So I found myself in this hall of old, with standards and flags lining the walls, surrounded by soldiers, guards, marines and warriors of the finest standard. But if war was ever to find our shore, it’s the people at my table I’d take with me.
United we Stand
As we wander through the abyss that is history, we all leave our mark. We all leave something behind on our journey to somewhere else. Be it a thought, a story, an object or just a whisper, we all influence history in one way or the other.
Once, there was a miner working in coalmine somwhere in the world. His work was hard and his life had little joys besides his family. From 6 til 8, every day, every week, for years, he worked in the mines. Breaking coal from stone from coal. His fingers gripping tools made by man, carving lumps of black rock that would someday fuel someones adventure or dream. As drops of sweat fell to the floor, as his coughing could be heard in the neigbouring tunnels, his very soul stayd behind in the cave. He left, he quit his job and never returned, but his soul, or at least a very tiny fraction of it, was always there. Somewhere in his heart, he was always there. As he left this world all that remained of him was lost to us, his face, his name and his thoughts forever lost in the void of the universe. But the tiny fraction of his soul that stayed behind in the mine, it lingers on, a spirit left behind in the created constructions of man. A ghost in the machine.
The factory worker working on the model T-Ford in 1908, his name and face is forgotten by all but a few remaining relatives, but his spirit and soul, wether he wish it or not, is forever imprinted on the work that he did on the black automobile. If he polished the headlights or was responsible for tuning the gearbox doesn’t really matter, something of him was stored in that machine for all eternity. For as the machine dies, the impact it left on history, and thus our factory worker, lingers on.
The SkunkWorks engineer working on the SR-71 Blackbird, his pencil drawings dictating where the wings should bend, and exactly at what angle the tail rudder should be placed. He is remembered more for his work than the factory worker, but still, his most important mark on history is the spirit he left behind in the great blackbird. And as long as the machine is remembered, the ghosts of those who built it will remain in our cognitive memory and intelligence.
Computer programmers in the number of hundreds worked on the system on which this text was written. Alon the way, the implanted bits of themselves into the system, unknowing, unwilling or deliberate, some minute parts of their creative intelligence lingers on in thousands of systems around the world. Tiny strings of code, random or by purpose, they form unwanted behaviour, they create new or just sit there idle, they are perhaps machine in essence, but created by soul, they will always remain ghosts of their creators.
As we cross ways with inventions, creations and impossibilities throughout our journey, we leave behind something of ourselves at every waypoint. Every time our energy is focused to creation, every time we pour our creativity into something, we leave something else behind. Unnoticable, minute pieces of our will, tiny fractions of our soul, whispers of our ideas, they stay behind and inhabit our creations. Giving them life and sometimes soul themselves. Thus, we are all creators of ghosts. Thus, all creations are ghosts.
a gHost in the machine?
Yesterday we went to the cinema and watched a french film: Intouchables. All I want to say is that I think this film is a real pearl: Funny, sad and at times critical about the social problems we all face in the larger cities around the world and in Europe. This film made me laugh and it touched my heart. If you get a chance you should really go and see it.
(I know the trailer is in French, but it is the original trailer and it is great)
Waking up. Taking a shower. Shaving. (sometimes) Turning on the radio. Getting the newspaper. Eating breakfast. Getting dressed. Kissing S goodbye. Out the door. Walking to work, picking up a coffee on the way. Turning on my computer. Checking e-mails. Reading news. Phones. Meetings. Having lunch. (and some more coffee). More phones. More meetings. (not always) Even more e-mails. Reading news. Turning off my computer. Getting a full tram home. Shopping groceries. Making and having dinner. Kissing S hello. Watching TV. Reading news. Brushing my teeth. Turning of the lights. Good night. Falling asleep.
Waking up. Taking a shower. Shaving. (sometimes) Turning on the radio. Getting the newspaper. Eating breakfast. Getting dressed. Kissing S goodbye. Out the door. Walking to work, picking up a coffee on the way. Turning on my computer. Checking e-mails. Reading news. Phones. Meetings. Having lunch. (and some more coffee). More phones. More meetings. (not always) Even more e-mails. Reading news. Drawing sketches for a client. Turning off my computer. Getting a full tram home. Shopping groceries. Making and having dinner. Kissing S hello. Watching TV. Reading news. Brushing my teeth. Turning of the lights. Good night. Falling asleep.
Waking up. Taking a shower. Shaving. (sometimes) Turning on the radio. Getting the newspaper. Eating breakfast. Getting dressed. Kissing S goodbye. Out the door. Walking to work, picking up a coffee on the way. Turning on my computer. Checking e-mails. Reading news. Phones. Meetings. Having lunch. (and some more coffee). More phones. More meetings. (not always) Even more e-mails. Reading news. Drawing sketches for a client. Making design suggestions for a job. Turning off my computer. Getting a full tram home. Shopping groceries. Making and having dinner. Kissing S hello. Watching TV. Reading news. Brushing my teeth. Turning of the lights. Good night. Falling asleep.
Waking up. Taking a shower. Shaving. (sometimes) Turning on the radio. Getting the newspaper. Eating breakfast. Getting dressed. Kissing S goodbye. Out the door. Walking to work, picking up a coffee on the way. Turning on my computer. Checking e-mails. Reading news. Phones. Meetings. Having lunch. (and some more coffee). More phones. More meetings. (not always) Even more e-mails. Reading news. Drawing sketches for a client. Making design suggestions for a job. Taking a photograph. Turning off my computer. Getting a full tram home. Shopping groceries. Making and having dinner. Kissing S hello. Watching TV. Reading news. Brushing my teeth. Turning of the lights. Good night. Falling asleep.
Waking up. Taking a shower. Shaving. (sometimes) Turning on the radio. Getting the newspaper. Eating breakfast. Getting dressed. Kissing S goodbye. Out the door. Walking to work, picking up a coffee on the way. Turning on my computer. Checking e-mails. Reading news. Phones. Meetings. Having lunch. (and some more coffee). More phones. More meetings. (not always) Even more e-mails. Reading news. Drawing sketches for a client. Making design suggestions for a job. Taking a photograph. Evoking someones emotions. Turning off my computer. Getting a full tram home. Shopping groceries. Making and having dinner. Kissing S hello. Watching TV. Reading news. Brushing my teeth. Turning of the lights. Good night. Falling asleep.
Waking up. Taking a shower. Shaving. (sometimes) Turning on the radio. Getting the newspaper. Eating breakfast. Getting dressed. Kissing S goodbye. Out the door. Walking to work, picking up a coffee on the way. Turning on my computer. Checking e-mails. Reading news. Phones. Meetings. Having lunch. (and some more coffee). More phones. More meetings. (not always) Even more e-mails. Reading news. Drawing sketches for a client. Making design suggestions for a job. Taking a photograph. Evoking someones emotions. Making art. Turning off my computer. Getting a full tram home. Shopping groceries. Making and having dinner. Kissing S hello. Watching TV. Reading news. Brushing my teeth. Turning of the lights. Good night. Falling asleep.
through and througH, a Poet
My body is a temple, I’ve heard that said before, but I’ve always thought of my body as a machine, a fragile machine, which can endure some hardship, and if treated well and maintained properly will endure further for longer, this isn’t altogether true, but it’s close enough for the analogy.
The mind is not so simple, some scars remain forever, some fondness too, while other details which in their time seemed so important are erased forever. Is it the curse of having a mind which can appreciate beauty that it should forget the very thing it came to love, or is it a blessing that a mind which was hurt so badly is able to heal, forget and continue.
Today would have been a day, a normal day in the running of all days but a year ago I deemed it to be a celebration, and I find myself today wishing I hadn’t because the doing so immortalised it in my mind, a mind which returns to reopen past scars and packs them with fondness so that they may never heal again.
So I suppose it’s time to say something festive…
Eat cake, because without it all we would have was bread, and what sort of a life is a life with only bread as a companion.
Merry Christmas.
Eyal’s post has once again left me deeply impressed. This final speech of Charlie Chaplin in “The great dictator” has always been something extraordinary in filmmaking ever. When I first watched the film, I could not believe it had its premiere in 1940, right in the middle of the biggest and most devastating crisis of mankind ever. The wisdom that is in this speech is impressive. It is ever so sad that it didn’t help to end what happened during the years to follow.
As Eyal said it, we as people can reach great things if we stand together as one. We can make progress beyond the imaginable. We can free the world and we can make the world a better place for everyone. How much talent and cleverness, how much humanity and peace is buried and killed every day in slavery and inhuman working conditions somewhere in the world? How many people suffer for our wealth? It is Christmas time and the marketing campaigns do a great job of showing us how horribly wrong the balance on earth between all people really is. We get asked for money and this is the time when most people are more willing to give something for charity.
But the day after Christmas, the old treadmill is starting again. We cannot completely escape our own barriers and borders in life. Our life gives us our problems to solve. But besides us, we have elected other people to fulfill our will. And it must be our will to help everyone on earth to reach a life in peace. Without hunger, thirst, disease, fear and war. We are all men, no matter what colour of skin, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
I have created a new category for this post: “us”. Because only together, we will be able to change something. Europe, United States… whatever. These are man-made borders. But mankind should not know any borders.
This week has been an interesting one politically.
I’ll be honest, I have been working some crazy shifts lately, awake at night, asleep through the day so I feel like I’ve been in a perpetual state of limbo, not quite awake, not quite asleep but drifting between the two. Today I woke up, and found my country in a mess, our genius of a Prime Minister thinks that it’s better to got it alone than to stick with Europe. apparently he has put the importance of the city ahead of businesses and industry.
Sarkozy today said in an interview that “there are now two Europes”
It seems that not only has Cameron severed our relations with the EU, but by doing so has weakend our position with Beijing, and the US, as Britain is now not sitting in a decision making seat in Europe, we are of significantly less use to them.
It seems that Europe is split, and that the UK itself is splitting in two, one side who want to stay with our European brothers and one who do not.
I know nothing about politics, but I know about people, and I know that when people work together they get further than if they work alone.
Let’s hope that Cameron’s decisions do more than just help rejuvenate this blog, but if not then there at least is one positive.
In the spirit of rejuvenation, I have decided to post a video, as seems to be the fashion, that I know you gentlemen will enjoy as much as I did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8C-qIgbP9o&feature=share
From your friEnd in Isolation.