Pig Brother

AIDS was the start, for me. When I was very young, there was a diet product called Aids. That made sense – it was an aid. AIDS didn’t sound that bad at first. Maybe that was the idea, like asking people to leave a smoke-filling auditorium in a ‘quiet and orderly fashion’. Whatever you do, don’t yell, “Fire!”

At some point, naming things – from consumer products to epidemics – became a bit of a laugh. I won’t bore you with lists that you can well draw up yourselves.

And now we have swine flu.

It is influenza, that much is for sure. But it has never been passed from pig to pig, much less pig to human. It has, clearly, spread from human to human, apparently beginning in Mexico.

For all the sense it makes, it may as well have been called rat flu.

Maybe that’s been reserved for the next one.

Unspeakable

Language is the origin and the end.

We do not think. We use language.

This is where all the problems begin.

They never end.

"If God knows everything then he or she or it must know what I am going to do next, which means I have no free will, which means none of it is my fault, which means it is all God's fault. If he or she or it does not know, then he or she or it is not God."

Language.

Anyone or anything or anybody thinking without language can easily understand the concept of God.

Mathematicians use equations. They write them down. Idiots use language. They write it down.

The Divine is not an equation, much less a poem or an image.

The Divine is simple.

The Divine is absurd.

The Divine is complex.

The Divine is all.

The Divine is patience.

The Divine is waiting.

Joy

Stand up for your self.

Stand up for your beliefs.

Stand up for your dignity.

Stand up for your future.

Stand up for your name.

Stand up for your legacy.

Stand up for your loved ones.

Stand up for love.

Stand up for feeling.

Stand up for the weak.

Stand up for the poor.

Stand up for the needy.

Stand up for what is right.

Stand up.

Flaunt

You’ve got it. This bra helps you flaunt it with revolutionary, light-gel technology you won’t find anywhere else! Sexy, seamless styling accentuates your curves. Decorative straps add a flash of fashion. All for amazing lift and more cleavage than ever before.

That comes from the Wonderbra site.

Now, where's the harm in that?

Here's where. I was in the gym the other day and a girl no older than 15 had decided that flaunting was her thing. It wasn't sexy. It was revolting and she was in no way to blame. Her parents are probably my age and either think she looks cool, or they don't understand the damage done by reducing everything to sexual attraction.

And what damage would that be?

- Reduced ambition in girls

- Lack of self esteem in girls

- A sense in boys that girls perform for them

- A loss of respect for each other

ad infinitum

Tumbling

Economic Darwinism is in play, and we look on, baffled by the numbers and unmoved by the political speeches. How could we do or be anything else? We live in a world in which we have no influence, no say, no control and no hope. We are tumbling.

The thing about tumbling, as opposed to just falling over, however, is that there is a momentum involved, and if you catch it just right, you can spring and fly.

This is not about making a killing on a market. This is about finding out, when all is said and done, who we are, and taking it from there. We are no more defined by the cars we drive and houses we live in than we are by our shoe size. Things often get much worse before they get any better, but for those that dig deep and come through, a new beginning can erase the bitterest end.

Told you I had moved my head quarters.