Cities need three things to survive as communities in which living is vibrant: “local” schools with no need for busing, varied faith centers serving the spiritual needs of residents and “piazzas” – community gathering places centered in such a way that neighbours of every stripe and hue can congregate and share.
Tag Archives: environment
Everything. . . including democracy, has a best before date.
For silence to be warm it must have the rhythmic cadence of a heartbeat, the soothing texture of a wave-washed beach, the sensual treble of a windblown kiss. For, silence’s richness lies in its soft embrace and most especially. . . in its patient acceptance of being repeatedly broken by those who need noise to feel alive.
The greatest abusers of this era of victimhood are those who treat it as a windfall.
The human race is the only species which seeks knowledge – not to fortify its own existence, actions and survival – but to eliminate responsibility for the destruction it leaves in its wake.
The arts are a counter-balance to the demands of conformity, to a submission to the status quo and to lowest common denominator expectations concocted by an environment become complacent.
Bullying is not an errant virus nor an alien flaw imposing itself upon the fabric of a society. It cannot and does not exist in a vacuum. As such, it is an integral part of the environment which has spawned and nurtures it. That it thrives in a context which fails to value individual worth over cloned sameness is obvious. But no regulations or laws will ever rid us of bullying. No entity, whether government, school or family, can impose rules or guidelines which will eradicate abuse of any kind. For bullying to fade or to become less prevalent, a society needs have the capacity or willingness to recognize that it is a byproduct of a community’s total health. For all intents and purposes, to heal a society must incorporate (or if need be) reintroduce into its DNA that which has been lost: basic standards and values. Without them bullying, at all levels of society and in all age brackets, will do nothing but increase.
Rules, regulations and laws formulated on a bed of emotions and bred in a victimhood environment contaminate and eventually erode rational thought – upon which democratic principles, freedoms and creativity are based.
The most wondrous painted walls are those which disappear when a painting or sculpture are placed before or upon them.
Through the internet, individuals, communities, corporations, institutions, regions and countries which once saw themselves as huge, powerful and invincible in their own environment, are increasingly discovering how truly small and insignificant they truly are in the grand scheme of things. . . And because of this they are frightened. And, as a result, hellbent on controlling the internet. . .
