Ideas make the world go round
Today, I am more than ever convinced that ideas and imagination are more valuable than oil and gas, and I’m not talking just about shares, but about that most important human segment, which is spirituality. Like knowledge, ideas and imagination makes a person complete, in the sense of mind, spirit, and personality. A long time ago, Socrates said that having knowledge and conscience makes you a pilgrim at the gates of a new world. A man driven by ideas, visions and a vivid imagination will do much more for society than a man driven by mere profit. I admit that I have spent the last dime I honestly earned from writing poetry or fiction, or manual labor – working at the dry docks – on my travels across this wonderful planet of ours, because to me, as a poet, a verse is like home, and a poem like all of mankind. I admit that I have learned from common people, as well as from wise priests (of all religious denominations), learned philosophers and writers, and what they taught me was that a man must learn for as long as he lives, and he must never claims that he knows everything, for this would mean that he knows nothing at all. In this essay, I shall provide an answer to that eternal question: why is there so much poverty in the world? More than that, I shall attempt to explain how we might be able to eradicate poverty and save this wonderful planet from global warming. First of all, we must know that greed is the foremost cause of poverty. It is a malignant tumor within the body of mankind. There are many examples to prove my claim.
I have been to Nigeria, as well as to Norway . Both countries are rich in oil, but Nigeria is best described by a scene I have witnessed. Tank trucks often turn over on the wrecked and degraded roads, and there are hundreds of poor Nigerians waiting by the side of these roads to fill their buckets with oil from overturned trucks. Those who are lucky enough to survive the stampede of the hungry has the winning the ticket to another day of survival while, at the same time, the Nigerian political caste is wasting their money on luxurious limousines, jewelry and palaces. So, this political caste and their tycoons, who make their money from oil, are driven by mere profit, and let us not forget that greed is a bottomless hole. I have also been to Norway, and comparing that country to Nigeria you might think you’re on a different planet. Education and health insurance are completely free in Norway. Both on state and regional level, Norwegian politicians live much like the rest of their citizens do. They do not differ from the rest by any means, they don’t spend the tax payer’s money on luxurious limousines, jewelry or palaces, but on education, telling us that only knowledge gives birth to ideas and visions, and ideas make the world go round. Yes, the business motto of both the young and the elderly is to drive Norway forward through their ideas and visions, and so they serve their communities and them-self. In other words, the Norwegian society is profiting from creative people who aren’t inebriated with greed, but rather guided by the vision of creating valuables for the greater good. So, they are making much more money from ideas and visions than they do from oil. This example goes to show the importance of education and culture, ideas and imagination.
I have been to Russia, a country that is exceptionally rich in oil and gas. Siberia is a vast expanse of oil and gas, yet people live under inhumane conditions, as if time stopped, and the poverty is so eerily real that you can feel it as if it was your own. It is noticeable in every gaze of every inhabitant. Of course, the chosen ones, those who are close to the political caste and the tycoons, aren’t exposed to that poverty, because they live in their luxurious palaces and drink themselves unconscious. I asked some of these politicians what would happen once they’re out of oil and gas, but they just waved away at the thought, claiming that this wouldn’t happen in their lifetime. Sadly, they do not think ahead of future generations. But then, how could we possibly expect them to do that, when they’re not even considering the living, the poor majority. Naturally, Moscow, the capital, is famous for being a glittering city with more billionaires than any other city in the world. Isn’t it a paradox that Siberia, home to gas and oil, is the leader in poverty, while Moscow, devoid of gas and oil, is the leader in wealth? Do you think that the Moscow billionaires are created thanks to the ideas and the imagination of visionaries? If that’s what you think, you’re dead wrong. Pure profit is pouring into Moscow from Siberia and other areas rich in gas and oil, and so it is not surprising that oligarchs, like Roman Abramovich, buy expensive sons for their son’s birthdays, like the famous English football club Chelsea. Those visionaries who are driven by ideas and their vivid imaginations are working on new projects that would benefit the poor of both Siberia and Moscow, but they are lacking the capital. I asked a young Moscow visionaries why they do not ask the oligarchs to finance their ideas. He looked at me as if I was crazy, saying that those who made quick and dishonest money would never understand, or let alone support, creative people and true visionaries, because oligarchs and greedy politicians are driven by pure profit and political power, while creative visionaries are driven by creating something valuable for the greater good, and thus for their own good as well, and these two worlds are mutually exclusive. It is common knowledge that every oligarch who attempted to compete with Putin at the general elections ended up in jail, while those who peacefully dance to his music are amassing more wealth. When the occasional nostalgics proclaim Putin to be the grand protector of Russia the great, they should know that Putin isn’t Russia’s savior, but rather an addict to power, which is both his biggest sin and his biggest punishment. When emperor Putin speaks of God, one might feel as if he’s talking of a personal friend of his, and when he appears before his subjects as the savior of faith, his words do not reach the hearts of the faithful, because they can only be reached by those who speak from the heart. Yes, my dear illustrious Putin, you can’t be obsessed with power and money, and be a humble faithful man at the same time, because these two characteristics are also mutually exclusive. Putin doesn’t want to admit that it is oil and gas that are destroying the ozone layer, which is the reason behind global warming, and when his judges and his police send 32 Greenpeace activists to a Siberian prison, he should know that this has nothing to do with faith. Quite the opposite, it is a lack of faith and a betrayal of the Creator, who didn’t create this wonderful planet for greedy people to destroy. In this case, actions say that these activists are much more faithful and much closer to the Lord than Putin is. Yes, greed doesn’t pick people by race or gender. If you take a look at the British oil corporation BP, who has utterly destroyed the ocean flora and fauna of the Gulf of Mexico, and if you also consider the Russian Gazprom, you will realize that they behave like twins. So, if emperor Putin wants to become a humble faithful, he should start by letting go of the activists who fight for the preservation of our one and only wonderful planet, as well as all the other activists who fight for the freedom of expression, like the punk band Pussy Riot, because the Lord’s most merciful gift to humans is freedom. Then he should also get rid of his scepter of absolute power, because only then he’ll be able to look into the man in the mirror with a clear conscience, the one that says that on life’s path you can fool the whole world, and people will pat your shoulders as you walk them by, but your ultimate wage shall be pain in your heart and tears, if you have fooled the man in the mirror. Those who think that I hate Putin are wrong. I am humbly praying that he shall understand my words as well-meant advice instead of criticism, that he should leave the throne, because too much power eats away at the soul, just as too much greed does. It leaves him alone at the golden throne. You can surround yourself by as many minions as you want, but deep in your heart you shall be the loneliest man in the world if you’re not able to look at the man in the mirror. Putin might say that Mother Russia would fall apart if he leaves. Well, my dear Putin, that one judge who cannot be bribed is awaiting us all eventually, both me and you. And what if he does? Will that be the end of the world? No, it won’t! The end of the world might be if we don’t defeat our other selves, the greed within. In the following examples, I shall explain the extent to which greed is to blame for the ever increasing poverty in the world.
An example would be the small and beautiful country of Croatia, blessed by mother nature, that has gained its independence 23 years ago in a heroic defensive war. Before that, it was imprisoned within dictatorial Yugoslavia. Croatia is symbolic of all the poor countries in the world, so I will spend more time on this particular example. In this small country, you just might feel as if you’ve strayed into paradise. There are fertile lowlands, green valleys, thick forests, an azure sea with thousands of untouched islands. Do you think that the citizens of this wonderful land are happy? If you do, you’re wrong. Sadly for its people, the former communist rulers have changed in name only. Right after the country gained its independence, they have established their political parties, wringing their tentacles around every important institution of the society, thus spitting into the faces of the heroes of the independence war, who have fought for democracy, not for the rule of a political caste. Why does the prime minister insult Croatian war veterans? Why is he accusing them of being patriots? Did these people not protect Croatia from the acts of agression of the barbarian hordes dressed as JNA (Yugoslav Serbian National Army) soldiers, from the same killers who have committed the horrendous crimes in Vukovar, Srebrenica and Kosovo? If it wasn’t for those war veterans, who prevented general Mladic’s hordes in the Bihac area in Bosnia, these hordes would have committed crimes that would have been even worse than the slaughter of Srebrenica. Is the prime minister somehow oblivious to this as he calls them chauvinists? Have these same veterans not defended the homeland from the drunk barbarian hordes of the Butcher of the Balkans, Slobodan Milošević himself, whose troops have destroyed Vukovar and murdered hundreds upon hundreds of civilians? Have these same veterans not been losing their lives in Vukovar, the hero among cities, while he, young as he was, was sitting in his warm office, planning his political career, without a care in the world while his country was bleeding?…
These are not political visionaries who are in synergy with their subjects, who create humane laws for the greater good, but the same old communist caste that rules the people by creating inhumane laws meant to protect the political caste itself, instead of protecting the people. And so they’ve been alternating at the throne for years ( SDP-The Prime Minister Milanovic &Minister of Foreign Affairs Vesan Pusic-HDZ ) creating apathy among the people, because people do not believe in the possibility of change; instead, they apathetically whisper that nothing can be changed here, since the political caste is dominating all of the state’s institutions. They even rule the national television and radio, HRT, and so they can shape the voters’ opinions as they please. The political caste has installed their man, Mr. Radman, at the head of the national television, a man known to have openly supported the communist dictator Tito, publicly wishing him a happy birthday and a long and happy life. In the meantime, his idol, president Tito, sent thousands of students to work camps just because they demanded freedom of expression. So, then, how can anyone expect this man, Radman, a fan of the dictator Tito, to spread freedom of expression? As soon as he was installed, the few freedom loving journalists that were working there were fired and exchanged for self-censoring ones, which made the national television look more like their North Korean counterparts. What about the intellectual elite? Eminent economy experts, academicians, artists and a veritable army of intelligence gave up. They are apathetically giving in to this mayhem, and they voice themselves only when they praise their enormous vanities. It is this apathy that threw them into a windless ocean, and they keep floating up and down the nihilist stream of decadence, at the mercy of the sea gods. It is horrible to see the apathy in the eyes of most Croats. Verily – and sadly – it is the greed of the superbly wealthy that’s to blame, the political caste and the tycoons. These tycoons aren’t the type that based their wealth on visions, like the founders of Facebook, Amazon, the Internet, Apple, and other visionaries. They made their wealth through cunning and rotten ways, in alliance with the political caste, by driving their own nation into poverty. Over here, the elites don’t kick start ideas and visions. Quite the opposite, they chase people out of the country through inhumane laws. Why is that the case, one might ask? Well, if creative and honorable people would get a chance, the aforementioned would be utterly unnecessary.
A young Russian computer science student, just like his Croatian counterpart, mentioned the paradox that it was the Americans from whom they got more understanding and financing for their projects than they did from their own countries, who are governed by “reformed” communists who swear on socialism and “equality”. It is sufficient to take a peek into the luxurious castles of the chosen tycoons and the political caste, and into the homes of common people, to realize what kind of “equality” it is. This “equality” is best depicted by an article published by an independent Croatian news portal. “While people are hungry, the insensible county governor Marina Lovrić is buying luxurious vehicles, laughing at the hungry!” The governor of what is the poorest of all the poor counties in this poor country has expressed her “modest” wish that the county should get her a 2013 model car with automatic transmission, but at least seven gears. The engine should exceed 200 hp with 2900 cm3. Of course, there also must be a CD and MP# player with at least ten loudspeakers, so the governor may listen to the news of all the unemployed, poor and hungry in Croatia at e very loud volume, since she is obviously unable to see it for herself. Eventually, that car was bought with the tax payer’s money, the money of those who are increasingly likely to be rummaging through garbage cans in search of something edible…”
I know, said a young Croatian student, that there are great differences between people in the U.S.A., but the paradox is that there is more social sensitivity at the heart of capitalism than in former communist countries, and that paradox is a major slap in the face of our political elites, because many creative young people leave this wonderful Croatia behind, as if it was plagued by the black death and cholera, and they are leaving for America, and I expect that this will happen to me too, he said. When I asked him whether he really wants to emigrate from this wonderful country, he looked at me wistfully and concluded that he will do his best to fight for changes, but he sincerely doubts he’ll succeed on his own. Sadly, most Croatian students (and this is a universal weakness of poor countries) is nothing like this creative young man. Most students are ill with apathy and not creative enough to introduce changes. Their silence and apathy are but a reflection of horrible cowardice because, if you’re young enough and still unable to take the first step, how can anyone expect the elderly to do it? Instead of standing by their poor parents when they protest against all of this, they are frequenting cafes, biding their time and wasting their parents’ money on celebrity stories that are devoid of reason. I wrote to various student associations that it was visionaries who created social networking like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. These are enabling them to act creatively, to turn their ideas and visions into actions, to join and change this ill apathetic state of affairs. Don’t you think that dictators and political castes would give just about anything to kill the voice of freedom, the Internet? Sadly, even noble inventions such as the Internet can be misused, for example for pedophilia, the bottom of mankind’s barrel, or identity theft, and so on. Just as there is good and evil in the real world, there is good and evil in the virtual world too, and it is up to the individual to use that noble invention for a good and noble cause, or perhaps for an evil and dark cause. When you use your vivid imagination towards a noble cause, it results in ideas and visions that make the world turn to a brighter future. Sadly, the apathetic Croatian students do not understand that the future which awaits them is the same one that awaited their parents: chaos, anarchy, corruption and ghastly unemployment. Instead of changing things for the better, they cowardly adapt, thus creating an ill society (even though they do have the chance to mobilize society through hundreds of student associations). I keep telling them that running off to America isn’t a viable solution. The solution is to implement all those positive American values right here at home. They should be aware of the fact that America is having a hard time accepting all those immigrants, even though it is home to many of their relatives, because it is a target for the youth of the whole impoverished world; all who want to make it to the promised land cannot possibly fit into once country, not in the most vivid of imaginations. My opinion is that it is the duty of all thinking people, and young people even more so, to use their ideas and visions to create a better society instead of escaping, to fight against the political castes for a society where everyone will do good unto everyone else, and then there will be significantly less poverty and greed in the world. It is the apathy and silence that keeps the greedy, incapable and uncreative in power, like the “reformed” political caste in small and wonderful Croatia (and there are more examples in dozens of countries around the world) that do not create anything valuable towards the greater good simply because they aren’t capable of that. They are incompetent dinosaurs who graduated from various communist colleges in dictatorial Yugoslavia. Political caste dictatorships are the same all over, the name of the ideology isn’t important. What all of them have in common is the lust for power and greed for money, and a ghastly association with banks. When the Croatian minister of finances, Slavko Linić (an esteemed member of the “reformed” communist party SDP) talks about the free market, it sounds funny and silly, because that very same minister graduated from an economy faculty in dictatorial Yugoslavia, which has always accused the free market of being a capitalist and imperialist evil. Thus it isn’t surprising that Linić sold the only Croatian oil company, INA, to a Hungarian oil giant (25% of shares plus a golden one) for only 750 million Dollars, even if it is known that the market value of the company is 15 billion. It begs the following question: did the “esteemed” minister of finance pocket a fat check during this transaction, along with other members of his “reformed” communist party? Sadly, he and his political caste are selling the only oil company without asking the real owners, the tax payers, because he considers himself to be a deity unaffected by secular laws, even though he and his colleagues are paid by that same people from their poor budget, which should imply that the politicians are the peoples’ employees. This is proof enough of their lack of understanding of the free market and democracy. This is why they do not care about people’s opinions, and they do not honor individual freedom, the opinion of the Supreme Court, and they do not protect freedom of speech. They are cunning and greedy for money and power, but we should know that they are not intelligent, because an intelligent person creates something valuable for the greater good, while whatever a cunning person creates, he does so for his own sake, and this is a major difference.
Examples like this can be encountered in many other countries. It is sufficient to lean over the fence into Mexico, symbolic of Latin America in general. In this wonderful land, there is a ghastly link between the political caste and the drug cartels both at the state and the local level. This ghastly marriage doesn’t stop at destroying state institutions, it is also destroying the faith of the population. However, instead of a coalition of all honest and thinking people and the disempowered, a coalition that would take their protest into the streets, they are all melting into an amorphous silent majority, dreaming of taking a chance in the promised land. Instead of turning their own country into a promised land, they run off to America, and this is the biggest mistake and the reason why there is an increasing number of unemployed people in this wonderful place. People do not seem to realize that this is how they are betraying the basic values of democracy, because every free individual has the power to decide their own fate. When you use your own head and heart to think, you can join in with hundreds of thousands of others who think like you do, and demand basic human rights to be honored. You have to heed your heart’s call, and you will hear the messengers of freedom, the brave journalists, who are tearing the masks off the political caste and the drug lords. In other words, if there were millions to protest the state of affairs in the streets of Mexico, and if they would demand change, then change would take place. On the wave of these protests, new people would appear in politics, both domestic and foreign, people who have already proven their creativity and honor within their communities. And these creative and honorable people would go on to create humane laws for the greater good, not for the chosen political and tycoon caste. This way, creative and conscientious people would get a chance, and there would be a humane redistribution of prosperity, with no reason to try one’s luck in the U.S.A. If important institutions were to be headed by honorable and creative individuals, drug cartels would soon disappear, just like diseases disappear at the onset of vaccinations. That process would make both Mexicans and Americans happy. Let us not forget that the torrent of immigrants costs billions of dollars supplied by American tax payers, but as far as Americans are concerned, this problem is secondary compared to drugs. Drug cartels aren’t just an evil presence in Mexico, but in the U.S.A. too. They don’t cause death and poverty in Mexico, but in the promised land too. The reason why the drug lords and the political caste have such a good mutual understanding is because they are linked by greed. Amidst all this inebriation with glory and money, they do not understand that they are the biggest of all losers. Yes, greed is a horrible disease that has taken more lives throughout the centuries than the plague and cholera combined. This is why everybody has the responsibility not to fall, but to defeat the other self within in a conscious effort, and only then there will be less poverty in Mexico and the rest of the world. To simplify the issue at stake: if the drug lords found their lost faith, they would rediscover themselves, because wearing golden crucifixes around their necks does not constitute faith. What does constitute faith is helping your fellow men. If we discovered that lost faith within, we would find the light that gives birth to love for every person, and then greed and poverty would be gone. Let us not fool ourselves: there is no army or police in the world that could defeat greed. It can be done only by those who are infected with this evil. It should be crystal clear that greed is the devil’s favorite elixir. A greedy person is the unluckiest and loneliest person on earth, because he trusts no one, and nothing can make him sincerely happy. If he is after the most expensive diamond necklace in the world, he will get it at any cost, but once he owns it he won’t feel happy, but empty, and so he will be after something even more precious, like a company, which will be accompanied by an even greater emptiness, and then this vicious cycle will go on and on. Once he’s on his deathbed – and he will be, since death cannot be bribed – he will call His name much louder than those who were not high on greed.
The words of the young Croatian computer science student echo in my head while I walk the streets of New York, observing a multitude of people who pass me by. There is no apathy in their eyes. Instead, there is hope. So, why do New Yorkers have hope in common, instead of apathy? Whatever else we might agree on, we have to agree that America (Like E.U.) is the promised land for many a visionary and dreamer, and that many dream roads lead their dreamers to the promised land. If we know that ideas and imagination are more valuable than oil and gas, we will realize that America is the leader of the modern world. The founders of the Internet and social networks, such as Facebook, Google, Amazon, or LinkedIn, and other accomplishments of the virtual world that will drive the modern economy, are mostly from America. The top ten universities in the world are mostly American ones, and we all know how important education is for the progress of any society. There is nowhere as much capital financing of ideas as there is in America. But there is still something missing, isn’t there?
The tens of millions of Americans who have no health insurance is a major slap into the face of those who had the lack and skills to succeed in life, those who were in the right place in the right time. Still, does it warrant the dreamers’ peaceful sleep? After all, you never know when bad luck might come round to knock at your door, do you? I must emphasize that there are growing differences between people in other wealthy countries too, and the void between the rich and the poor is growing, which is a defeat for those who look down at third world countries. The multitude of the poor did not choose their shame, did they? Trust me when I say that I have experienced hunger, and that I know what I’m talking about. You don’t feel to happy when someone spares you a dime because, as strange as this might sound to you, poor people also have t heir dignity. Once I’ve seen a small child in a soup kitchen, I dedicated one of my favorite poems titled ‘My little cardboard home’ to him, humbly praying for people who read it to be touched by it, and to realize that this angelic child is our beacon, because our beloved Creator teaches us that when you reach out to someone to help them up, you are helping yourself up too. In other words, you become a better person. The fact that many dreamers from around the world come to the promised land is proof that America is blessed by its diversity of races and religions. When every American looks at the man in the mirror, they shall realize that there is no greater blessing than to work towards the greater good, to be in synergy with faith and men. No matter how much we chase after glory, money and success, we must never forget that without light we can easily stray in the thick forest of temptation, where no glory, money or power can help us. When some say that there is no room for light in the heart of capitalism, I tell them they’re wrong. I have traveled many countries and nations, and I can safely say they’re wrong. There, the citizens of New York are holding up the torch, because the majority of them voted for a mayor who is a visionary and a thinking person, as proven by his care for the poor. What’s even more important, mayor Bill De Blasio is advocating a fair distribution of wealth in the most praised city in the world. When skeptics claim that this is just demagogy in a city with the highest heels and most expensive perfumes in women, and most gold cards in men, in a city of many homeless about whom poets wrote, I must say it again: this is no demagogy, nor is it socialism, because I have seen for myself what this “equality” eventually looks like in former communist countries, always in the pockets of those closest to the ruler’s scepter. No, it is a call to provide opportunities to all creative people working towards the greater good. It is modern capitalism with a soul. Anyway, regardless of what we call this system, it is important for it to be beneficial to every person, regardless of race, gender, religion or possessions. A system at whose center there will be people instead of mere profit. Only then will America fully become a promised land: a home to creative people who will become torch bearers of light through a synergy of knowledge, compassion and faith, and who will create a new and just world through a synergy of the sun and wind. And I believe that America, with its visionaries, shall become the leader of a brave new world, and in order to reach the entrance to a brave new world, one must undergo a personal catharsis, because by celebrating the spiritual individual, we celebrate a spiritual nation too. Individuals who spread compassion, love, conscience, knowledge, ideas and faith around the world, and raise these noble values to an elevated altar of humanity. Yes, by having those noble human values, we become pilgrims at the gates of the new world.
We should never forget those values that make us human: compassion, love, honesty, conscience and faith. Let us not forget that a strong spirit is a person’s best ally in times of temptation. In the thick forest of temptation, a man without conscience is like a lamp without oil. To create values for the benefit of society makes everyone happy, including the person who creates them, lest we forget that being alone in one’s happiness is the worst of miseries. This is why it is important to promote these noble values and ethics at the elite universities, not just success at any cost in one’s career, be it politics, law, business or whatever.
Great dreamer and writer, Charles Dickens, once said that it’s the imagination that makes the writer, and I would add that the imagination is what creates ideas, and ideas create visionaries. The more vivid the imagination, and dreams, the greater the visions.
The Internet was created thanks to visions, as well as social networks that connect people, independent electronic bookstores like Amazon who became a beacon for many a writer and poet. I believe that the world’s dictators, greedy bankers and corporations would pay in gold to make the Internet disappear, because it would make them masters of the truth. If it wasn’t for the Internet, this article would never reach the hearts of mankind.
Yes, my dear friends, dreams, and ideas, are worth much more than oil and gas, because visionaries can create a sinergy between nature and man, instead of being an enemy to the sun and the wind, because then mankind will have a much more powerful driving force in the shape of the wind and the sun, than we have in oil and gas now. Let’s not fool our self, global warming is not a natural process, it’s the result of human greed. Oil and gas are monopolized by a small group of people, while the sun and wind cannot be monopolized. Just like us humans, the sun is the work of the same Creator, and thus it belongs to everyone, not just to a certain group of people. This way, there would be much less poverty in the world than there is today. I believe, like the bravest girl and the world, Malala, and many other dreamers, in the freedom of the individual, and because if this I also believe that no one can prohibit compassion, faith and love, all of which are things that a person either does or does not have within them. Creative people who create values towards the greater good become free visionaries, and those who keep adding to their wealth become slaves to greed. Yes, scientists shall clone the human embryo in their laboratories tomorrow, and they shall reprogram somatic cells, thus creating a human clone, but never will there be a scientist who will be able to create a soul, which provides humans with feelings, and we know that feelings give birth to compassion and love.
(However, we must never forget that they are great scientists were religious. Albert Einstein was religious, the physician Sir Isaac Newton too, as well as Louis Pasteur, William Calvin, Leonardo da Vinci, Nikola Tesla… after all, immortal poets and writers like Fjodor Mihajlovič Dostojevski, Frost, Jesenjin, Whitman, Lorca, Charles Dickens… they created immortal works of art through a strong spirit and faith).
Some skeptics will smirk at this, skeptically saying that they only believe in what they can see, but the noblest of things cannot be seen. You cannot see love, but we our self are the best proof that it exists. You cannot see air, but we know that it exists, because we woudn’t be able to live without it. We cannot see the wind, but we can feel it, we cannot see the warmth of the sun, but we can also feel it. This bond between nature and humans is the best proof of the Creator’s existence.
Yes, I was a skeptic too during my youth, believing only those things that can be seen with one’s eyes. Still, now that my life’s ship is sailing faster than it ever did on this ocean of temptation, I can safely say that the human soul is the sacred home to our fragile humanity.
There are many religions, but there is only one overarching faith, and those who respect the religion of others is closest to faith, as are those who respect other people like they respect them self. I have learned to respect other religions like my own because, after all, they all have their roots in the one faith we all have in common. To respect the feelings of the faithful and to respect other religions means that you are tolerant and wise, because you want to learn, and what is most valuable in life, you have peace and serenity in life.
When they ask me about what patriotism means to me, I calmly answered that those who help others are the greatest patriots, and if people in different countries would think along these lines, there would be a lot less poor people, dictatorships and wars in the world.
As a poet, I trust the law of the heart more than any paper law, and this is why my beacon will be people who consider ideas, vision, conscience, compassion, freedom and faith a blessing instead of a curse. Media that are slaves to hierarchy are no different from those who single out the church, because both are serving the hierarchy, and as such they serve their institutions than their original mission, being the truth for media, and faith for the church. Praise the Lord for all those wonderful missionaries of humanity in both the church and the media (for example CNN), who help those in need, thus spreading light around the world. Still, the church tends to isolate itself more and more, unwittingly distancing themselves from the people. Instead of reaching out to that silent majority, who are their followers, and cure apathy, they lock themselves into their buildings. To provide an example, I must once again return to the small and wonderful Croatia, where 90% of the people are Catholic (which is sadly true for all religions, and it serves to prove my hypothesis that there are many religions, as well as masters, but only one overarching faith, and one Creator). While in Croatia, I wrote articles in which I warned believers that they are increasingly turning into hypocrites, because they go to church during the holidays with an inexplicable aura of kindness, only to imprison that kindness into an armor of egotism upon exiting the church. Apathy is identical with egotism. When they walk by beggars, they turn their heads away, apathetically whispering that these must be professional beggars, oblivious to the fact that poverty is misfortune, rather than a profession. Yes, one has to charitable all year long, not just during Christmas, or else we will become hypocrites instead of believers. Why is apathy a sin? Although the power of democracy lies in the majority, that same silent majority is killing democracy with its apathy, and so it is not surprising to see a minority made up of the political caste and tycoons dominating that same silent majority, and this is the very betrayal of the freedom bestowed upon us by the Creator. I would like to focus on an important example: when an alliance of corrupt politicians and unfeeling thieves (and that is what they are – plain thieves) bought a company for peanuts, they immediately destroyed it, because it was built in an attractive location in the center of Zagreb, thus creating an infernal plan to make a hundred times as much money by selling the land than they originally invested. They didn’t care about production or creating new jobs, nor did they care about destroying hundreds of lives of honest women who worked in that textile company called ‘Kamensko’. The company itself had all the prerequisites to continue production with a profit, but all the women ended up in the street being unemployed. Hundreds of brand companies were destroyed in the same manner, before the bare eyes of the silent majority, who never understood that their apathy is what keeps the political caste, that is gradually destroying wonderful Croatia, in power. What happened to the women who worked for ‘Kamensko’? Well, these brave women never gave in to melancholy. Instead, they went on strike and hit the streets, because they were smart enough to be aware of the fact that their shares were transferred from their pockets into the pockets of tycoon thieves by corrupt politicians. However, the silent majority never joined in. Instead, these people hid in their holes, oblivious to the fact that the same fate awaits them in the future. It is horrible to know that there were more stray dogs than people joining these brave an dignified women in the freezing cold. Does this mean that a dog is more of a friend to men than men themselves? And what about the church? Did the priests and bishops stand up to join these women? No! I stood by them, but the church did not, and so I openly asked them why they wouldn’t join the women of Kamensko in their protest. It is supposed to be their mission to stand by those in need if they want to be in the prayers of those in need. If the Cardinal can stand next to the mayor of Zagreb, a greedy politician who is lying even when crossing himself, during the Christmas concert in the Cibona arena, then he should stand by the Kamensko women too, this is what that unique faith in God teaches us, lest we forget that Jesus always stood by those who were in need and never retreated into huge buildings made of stone. He praised his father day after day by going to those in need, never thinking twice before touching lepers with his bare hands, or giving his voice to those who couldn’t speak, proving that silence isn’t golden, but rather rust that eats away at faith. Wherever he went, apathy vanished. He shared his love and his divine spirit with those in need, and he gave us light. This is proof of the fact that people don’t need to visit any large buildings to find God. Doing good unto others is enough to find God in oneself. Croatian media didn’t do justice to that sad story. HRT, the national television (over)paid for by citizens, kept their silence, and this is their greatest sin, exceeded only by the fact that they never unmask those who rob their own nation, the “reformed” political caste. Commercial TV networks like NOVA TV, RTL, as well as the Jutarnji List newspaper, Vecernji list ,have betrayed the journalist codex by serving those whom they should unmask. That greedy and unfeeling minority, that insensitive and infernally greedy political caste provides no opportunity to creative people who would create something valuable for the greater good. Instead, they are chasing people away with their egotism, to countries that do provide such opportunities. This is how poverty is created in the world. This small country of Croatia is just a reflection of a world in which there is increasing poverty and a shamelessly small group of wealthy people.
What about the media in America, the citadel of freedom? Do the media light the torch or put it out? Sadly, fact is that some powerful media are increasingly prone to putting it out. Media are owned by corporations that only care for profit anyhow. Their stock means more to them than good old journalist ethics, and the losers in this story are those because of whom journalism exists, the audience. If we take a look at the cult magazine, the New Yorker (being symbolic of other popular magazines), and imagine Walt Whitman descending to earth and writing the best social prose poem in his unique libertarian style, and sign it as an unknown author, do you think that the editors would publish it? No, they wouldn’t! Trust me when I say that this poem would only find its way to the garbage bin, and it’s not just because of the sick vanity of the barren poets who ended up becoming editors, but also that accursed hierarchy that is turning journalism and art into Orwell’s animal farm. Art’s mission is to nurture compassion, love, conscience and art in people. True art lights the torch. Isn’t the alley of immortals filled by songs that gave birth to that silent tear in the eyes of people, that is still very much audible to the heart? Those arrogant editors should at once learn that they are putting out that light. Yes, these arrogant editors keep caressing the monuments dedicated to immortal poets, who spent their lives in disgrace because of editors like them. These editors quote poems as pompously as if it they wrote them themselves. They cling to bronze statues of dead poets like darkness clings to candles, yet they are oblivious to living poets. But thank God, visionaries created electronic bookstores like Amazon, and social networks like LinkedIn, that became a beacon for poets and poetry and prose fans. Sadly, media, movies and publishing are swimming down the nihilist stream of decadence, straight into the jaws of the master of all streams, greed itself. Celebrity movies, like those four girlfriends with empty eyes and plastic smiles, chatting about their sexual adventures and running around on high heels in the opulent streets of New York, or novels that serve profit more than they serve art, all of these are dulling down the hearts and minds of the audience. In this sad story, the audience is turning into johns, as if they were in a bordello. Some of the stream masters are using celebrity issues to lobotomize their audiences. For example, any media bought by the media mogul Murdoch was soon enough turned into celebrity trash. It is no surprise to see that dietary pamphlets, books on healthy food and cosmetics sell many more copies than original prose art, which is the ultimate defeat of mankind’s mind and heart. Yes, Murdoch is bragging with the fact that profit comes first, and that he raised the circulation of his media, and he is winning the sweepstakes, but we are forgetting that this is how he lobotomizes his clients. Whom does this suit? Those who should have their masks torn off by the media. Those who are greedy to the point of being diseased. But thank God, visionaries created CNN (Ted Turner) , universal Television with soul and mind, voice of the freedom, the voice of a human being.
But I still believe in mankind, as imperfect as I am. I believe for the sake of those business visionaries, creative people, those who protect nature, poets, writers, screenwriters, movie directors, jazz, country and rock performers, talented interpreters, all those hones and thinking people, common people who do not look at the world through glassed prescribed by banks, but through the eyes of the soul. Many kind people wonder what they should do to help the third world, because there is an increasing number of hungry people there. The cold calculating ones will say that disease and hunger will do the job by cutting the population in half, because there are more people and less food now. In my opinion, donations alone aren’t helping, because this is akin to administering anesthetics without performing the actual surgery. Third world countries, like African countries, should be educated first, so that the greedy political castes would no longer be able to toy around with people, because it is obvious that they can con the ignorant people like they could a small child. Let us not forget the wise words of Confucius: I am reading so I won’t forget. I am watching to remember. I am learning to understand. Next, once these greedy political castes are removed, a bank should be established in each third world country (and by this I don’t mean those greedy banks that are laundering hundreds of billions of dollars worth of dirty money made by cartels and political dictators), banks that will finance the ideas of creative third world people with healthy capital. Don’t think that there are no creative people in these countries, because God provides imagination and creativity to people, and the duty of schools is to shape that gift into knowledge. Of course, those who invest healthy capital into such ventures would also profit from it. So, both the banks, creative people, and the community in general would profit from that. This way, a multitude of jobs would be created in third world countries, and the wealth would be divided in a fair manner, because we shouldn’t forget that creative people aren’t driven by profit alone, but by visions as well. Such visionaries create values for the greater good.
Life can be comedy sometimes, and comedy can be life. This paradox isn’t just because of the first rate actors, the politicians, but because of the extras too. Those who do not use their heads to think or their heart to feel become extras. The Lord’s most merciful gift to mankind is the freedom to choose. This is why every person has the freedom to choose between good and evil. When some apathetic people blame God for war and hunger, they should remember that they were given the freedom to choose. Since the moment of birth, people fight the two selves within, the good one and the bad one. The choice between good and evil depends on the strength of the human spirit. Let us remember that compassion, and the lack thereof, isn’t specific to classes. This is why it is important for the new millennium to nurture ideas and creativity, because creative people, guided by visions, won’t be creating for their own sake, but for the community too. Creative people realize that global warming isn’t a natural process, but a product of human greed. Let’s consider China. People can barely see there, not just because of the all-encompassing lobotomy performed by the Communist party, but because of the horrible smog, and that smog is not a natural process, but a product of immense greed. This horrible greed that links all the world’s dictators, is depriving humans of humanity. There are hundreds of work camps in China, where liberally minded and creative people are mixed with common thieves, so that they aren’t just robbed of their freedom, but of their dignity too. The greed of the Chinese government doesn’t end there. They are destroying millions of farmers on purpose, so they could build cold concrete cities and factories on their lands. Yes, these greedy people don’t just create harmful smog, but also apathy in men, which is an even bigger sin. It suffices to peek into the exclusive Shanghai and Beijing restaurants to see how coldly the newly rich Chinese look at the rows of the impoverished through golden window frames. Sadly, they don’t understand that it is not just their nation they are destroying with greed, but also Mother Nature, and their own future too.
Once people realize – and there are visionaries a plenty, praise the Lord – that only a synergy between nature and mankind can push the world forward, the smog will disappear too. Yes, the sun and the wind will be sources of unimaginable energy in the future, energy that will enable mankind to visit such places in space that the even the most vivid of imaginations is unable to depict now. What is even more important, that natural energy won’t be owned by a chosen and way too wealthy few, but by all mankind, because you cannot imprison the sun and the wind for your benefit only. Those apathetic ones might say that this is just one poet’s imagination on the loose. When apathy throws you into a windless ocean, remember the wise words of an ancient shipwrecked philosopher: Those who dream of change, wait for a favorable wind. Those who have visions build sails
Walter William Safar
Walter William Safar
