The walls have rainbows and unicorns prance across the penny plastered floors. A flower floats in my spiced Mexican mocha. Outside, bright colours slash the graffitied buildings as rainbow flags flutter from broken windows. Eclectic escapism in a world teetering on the cliff edge.
I breathe in the coffee shop aromas and patron scenarios. I breathe out words. Secluded in my corner, people don’t see me. Invisible, I watch them. Each one a variegated bubble unto themselves. At the register, momentary encounters between passing worlds. Bumping uncomfortably. Mask muffled again. Coffee is the brief connector.
We need magical unicorns. The Delta variant pandemic is crushing us with another wave and Lambda floats in on the crest. As Lord Stark would say; “winter is coming”. Dragons are breathing fire across the world. The UN Climate Report gave humanity a Code Red as our politicians’ golf.
My coffee is pretty. It tastes of the past normal. A sign on the door lists menu items no longer available due to shortages. Normal left the building weeks ago. We are all struggling with a reality too stark to bear. We need rainbows.
Greta Thunberg is on the cover of Vogue denouncing the fashion world for “greenwashing”. She voices a truth that is drowned by the sound of cash registers. ” The fashion industry is a huge contributor to the climate-and-ecological emergency”. Our global politicians and billionaires are bunging jumping into space and chasing golf balls on water greedy courses as people are made homeless by climate catastrophes. Corporate CEOs are buying golden passports to escape the US. They bring their destruction with them. There is no escape. We need magicians.
From Paradise, our greed and selfishness created Hell. As the world burns from the American West Coast to the suburbs of Athens, Greece we grasp at a world that has ceased to exist. There is no more time for the luxury of fantasy. Retribution is upon us. I stop people and ask, what is your future? What is the future of your children? If we do nothing, now, IS there a future?
Sirens are sounding outside, people running from the side street. The crack of bullets hitting- something. Hollywood is off the screen and outside the door. I wait. No point in leaving my corner. I write, seeking with my words for connection. Cassandra at the Temple watching the fall of Troy.
I am a journalist. I have witnessed the darkest depths where evil exists and those moments of shining courageous perfection that we, as humans are capable of. I observe and breathe out the words. Journalists and journalism are under attack. Why? We are placed to write the truths we see. Uncomfortable. Stark. Revealing. Products that are hard to “sell” in a world demanding instant coffee solutions and temporary happiness. I am a journalist. I won’t sell you happiness here. I won’t sell you false, instant solutions.
I Will show you uncomfortable truths and offer you the choice to make a difference now, for our disappearing future. There is no more time left. We don’t need broken shop windows or self-serving political dividers grasping for the mirage of power. The unicorns are gone. Winter is here.
Kvkrenner © 2021
Thank you Christopher. I appreciate your insight and comments. I firmly believe each of us has the power to make some level of change. Our attitude of “convenience” in our daily lives demands dramatic re-evaluation. How we turn the tide of social media from a sales tool to a viable”work tool” for the environment is a a challenge we all must take on. Instead a of “like” button, we need a “Do Something” button..
Troy is falling.
Possibly one of the most stark observations of the extraction challenges we all face in the word today. Beautifully crafted and expressed is the reality of the situation humanity faces. I take from Karins message, and I hope others do, the ray of hope if we recognise the need to do more as individuals to help stop this emerging catastrophe. Individuals can help, the smallest of contributions, recycle more, make lifestyle changes to reduce carbon emissions, it’s these little things, that if we all do something will help. We need to be lest selfish if we are to save and protect the wonderful environment we have. Thank you Karin, I hope this and your other writings and photos, inspire others like they did me.