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Jerry's avatar

When I was in my early 30s I worked as a mechanic in a factory that made fiberglass panels. There was an old mechanic that I worked with who, when we'd all get together for lunch and talk about world affairs, would come across so negative about any optimism I had about politics or government policies or the general state of the union. Used to make me furious. I can hear him now: it's all about money, power, and greed. Nobody does anything unless they're getting something out of it.

A decade later when the company was closing (early 90s, happened a lot) he and I were about the only ones left, and surprisingly he opened up about his early life. He was born in Indonesia, and was in his early teens when the Japanese took over. His idyllic life changed overnight, and he spent years in a labor camp, slaving away for the empire. They were kept in pens with maybe 15 prisoners each. They were starving and had dysentery, and when one of the prisoners would die, they would sit him up to be counted by the guards so they could still receive his rice ration.

He passed long ago, but whenever I start complaining about first world problems I think about what he went through just to survive, and I have discovered over the decades since that what he said about greed, money, and power running the world was absolutely true.

People need someone to say the hard things, and that's what you do. Yours is not a Pollyanna substack, and that's why I'm here.

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mary-lou's avatar

grateful subb here: your writings usually invite doing more reading/research, for which I'm very grateful. one thing leads to an other and so we prod on. currently healing from a major operation I wake up very early each morning, observing the waning moon on its eternal course through the early morning sky (no visible toxic sky-soup, bless their heart!). refraction, perspective, gravity, whatever, it's a beautiful mystery. life's precious.

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