all fell silent. the tanks, and their guns, and their bombs. silent. so why did it not stay that way? why all the fucking noise, conflict and violence?
war, what is it good for?
as always, look in the past, all of our worst fears, nightmares and ghosts are there. no need to relive it, but we will anyways.
originally, this momentous end of all wars was to be celebrated as armistice (n : a state of peace agreed to between opponents so they can discuss peace terms) day. we forgot about discussing peace. we only licked our wounds and made others pay penance. the US made armistice day a federal holiday in 1938. of course it was renamed in 1954 as veterans day so that we can focus on our loss and sacrifice, and forget the rest. remembrance day is an attempt to bring it all back to where it began.
we ought to take it to the end game. this day should become anti-war celebrations. we should discuss the terms of peace and how we can acheive this goal. damn your poppies, and goddamn your warmachines. no more fucking wars. and i mean it.

For a great remembrance day family activity, Click and Shoot here to find and go visit national cemetaries on Veterans Day. Morbid but noble!
[Latin negtir, negtit-, to transact business, from negtium, business : neg-, not; see ne in Indo-European Roots + tium, leisure.]