Ah summer. Here it is late August, two-thirds of summer already gone. The leaves on the trees have that dried out, dusty look that let’s you know the end is near, some have even turned color after a long hot, dry and oh so smoky couple of months. 

This might be remembered as the lost summer. 

There are still only a few boats on the lake and very few swimmers. I guess most people really don’t feel like coming to the lake. 

Strange thing about about the smoke. At first it’s intolerable, eyes water, sinuses get irritated, the throat dries up. Complaints are everywhere. But now after so many weeks of living with it, the smoke has become the norm. Sure there are days of respite when a wandering south wind blows through, but the breaks have averaged a day and a half; you might wake up to clear, fresh air but by dusk the next day the prevailing winds have indeed prevailed and smoke from the forest fires to the north-west has once again settled upon the land, turning the full moon into a giant, dimple-less orange. 

But, I have noticed just recently, a change has come upon us. Most people, it seems, can only whine for so long before it all becomes just too monotonous. I have noticed, this last week or so, that we have all begun going about our business without making much noise about the smoke. Nor are we devoting much breath to complaining. We are ‘whined-out’. Our throats may still be raw and the sinus passages inflamed but because those conditions have become the norm we no longer think of the subject as worthy of lip service.. 

Maybe it’s Beijing Syndrome; the choking smoke is nothing more or less than ‘the way it is’ and there isn’t a damn thing any of us can do about it anyway so we say wtf and roll along. 

One begins to understand, a wee wee bit anyway, in times like these, just how it is that people can settle into living under circumstances that would, in kinder times, be deemed totally unacceptable. 

Anything and everything will become normal if it goes on long enough. Despicable dictators hold power for generations, religious dogma keeps people suffering in fear, individuals live out their lives indebted to a system designed to enslave them… without the slightest awareness of it. North Koreans, the most striking example of a tightly controlled populace, claim to accept as fact that a little fat man is their god and they believe that he is their benefactor rather than their jailer. They must offer up their labor and lives to this evil twerp. That’s the way it is. 

It seems to me that those poor folks are to be pitied rather than held in contempt. They are the pathetic victims of a regime that has held sway for generations, developed a comprehensive mind control game and restricted the flow of information to such a degree that no-one can know anything beyond their daily experience. So it is reasonable (and no doubt good for one’s health) to just play along. 

But how do we rationalize what’s going on in America? How can this great nation of freedom worshipping, educated, informed, enlightened, rich people be on the verge of civic disintegration? 

A couple of decades ago, I heard what I now recognize was an answer to that question. I was watching people on tv attempt to predict the future effects of the internet. Most people foresaw positive changes relating to the dissemination of  huge amounts of data, but one Englishman suggested that the preponderance of information and misinformation available to everyone would, rather than make the world more informed, lead to massive confusion…too much conflicting information, he said, would make all of it unreliable…unbelievable. 

Seems to have come to pass. Seems we’ve all got too much head-stuff going on…too many points of view, too many groups we can join, too many scams we can feed, too many gurus to follow and just way, way too much bullshit to wade through. 

There is currently a variety of ‘alternate realities’ available to be examined. What is a young mind to do? 

Whadaya believe? 

Muchas chaos, amigos, Muchas Chaos! 

So that seems to be what’s happening now in America and, no doubt, in your home town wherever you happen to live on the planet…(with the exception, of course, of DPRK). 

It’s all so fascinating. It is sinister, it is comical, it is exhilarating, it is depressing, it could get deadly, messy, bloody, stinky (all the things boys like). 

Time for the girls to take over lads! Yer made a right mess of it! 

Whew!…I’m out of breath…and there are far too many doors opening here to walk through right now. 

We will, no doubt, pick up the theme at a later date.