My Grandmother would have a hayday with this...

[JustDee]

...but I'm not sure where my sudden un-ending yacking (well, typing anyway) is originating from. I've been a lurker here since Dennis 1st created the site (though very late in 2008 to actually seeing Davis' videos) here on Ning, and suddenly I find myself with a) either way too much time on my hands and no life or b) suddenly a lot to say about a lot of things that oddly enough, until a year or so ago I didn't give much more than a passing glance.

The reason I mention my Grandmother is because she'd be mortified at some of the stances and philosophical ideas that have taken root in me in the past couple of years and I can just hear her, as she'd set me to some task around the house, boxing my ears if I slipped up, muttering something like, "idle hand and minds are the devil's playground".

Anyway, my apologies - I know you all don't really know me very well and I'll try to done down the rapid (and at times vapid) typing of responses. LOL. Hopefully it is a limited lifespan anomaly!

[Davis Fleetwood]

I often wonder about our "evolving" viewpoints/ world view. Is older wiser? Or, as we age, do we resign ourselves to "how things really are" and give up/ give in/ give over to the focus on the little things?

That is to say, I am always humble enough to know that I know much less than I need to know and horrified/ angry enough to know that most of my elders are compete fuck wads who (through negligence, sloth, or the force of their will) have gotten us in this mess we are in to begin with.

Some of the greatest breakthroughs in life have been made my very young folks. In art/ music- 27 seems to be the magic number. when it comes to writing, Becket was 47ish when he his first play (and my favorite play of all time) Waiting for Godot.

A few hundred years ago you would have been laughed at (or burned at the stake) if you suggested that the earth was round.

A few hundred years from now (if the human race survives our masochistic tendencies, which- in a nuclear era is a bit like playing Russian Roulette with extra bullets) I wonder what people will think of us.

[Mardygraw]

"A few hundred years from now, I wonder what people will think of us."

How the fuck didn't they see it coming?!?!

[JustDee]

I loved "Waiting for Godot" - but I'm not even going to share the delicious irony of where I was both physically and in my life at the time I saw that play. Sadly, we don't have much of "the arts" around where I live. People here don't go to the theater or to view art or even to concerts. (Well, correction, the wealthier class does travel and so does engage in those interests, but I'm speaking about largely blue-collar, indigenous) Instead we go to bars (I suppose you could call local live bands concerts of sorts), eat out (a lot) at fast food restaurants and watch lots and lots and lots of television. Those are are our collective pastimes in this area. Bleh!

Back to my grandmother again - I remember a time when family gatherings were a big deal she always fussed about - holidays in particular, or weekend picnics and trips to the parks for food and swimming, etc. I can't tell you the last time I did anything like that. And while many of our ancestors may in large part be responsible, as you say, for this current mess, I absolutely believe with every fiber in my being that it will be a return to more agrarian societies with as much emphasis on the arts as we place on industry and technology (balance) that will be our saving grace (you know, "A simpler time"). Until then we'll be doomed. But, unfortunately, as you said Dennis, with our current level of technology, especially technology related to the ending of life and/or harming living things, we may not survive long enough to learn the lessons needed to get there.

Maybe the more appropriate question becomes, not what will people be thinking about us - but will there be anyone left to think (or blame) at all.