300 - 17.8.26 - 1: Ma turns 80 today!

Ma turns 80 today. It was Pa's fifth month anniversary yesterday, but in all honestly, I did not even remember it for two reasons. One, because him not being here is something which we have accepted and two, that he always here now. Pa is always with us, all the time. I can really feel it. He is still here looking after us and protecting us. 

I truly do feel it. Pa. 

I was thinking about the idea of what is beautiful and Ruskin's idea of "Do not have anything in your home which you do not believe to be beautiful or useful". Which is very good advice. And it is also great advice for anyone deciding what you should do about something, should you get rid of it or should you keep it? Of course beauty and use are subjective, but sufficient is not. If you have something which is surplus to requirements, it is always going to be problematic.

So being able to have enough, to have a good bit of fat, to make sure that you have developed a sense of balance - those are all things which are non subjective.

Capitalism is against all those things. Capitalism says having more is what winning is about. And you have more by controlling more. Extracting whatever you can from the thing which you have a relationship with. It is the very definition of literal exploitation. And you keep the subject in a inferior position from you by depriving them of agency, or maybe the already have no agency. This is where love comes in. This has been the way of the world up to Roman times, until Jesus came along and said, that's enough now. Love one another just as I have loved you. This message, now seen in ten feet high lettering in many Christian organisations was seditious. Love? What was love? Love was a foolish idiotic thing. It probably didn't really exist as it does now. The Greeks had several names for different types of love, but the love where you were willing to give your life for people you didn't really know, who hated you? Well, that was radical.

Now to the vexing question of Singapore. Singapore is neoliberalism on steroids and it is now in the process of trying to square the circle. The government discovered Keynsian economics a while back and it has never stopped since. I remember when I was in my 20s, my friends told me that Singapore had only used like 10% of its land, something I found hard to believe. Fast forward 30 years, only 10 per cent of the land is now left unused. The problem is that Singaporeans or lets just say abused people, have a terrible sense of aesthetics. Or maybe people in general do. They think that what is beautiful is hard and artificial. They have zero connection with nature or indeed other people. Their entire narrative is a transactional one, and you can't blame them. The most influential person in Singapore's history was a dictator who saw everything as a transaction. We are all just LKY's babies. To the point where people will break the bodies and minds of their own children on the rocks of what is considered achievement and progress. Your humanity means nothing. Nothing. The only thing which matters of what use you are to me - and usually that translates into money.

For some reason I have been immune to this, mostly, because at a very young age, I saw that money did not buy you happiness. I mean, it could, but it usually doesn't. Happiness is knowing what is enough. What is sufficient. That is what happiness is. Being able to say, actually spending time with family and with myself and doing the things I love is more important. My sons having this wonderful relationship with me - that is treasure. 

Then being with my mum, that is treasure also. All this is treasure. 

Not some stupid private jet and some holiday photos somewhere. That is stupid. 

That is surplus to requirements. Doing my mum's garden, that is treasure. Having time to run and swim - luxury. Go leor. Go leor. 

Singapore, somewhere along the way, overshot this. You can measure how much it overshot this by - every year, it overshoot it's yearly environmental requirements one minute after midnight. After that it lives like some kind of vampire on the blood of other countries. I have just checked, it is Feb 23, which makes it the 3rd country to overshoot it's requirements. I'm pretty sure that's wrong because it is actually that minute past midnight. Probably negotiated this for the Earth Shot people. 

Anyway - that's all I have to say about all of it. 

Well, that's all i have for now. I'm gonna go for my run at the club and then a swim. I know I am lucky. I have more than enough. Enough is enough. And it is plenty.