Playing for Time

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LIFE IS LIKE A DECK OF CARDS

Hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs.

Hearts = LOVE

Diamonds = WEALTH

Spades = INDUSTRY

Clubs = WAR

**

Most every society known to man has started from LOVE, in the form of an idea, a mutual goal, a dream.

In lucky cases the dream becomes WEALTH.

Wealth propagates greater and better INDUSTRY.

And INDUSTRY eventually, inevitably, turns to WAR for sustenance because there is no WEALTH-provider more generous.

Therefore, WEALTH, INDUSTRY, and WAR have been anointed the great protectors of LOVE, the place where everything originates.

Have we missed the point entirely? Repeatedly, ad infinitum? Is LOVE even still the goal? Is it winning any WARS in this millennium?

LOVE holds layers and implies much: Freedom, first of all. And at the very least, intimacy, passion, and commitment. Without it, humanity is dead in the water, so what’s the point of endless WEALTH, INDUSTRY, and WAR?

As Country Joe and the Fish put it in 1967…

And it’s one, two, three,

What are we fighting for ?

Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,

Next stop is Vietnam;

And it’s five, six, seven,

Open up the pearly gates,

Well there ain’t no time to wonder why,

Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.

**

Can someone tell me in what ways the American psyche has changed in the nearly 60 years since those lyrics were written? Nobody? Damn, I was really hoping somebody would be able to point to some positives as a bit of reassurance to all of us that LOVE is indeed still the point.

In an era when the laws of natural selection are playing hell with continued evolution, it becomes ever more crucial to keep the main thing the main thing. And LOVE isn’t just the main thing… it’s the ONLY thing.

**

JSmith 08/17/2023 with thx to Kim Smith for his generous insight during spa time.