Hard to squeeze in here all that's happened during the last 3 weeks but...let's get started:
It will be over in the next days. I'm moving.
So yeah, apart from the fact that with a not early enough warning the landlord decided to double the rent (don't ask me to comment it) leading me to fast forward the process of moving tons of stuff I've gathered here over the last 9 years (where did these years go?) plus search for a new place, the war in Ukraine begun.
To most people (I guess, hope not) this would beg the question "why put this burden on you hosting them since you don't exactly have a place for yourself yet". I just can't even think calling a friend in such need and get a no as an answer. My Ukrainian friend has a lovely pretty and bright 12 year old boy. Really feels like looking at myself when I was his age. Contrary to him though I was lucky to have a super peaceful childhood able to enjoy the unparalleled beauty of Athens riviera and the whole coastline up to Sounio swimming on every little bay possible. This boy who just had his birthday a few days ago had to leave his home and country behind under attack not knowing how both of them will look like when/if he returns one day. Trying to escape the country under such conditions is a torture by itself. I think they spent almost a day in their car only to make it up to the border in this insane traffic jam that you might have witnessed in pictures already. You just can't say no to these people.
Back to the moving process, it was a torture for me though obviously nothing even close to the above. I did it all alone (with the exception of 30 minutes that a good friend spared for me) and was far from easy. You see, my music gear alone makes the stuff I have to move double than a random guy's. 4 sets of speakers, guitar amps and cabinets, a drum set, just to name a few.
At least I had the option to choose what to take with me while moving all that stuff including the option to take them all if I wished to show no mercy to my back while war doesn't allow space for such luxury.
Don't bother counting I'll do it for you: That's 7 bags on it and still enough space for yours truly the rider. You just don't wanna drop a bike loaded like this cause you can never pick it up unless you spend a day getting rid off all that luggage first.
Where will I be after the next couple of weeks? No fucking idea. My initial plan when I first knew that my days here are over was to take my first long post covid trip abroad, a super much needed one after more than 2 years of pandemic madness which followed a decade of economic and political madness here in Greece. Now even this might not be an option. That's beyond "God laughs when people make plans".
To be honest my limits have been insistingly tested through all these years if nothing else. Sometimes I question myself "are you sure you can console Ukrainians cause you actually kinda need someone to console yourself in the first place". The answer is easy: never pretend you can compare your gloom with someone experiencing war while you don't.
Here comes Murphy's law who hadn't said his last word yet: During one of the intense days moving heavy stuff I got a flat tire on my car. Extremely rare for me to get a flat as I check pressures frequently so I thought it should be a severe puncture. Turned out it was the fucking valve itself. I never had a faulty valve in my half a million kms of driving various vehicles. So you might say "not the end of the world, put the spare on". Well, the spare was left where I have temporarily stored my things in order to save space in the car...nice eh?
Ever tried to carry a 205/75/15 tire on a bike for 60 km distance? Trust me it's not as easy as it looks like. Especially with a heavy steel rim like this one.
Impressive how things can change in the blink of an eye isn't it? Except the obvious flood of thoughts that burden my head now even the feel of listening to some songs has changed. When the radio plays "War Pigs" it doesn't sound as much fun as it used to and "Who Wants to Live Forever" is now more heartbreaking than it ever was. I'm in a cross of mentally exhausted and soul drained at the moment. Beyond tired in more than one ways. Where will this lead to? No idea. I won't dare to say "the darkest hour is right before dawn" though I tent to cause all the previous times I did there was even lower to go. Let's just hope that's the rock bottom. And I mean for humanity in general, can't just focus on me during historic times like these.
Commenting the war itself could lead me in writing a book. Where to start from...the corrosion of Merkelism, the lack of Churchills but unfortunately no lack of Chamberlains, the steady amount of Hitlers waiting to grab the chance...I could go on forever. Makes any point?. People are destined to make the same mistakes over and over again hence our evolution is far from linear with repeated ups and downs. However, the technological progress is always sky rocketing and if humanity can be proud of one thing that's it.
People rush to build a comfort zone and deny to see anything out of it. That's what feeds their pseudo confidence. What's the purpose of history books if we don't learn? Makes me thing that as a minister of education I'd better spend those money on offering free trips instead in a desperate effort to make people a little more wise and balanced.
Till then, brace for impact, do all you can to prevent the worse from happening and help people who are in need. Even if you lack sense of justice to motivate you do it cause you just don't know when you will be in need too.
Ars longa Vita brevis:
You have any doubts? Just look at the above picture. I wish one day I will be honoured and privileged to meet the creator of this fantastic piece of art which turned a random wall of Rue Buot in Paris into a historic piece of art. Easily made it to my "to visit" list. If only it was as easy to disconnect from the gloom of war news today.
Let's give it a try though, again with the help of art:
7 years ago, May of 2015 I am joining a bunch of other bikers for a motorcycle trip willing to ride all the way from Greece up to Morocco and then Pyrenees and back (if you wanna have a look click here). Back then my friend Marilyn Carino had just released her album "Leaves, Sadness and Science" with Mike Mills, bass player of REM. During my days of riding around the bare and brown landscapes of Sahara I was listening to the album during my rest hours. It kinda blended unexpectedly nice with the images my eyes were harvesting during my Moroccan days, so much that I felt the need to enhance with my guitar a few songs from the album as soon as I would be back home. The song which welcomed me the most to do so in terms of having free sonic space to fill was a track called "War & Peace". I did the whole thing first take and I sent Marilyn the result. I was more than happy to see that she was happy with it commenting "wow, you really understood the song!" and also happy that as she told me Mike Mills was OK with it (didn't have the chance to cross check what that meant precisely except that at least it wasn't bad to his ears). Have a listen to it here:
(I kick in the song after the first 15 seconds in case you wonder how I sound like)
One can see the current war situation in more than one ways:
On one hand is the obviously depressive fact that humanity is bound to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Allowing power to Hitlers, tolerating them or even worse endorsing them. On the opposite, if this time we avoid a WWIII despite the fact that it's perfect time for one it will mark a tremendous improvement for mankind. I know these last words have no space to breath in the tragedy Ukrainians are facing today but zooming out is the way to see the big picture.
Personally speaking the war has helped my sight too. Ironically, the emotions I get when I read the news do wonders to my often dry eyes by wetting them. You see, as ancient Greeks used to say "nothing bad happens for no good reason". Again, considering what Ukrainians are going through this otherwise innocent humour sounds kinda black today. Intense times like these polarise things.
Who knows, we might get a little wiser after all. I just hope that this will happen with the least innocent souls gone possible.
Peace on earth!
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