It's a funny old world

[ZVN60]

A world where politicians see no contradiction in cutting money for people who need it, while giving themselves a pay rise. And under the banner "we're all in this together."

A world where, under the banner of "culture", people resort to tribal behaviour.

Amongst many other things, of course.

I like to think that I stand strong all the time. But there are lapses of self doubt, and today was one of those days. People talk about a "lost generation" when it comes to unemployment (and they'd be right), but there's another (and equally important) lot out there. They're not thought of at all. I sometimes envisage my body being found dead in a house. Lying there for weeks on end. Papers piled up at the door. People say "oh it's a sad way to go" and never acknowledging their own roles. Forgetting about it after a week.

As I walked about today, I felt even more out of step with the rest of the world. Very much in the way of dating, but in other ways: I don't own a car or drive so I don't have a black hole where all my money goes. I also saw men trying their best to please their women.

People have been abandoned in the neighbouring areas. Images of hospitals left to function without supplies while people knock in vain on the closed doors play through my head. There are times when I watch the news, I feel desensitized to it all, but other times it makes me want to scream. What if, in the coming months, this part of the world descends into turmoil?

How would the vast majority of people react?

That likelihood seems more and more real everyday. The thought of industrial collapse does not fill me with glee, just a deep sense of dread. A realisation that my ideals and politics fall massively short of reality.

Bottom line is that over 2000 years of ruthless competitive social development has left us estranged from each other. I have occasionally thought that walking into the Lagan would be a solution. The problems I've outlined would be over, and I'd be no more. But it can be the simplest thing that spurns me back into fighting form, like this: