by Zvi Baranoff
Sometimes I feel like the child that is asked to spell “banana” and proudly answers “bananana…”. The youth knows how to spell it but doesn't know when to stop.
It pretty much has all been said before, by better writers and deeper thinkers years or decades or centuries or millennium ago. There is still nothing new under the sun. For that mater, surely any wisdom that I can possibly pass on has already been passed. Likely I have already written down what I think about it all and what more needs to be said? Yet, somehow there must be more to it, I think as I “...nanana…” to infinity.
Now I am in my seventh decade of living on Planet Earth. I learn stuff all the time. Perhaps I am wiser than I was when I was young. I certainly have more experience and have been exposed to more stimulus. I have way more information available literally at my fingertips. Yet, many of the problems that we Earthlings face in this Century are the same that we faced in the last Century - the century in which I was born and lived most of my life. For that matter, some of the problems have been around since long before that. I have written about much of it over the years.
We do, however, have some special matters at hand that may not have occurred to very many a few decades ago that are now very serious front burner, attention demanding concerns that we just can no longer ignore or postpone. I have been pointing out the critical nature of our condition for what feels like forever.
It may be human nature to always put off until tomorrow what we can. There is a certain logic to that. If one puts something off long enough it may just resolve itself or someone else might get around to it. Sometimes, though, we all must face the consequences.
Since as long as I can remember I have been jumping up and down, shouting “Why?!?” and writing about solutions.
I started sending Letters to the Editor when I was in Middle School. I have been writing for a long time. I would get my letters published often. I have also had articles and esays published in various outlets. I was also involved at times on the publishing level, which means that I helped raise the money to print what I had to say. Now, in the internet age, I publish somewhat regularly through my blog and on social media so the cost to me is the time and effort. (Maybe it should be a book,some might say.) I just keep giving it all away.
There are always economic and financial matters that factor in to when and how we address every issue. Some gain from every action and will make a financial transaction out of every form of human interaction. Some people don't give anything away.
Rebellion may very well be a deep part of human nature but the system seems to find a way to monetize and capitalize on every impulse. If you doubt that, consider Jesus turning over the tables and the short span between his execution and the establishment of the Catholic Church. If that is too esoteric, consider Rock & Roll. Consider Che Guevara's image on advertising and T-shirts. Consider the White Bicycle Experiment, Shared Housing, Environmentalism, organic food, Tiny Houses, recycling and weed!
So, everyone is turning a buck on everything, and I am still writing for free!
Thinking and writing is a lot of hard work. It may not look like work, but nonetheless that is what it is. Work is a four letter word. It ends in “k” and it is best if you do it primarily for love. If you do it just for money you may be called a whore.
Assuming that we are not about to wash away the Capitalist System and replace it with a nonmonetary alternative sometime in the next few weeks, I need to monetize my writing. Everyone is selling something and that is all I have to sell. I may have been giving it away for decades, but it is time for this old whore to get paid.
So, much of what you will find between the covers of this book has already been published online, although there are corrections, improvements and further elaborations. Some of this is new. Some of the tales have never been told before. The primary difference is that I get paid, and why shouldn't I?
They will tell us that “it” is impossible or not practical until they can figure out how to turn a buck on it. Then, anything is possible. Even the publishing of this book. We cannot live on just love and air. As things are, we all need money. What's a writer to do?
Bananana...buy copies for your friends and buy the next book too when it comes out. We all have to do our share to keep the economy humming, because that's what we do here on Planet Earth.
Surely, it is human nature to keep doing things the same as we always have, until we start doing something else. As a planetary culture, for our collective survival, we best start doing all sorts of things differently in the near future than we have in the past.
I will keep writing.
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