Bleak outlook

My eldest asked if I had seen the shower of stars. Before that, she had set the alarm and got up at night to watch it with the children. Starry shower? I don't know anything and honestly, watching it isn't worth interrupting my sleep.

Did you make a lot of wishes, I asked.

She looked at me somewhat sheepishly. So the answer will probably be no. No wishes are made because of a shower of falling rocks, perhaps if only there had been one. Strange how a star is considered a beautiful thing. Who came up with that? Is that because it is a bright spot on a dark night? Admittedly a light that seems to fall on the earth, but still.

What if you are watching an atomic shower? You are not aware of it and if you stand under such a sky it can be quite a beautiful sight. Would you notice anything or do you enjoy that light, you might make a wish if one comes to mind and next you are dead. With a bit of luck, you won't die while you're feeling cold, that seems awful to me.

It will happen soon, says my son, who says that a lunar eclipse is coming and asks if I know about it.

I don't know anything about it. Every starry shower, sun or lunar eclipse passes me by. Also the blood moon. On average it is cloudy and when it is dark you can see little to nothing anyway.

Yesterday, all I saw was the moon in the sky. It is autumn so the days are shorter, a bit of extra light is helpful.

Tonight the clock will be set backwards for one hour again. Not that a single human has gained anything from manipulating time in the past 6 months. Electricity has certainly not been saved, although they say that was the idea behind it.

You can convince the average person of anything clear to me, and even if they hate all the nonsense, they have no voice in it and obey. Nowadays this all will be nothing more than another test. Testing how obedient the people are.

I wonder how many watched that shower of stars and saw the lunar eclipse. My son set foot outside for a second. As I went out later there was nothing.

It was only about 12%, he remarked. Twelve per cent is what the media makes such a fuss about.

I don't think the public cares. Let's be honest there are more important things in our lives.

Instead of a shower of stars, a rain of bullets. Not the lunar eclipse (moonlight is practical when I walk the dog in the evening or have to go to the toilet), but power outages (blackouts or not being able to pay the bill) or poor vision due to lack of glasses, no food, no shelter are more important issues. Not to mention the extremely high raises in (food)prices. Food that is far from healthy, full of chemicals, tastes especially of salt, and smells disgusting which destroys all enjoyment in life.

If I watch Korean series I feel somewhat nostalgic, because I notice food is still important. No matter how bad one feels, you have to eat. A tasty meal does wonders for the mood. Unfortunately, most of what is in the stores these days looks unappetizing (Bill Gates promised he would do that to our food), and that is not due to yet another provoked war, but to the policy that the average person has no right to live a good life in this world.

I wish I had your relaxed life, said an acquaintance.

What are you waiting for, I asked.

Not that my life is always so relaxed, perhaps relaxing only goes with a certain character, felines, or you have to be elderly first. Then you have reached the point where you no longer care about your fellow man, the media, yet another war, cloudbursts, storms and epidemics, the untasty food on your plate, just like that star shower and lunar eclipse. After all, you've experienced it all more than once and there are crises every ten years. You know by then that life has no meaning, just like going to college and having a career. You survived it all, the only thing you long for is peace, to be forgotten and to put an end to this useless, meaningless life knowing that no one will shed a tear and the wealthy will be toasting an expensive red wine because you obeyed and did it yourself.

29-10-2023

Photo taken by me