The Door Into Summer 2023
This is my birthday view from the shop office's back door. Above the door is a sign inspired by the Heinlein novel of the same name: The Door Into Summer. This is the time of year where the daylight hours lengthen, giving promise of better and brighter days ahead.
The last three years have been dark and depressing for so many people around the world. While a few have prospered, some obscenely so, most have seen their lives becoming more restricted, depressed, and poorer. No-one expected this. But we are a resilient species. Were it not so, we would never have explored beyond Africa. As it is, we are everywhere, even 330 km above Earth’s surface.
There is good news among the tsunami of disasters. Choosing one’s sources of information is critical. Bad news gets the eyeballs. Good news hides in academic papers, niche websites, and a few precious books. Choose your sources for accuracy and optimism. A suggestion: avoid media based in the USA. Why encourage that spiral into the abyss of self-pity and negativity? While you’re at it, stay away from “news” sources with a tendency to bald-faced lies, opportunistic propaganda, and poor impulse control. If you’re reading this, you know which ones fall into those categories!
Perhaps the theme of that old musical will come to pass after all…
“Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions”
One can hope. And while hoping, working to “Make it so!”