With a little help from my friends ...

I have learnt to love the clown in me again... the one who feels too much, facebooks too much, takes too many risks, wins sometimes and looses most of the time, lacks selfcontrol, loves people and hates what we are doing to this earth, hurts and gets hurt, makes mistakes, laughs often, cries sometimes...

What would you do
If I sang outta tune
Would you stand up
And walk out on me?

Lend me your ears
And I'll sing you a song
I will try not to sing outta key
'Be outta tune'

Yes, over the past few months I have learnt a few things again…

I have learnt to love the fool in me again… the one who sometimes sings "outta tune"...

Sitting here on this beautiful morning watching the sunrise and thinking where the heck we are in this Istart2 journey… Time waits for no man and the clock is ticking towards the end of November when the world will gather in South Africa to change the future...

It is probably very human to start having doubts midway to reaching your goals… but there is just no option to stop a process which has already gone into overdrive… I have also realised that I really need your help, the help of your friends.. as many people as we can to help us make this happen... Help to open a door, help with a design, help with spreading the iSTART2 message... help with organising your networks to support this cause... 

 "The newspapers kept stroking my fear. New surveys provided awful statistics on just about everything. Evidence suggested that we were not doing well. Researchers gloomily agreed. Environment psychologists were interviewed. Damage had ‘unwittingly’ been done. There were ‘feared lapses’. There were ‘misconceptions’ about potential. Situations had ‘deteriorated’. Cruelty was on the rise and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

The populace was confounded, yet didn’t care. Unpublished studies hinted that we were all paying a price. Scientists peered into data and concluded that we should all be very worried. No one knew what normal behavior was anymore, and some argued that this was a form of virtue. And no one argued back. No one challenged anything.

Anxiety was soaking up most people’s days. Everyone had become preoccupied with horror. Madness was fluttering everywhere. There was fifty years of research supporting this data. There were diagrams illustrating all of these problems – circles and hexagons and squares, different sections colored in lime or lilac or gray. Most troubling were the fleeting signs that nothing could transform any of this into something positive.

You couldn’t help being both afraid and fascinated. Reading these articles made you feel that the survival of mankind didn’t seem very important in the long run. We were doomed. We deserved it. I was so tired."
— Bret Easton Ellis

It is also over the last few months that I have learnt once again the value of friends who are there for you through  think and thin. Friends are helpful not only because they will listen to us, but because they will laugh at us. Through them we learn a little objectivity, a little modesty, a little courtesy. We learn how life works and become better players of this game we call life.  

All we need is a little help from our friends.

One is company... two is a crowd... three is heaven

Please email me at pierre@istart2.com if you can help making magic on the iSTART2 process. Thank you...

Morning has broken

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to address you. My name is Lewis Pugh.

This evening, I want to take you back to the early 1990's in this country.  You may remember them well.

Nelson Mandela had been released. There was euphoria in the air. However, there was also widespread violence and deep fear. This country teetered on the brink of a civil war. But somehow, somehow, we averted it. It was a miracle!

And it happened because we had incredible leaders. Leaders who sought calm..  Leaders who had vision. So in spite of all the violence, they sat down and negotiated a New Constitution.

I will never forget holding the Constitution in my hands for the first time.

I was a young law student at the University of Cape Town. This was the cement that brought peace to our land. This was the document, which held our country together. The rights contained herein, made us one.

I remember thinking to myself - never again will the Rights of South Africans be trampled upon.

Now every one of us - every man and every women - black, white, coloured, Indian, believer and non believer - has the right to vote. We all have the Right to Life. And our children have the right to a basic education. These rights are enshrined in our Constitution.

These rights were the dreams of Oliver Tambo. These rights were the dreams of Nelson Mandela. These rights were the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi, of Desmond Tutu and of Molly Blackburn. These rights were our dreams.

People fought ­ and died ­ so that we could enjoy these rights today.

Also enshrined in our Constitution, is the Right to a Healthy Environment and the Right to Water. Our Constitution states that we have the Right to have our environment protected for the benefit of our generation and for the benefit of future generations.

Fellow South Africans, let us not dishonour these rights. Let us not dishonour those men and women who fought and died for these rights. Let us not allow corporate greed to disrespect our Constitution and desecrate our environment.

Never, ever did I think that there would be a debate in this arid country about which was more important ­ gas or water. We can survive without gas....  We cannot live without water.

If we damage our limited water supply ­ and fracking will do just that we will have conflict again here in South Africa. Look around the world. Wherever you damage the environment you have conflict.

Fellow South Africans, we have had enough conflict in this land ­ now is the time for peace.

A few months ago I gave a speech with former President of Costa Rica.  Afterwards I asked him "Mr President, how do you balance the demands of development against the need to protect the environment?"

He looked at me and said : "It is not a balancing act. It is a simple business decision. If we cut down our forests in Costa Rica to satisfy a timber company, what will be left for our future?"

But he pointed out : "It is also a moral decision. It would be morally wrong to chop down our forests and leave nothing for my children and my grandchildren."

Ladies and gentlemen, that is what is at stake here today: Our children's future. And that of our children's children. 

  Can we say no to the little JJ's of this world? 

There may be gas beneath our ground in the Karoo. But are we prepared to destroy our environment for 5 to 10 years worth of fossil fuel and further damage our climate?

Yes, people will be employed ­ but for a short while. And when the drilling is over, and Shell have packed their bags and disappeared, then what? Who will be there to clean up? And what jobs will our children be able to eke out?

Now Shell will tell you that their intentions are honourable. That fracking in the Karoo will not damage our environment. That they will not contaminate our precious water. That they will bring jobs to South Africa.

That gas is clean and green. And that they will help secure our energy supplies.

When I hear this ­ I have one burning question. Why should we trust them?  Africa is to Shell what the Gulf of Mexico is to BP.


Shell, you have a shocking record here in Africa. Just look at your operations in Nigeria. You have spilt more than 9 million barrels of crude oil into the Niger Delta. That's twice the amount of oil that BP spilt into the Gulf of Mexico.

You were found guilty of bribing Nigerian officials ­ and to make the case go away in America - you paid an admission of guilt fine of US$48 million.

And to top it all, you stand accused of being complicit in the execution of Nigeria's leading environmental campaigner ­ Ken Saro-Wira and 8 other activists.

If you were innocent, why did you pay US$15.5 million to the widows and children to settle the case out of Court?

Shell, the path you want us to take us down is not sustainable. I have visited the Arctic for 7 summers in a row. I have seen the tundra thawing.

I have seen the retreating glaciers. And I have seen the melting sea ice.  And I have seen the impact of global warming from the Himalayas all the way down to the low-lying Maldive Islands. Wherever I go ­ I see it.

Now is the time for change. We cannot drill our way out of the energy crisis. The era of fossil fuels is over. We must invest in renewable energy. And we must not delay!

Morning has broken, Like the first morning

Black bird has spoken, like the first bird 

- Cat Stevens

Shell, we look to the north of our continent and we see how people got tired of political tyranny. We have watched as despots, who have ruled ruthlessly year after year, have been toppled in a matter of weeks.

We too are tired. Tired of corporate tyranny. Tired of your short term, unsustainable practices.

We watched as Dr Ian Player, a game ranger from Natal, and his friends, took on Rio Tinto (one of the biggest mining companies in the world) and won.

And we watched as young activists from across Europe, brought you down to your knees, when you tried to dump an enormous oil rig into the North Sea.

Shell, we do not want our Karoo to become another Niger Delta.

Do not underestimate us. Goliath can be brought down. We are proud of what we have achieved in this young democracy ­ and we are not about to let your company come in and destroy it.

So let this be a Call to Arms to everyone across South Africa, who is sitting in the shadow of Goliath: Stand up and demand these fundamental human rights promised to you by our Constitution. Use your voices - tweet, blog, petition, rally the weight of your neighbours and of people in power.

Let us speak out from every hilltop. Let us not go quietly into this bleak future.



Let me end off by saying this - You have lit a fire in our bellies, which no man or woman can extinguish. And if we need to, we will take this fight all the way from your petrol pumps to the very highest Court in this land. We will take this fight from the farms and towns of the Karoo to the streets of London and Amsterdam. And we will take this fight to every one of your shareholders. And I have no doubt, that in the end, good will triumph over evil.

- Lewis Pugh "Human Polar Bear"

iSTART2  for little JJ...

If we only have love ... Skielik is jy vry

The COP17 CHALLENGE…

On the 28th of November 2011 leaders, activists, artists, politicians and people from around the world will get together in Durban at the next Climate Summit to discuss and negotiate climate issues affecting all of us. One would think every country in the world would already have a target for becoming carbon neutral... unfortunately only a few do.

Past Climate Summits have failed to deliver on the mandate to save the planet and to green the future. But the unexpected progress last year in Cancún, Mexico raised expectations that South Africa could provide the rainbow the world needs.


Can we really afford to deny this crucial human rights issue? Can we even afford to not call to account those willing to wreck the planet for their own selfish agendas? Can we afford not to make our voice heard?  
Can you afford not to...?  

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever does" -Margaret Meade 

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." -Mohandas Gandhi 

"It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." -Anne Frank 

Karin Hougaard ...

If we only have love
With our arms open wide
Then the young and the old
Will stand at our side
If we only have love
Love that's falling like rain
Then the parched desert earth
Will grow green again

There are no foreign lands
If we only have love
We will never bow down
We'll be tall as the pines
Neither heroes nor clowns

"Nations will rise and fall, but equality remains the ideal.  The universal aim is to achieve respect for the entire human race, not just for the dominant few."
-Carlos P. Romulo 

"I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."
-Edward Everett 

"All human beings, whatever their cultural or historical background, suffer when they are intimidated, imprisoned or tortured . . . We must, therefore, insist on a global consensus, not only on the need to respect human rights worldwide, but also on the definition of these rights . . . for it is the inherent nature of all human beings to yearn for freedom, equality and dignity, and they have an equal right to achieve that."
-The Dalai Lama 


Freedom to live in a sustainable world... - Philippe Elan

- French artist singing in Afrikaans! Reaching new horizons...

"The world will get the outcome in Durban it is ready for," according to South Africa's savvy lead negotiator, Alf Wills.

Joanne Yawitch, one of South Africa's main negotiators, told the Mail & Guardian that the key is to build relationships before the conference to engage civil society. 

"If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace." -Franklin D. Roosevelt  

The Istart2 project is ideally positioned to enhance and incorporate all diverse people, organizations and other participants in a unified goal. South Africa has the expertise and the responsibility to rise to this challenge.

Creating a sustainable world is a deep moral and human rights issue… the most urgent and critical challenge to our humanity. We have the knowledge. Let our hearts not fail us to make a change at COP17. Our collective sustainability depends on it… 


If other people can start...  can iSTART2? Click your support here. 

A new future awaits….

This Picture

What's wrong with this Picture

I hold an image of the ashtray girl
Of cigarette burns on my chest
I wrote a poem that described her world
And put our friendship to the test
And late at night
Whilst on all fours
She used to watch me kiss the floor

What's wrong with this picture?
What's wrong with this picture?

 A Bill of Rights? A Bill of Responsibility?

…A Bill of Sustainability…

Responsibility

by Charles Osgood

There was a most important job that needed to be done,
And no reason not to do it, there was absolutely none.
But in vital matters such as this, the thing you have to ask
Is who exactly will it be who'll carry out the task?

“Artistic originality is a culture's vital wellspring of renewal.  Lit from within by a unique and transforming vision, deeply original new music, poetry, theater,film and visual art re-imagine life from the inside out.  New forms and new expression offer new ways of understanding our world and ourselves, of envisioning a future” -  Steven Winn

Anybody could have told you that everybody knew
That this was something somebody would surely have to do.
Nobody was unwilling; anybody had the ability.
But nobody believed that it was their responsibility.

All art speaks in signs and symbols.  No one can explain how it happens that the artist can waken to life in us the existence that he has seen and lives through.  No artistic speech is the adequate expression of what it represents; its vital force comes from what is unspoken in it. -  Albert Schweitzer

It seemed to be a job that anybody could have done,
If anybody thought he was supposed to be the one.
But since everybody recognised that anybody could,
Everybody took for granted that somebody would.

Where words fail, music speaks.  Hans Andersen

But nobody told anybody that we are aware of,
That he would be in charge of seeing it was taken care of.
And nobody took it on himself to follow through,
And do what everybody thought that somebody would do.

[The artist] is like a pump; he has inside him a great pipe that reaches down into the entrails of things, the deepest layers.  He sucks up what was lying there below, dim and unnoticed, and brings it in great jets to the sunlight.  Gustave Flaubert

When what everybody needed so did not get done at all,
Everybody was complaining that somebody dropped the ball.
Anybody then could see it was an awful crying shame,
And everybody looked around for somebody to blame.

The artist…is the voice of the people. - Alice Walker

Nearly everybody is looking for something brave to do.  I don't know why people shouldn't write poetry.  That's brave. -  Robert Frost

Dance is the hidden language of the soul, of the body. - Martha Graham

Somebody should have done the job
And Everybody should have,
But in the end Nobody did
What Anybody could have.

Farewell the ashtray girl
Forbidden snowflake
Beware this troubled world
Watch out for earthquakes
Goodbye to open shores
To broken semaphore
You know we miss her
We miss her picture

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS 

PICTURE ?

Placebo...

I have a dream ... We all stand together

The King's Speech

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the challenges of a sustainable world today and tomorrow, I still have a dream... It is a dream deeply rooted in the South African Rainbow dream...

I have a dream, a fantasy
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while

                                                                                                    - Abba

 
I have a dream that one day this world will rise up and live out the true meaning of a rainbow world: "A world where the truth is self-evident: that all diverse people imagine a new future and a sustainable world together."

" We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans both black and white will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity – a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world " – Nelson Mandela

I have a dream that one day in the misty streets of Amsterdam the sons of former Muslims and the sons of former Christians will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the World, a world sweltering with the heat of war, sweltering with the heat of climate change, will be transformed into an oasis of sustainability and peace.

King Edward VIII: Sorry, I've been terribly busy.
King George VI : Doing what?
King Edward VIII : Kinging.
( From The King's Speech")

I have a dream that the son of the son of my son will one day live in a world where he will not be affected by the greed of politicians, religious and business leaders, but by the actions of the character of leaders who create a sustainable world.

Lionel Logue: [as George "Berty" is lighting up a cigarette] Please don't do that.
King George VI : I'm sorry?
Lionel Logue : I believe sucking smoke into your lungs will kill you.
King George VI : My physicians say it relaxes the throat.
Lionel Logue : They're idiots.
King George VI : They've all been knighted.
Lionel Logue : Makes it official then.
( From: The King's Speech)

“It is clear that good corporate governance makes good sense. The name of the game for a company in the 21st Century will be conform while it performs.“ - Mervyn King (Chairman: King Report)

I have a dream today.


I have a dream that one day, all over the World, with its vicious extremists, with its leaders having their lips dripping with the words of division and denial; one day right here in the World, little Christian boys and girls will be able to join hands with little Muslim, Atheist, Agnostic and Hindu boys and girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every village shall have water, every town and city shall have energy, the polluted places will be made clean, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of a united Universe shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that we go back into the World with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to build together, to struggle together, to green together, to stand up for a sustainable world together, knowing that we will save this earth..

“To set aside one’s prejudices, one’s present needs, and one’s own self interest in making a decision as a director for a company is an intellectual exercise that takes constant practice. In short, intellectual honesty is a journey and not a destination.” – Dr Mervyn King (Chairman: King Report)

This will be the day when all the children of the World will be able to sing with a new meaning, "We all stand together."


 
And if the South African Rainbow nation is to be a great example this must become true. So let sustainability sing from the prodigious mountaintops of Israel. Let sustainability sing from the mighty deserts of Egypt. Let sustainability sing from the diverse geography of Turkey, from the frightening waters of the Gulf of Mexiko!

" I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses. " – Nelson Mandela

Cos in my African Dream
There's a new tomorrow
My African dream
Is a dream that we can follow

- Vicky Sampson

Let sustainability sing from the snowcapped Mountains of New Zealand!

Let sustainability sing from the curvaceous land of Libya! Let it sing from Japan...

But not only that; let sustainability sing from Australia to China, from the Philippines to Zimbabwe!

Let sustainability sing from Macha Picchu Mountain of Peru!

Let sustainability sing from every iceberg in the Arctic. From every country, let sustainability sing a song together.

Win or lose, sink or swim,
one thing is certain, we'll never give in.
Side by side, hand in hand,
we all stand together.

And when this happens, when we allow a sustainable world, when we let it sing from every village and every town, from every city and every country, we will be able to speed up that day when all the children, abled and disabled, black men and white men, Jews and Catholics, Protestants and Muslims, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of Martin Luther King: "I have a dream..."

Lionel Logue: Do you know any jokes?
King George VI : ...Timing isn't my strong suit.
(From: The King's Speech)

American Pie

Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

When a man longs to be free he will sail to the end of the sea
I won't be gone too long but while I travel on just close your wings and wait for me...
- Danyel Gerard

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes.

Gregor Samsa wakes up to find that he has been transformed into a giant insect. Gregor briefly examines his new body, but wonders only momentarily about what has happened to him. His attention quickly switches to observing his room, which he finds very ordinary but a bit small, and a framed magazine clipping of a woman in fur hanging up on the wall. Since he can't turn on his side, Gregor cannot fall asleep, so instead he begins thinking about his job. He is a traveling salesman, and he hates traveling because he dislikes worrying and getting up early. Gregor's chief at work is extremely tyrannical, and Gregor wants to quit the job but cannot do so until he has paid off the debts that his parents owe the chief.

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while

Gregor wants to get up to go to work, but suddenly realizes that he is already late and must have missed the alarm. He can't call in sick because he has not missed a day of work in five years and it would look suspicious. Gregor's mother calls to him, and he answers her, noticing that his voice is changing. Gregor's father and Grete, his sister, realize that he is still at home and try to enter his room, but he has locked his doors and they can't get in. Gregor attempts to get out of bed, but finds this very difficult. He realizes that he is now very late, and lies back hoping that some clear thinking will resolve the situation. Suddenly the doorbell rings and the chief clerk comes into the apartment. Angry that his firm sends the chief clerk himself if he is only a little late, Gregor finally swings himself out of bed.

Did you write the book of love,
And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?
Do you believe in rock ’n roll,
Can music save your mortal soul,
And can you teach me how to dance real slow? 

As the family entreats Gregor to open the door, he refuses. Mrs. Samsa insists that Gregor must be ill or he would not be acting like this. The chief clerk loses his temper and tells Gregor that he is shocked by his attitude, insisting that his position in the company is not unassailable because his work has been poor lately. Gregor is angered by this speech, and insists that he is simply feeling slightly indisposed but will soon return to work. He retorts that his business has not been bad lately. Because of the changes in Gregor's voice, no one outside understands a word he says. Fearing he is ill, his parents send Grete and the servant girl to get the doctor and the locksmith. With great difficulty Gregor manages to open the door by himself.

Seeing Gregor, the chief clerk backs away while his father begins to weep. Gregor begs the chief clerk to explain the situation at the office and to stand up for him. He says that he will gladly come back to work and asks the chief clerk not to leave without agreeing with him. Gregor tries to stop the clerk so as to keep him from leaving with such a negative view of things, but then his mother, backing away, knocks over a coffee pot, causing a commotion and giving the chief clerk an opportunity to get away. Gregor's father picks up a walking stick to drive Gregor back into his room. Gregor gets stuck in the doorway, and his father shoves him through, injuring him in the process, and slams the door behind him.

Now for ten years we’ve been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin’ stone,
But that’s not how it used to be.
When the jester sang for the king and queen,
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me,

Gregor wakes up at twilight and smells food. He realizes that his sister had brought him milk with bread in it. Gregor attempts to drink the milk, but finds that he is repulsed by the taste. Gregor notices that his father is not reading the paper to the family as he usually does and there is complete silence in the apartment. He wants someone to come in his room, but the doors are locked from the outside and no one will enter. Gregor climbs under the couch, where he feels more comfortable, and decides that he has to help his family through this difficult situation. Gregor's sister brings him a variety of foods in order to determine what he will eat. She throws away everything he doesn't finish, even if he hasn't touched it. Gregor hides under the couch to protect Grete from having to see him.

Assuming that Gregor can't understand anything, no one talks to him directly, so he learns what is happening by listening to their conversations through the door. He finds out that the family has money saved from his father's business, which had collapsed five year ago. Gregor had not known about this money, and when his father's business fell apart, he had thrown himself into his work in order to provide for his family. The family's initial excitement of receiving his earnings had worn off, however, and he remained intimate only with Grete, whom he had wanted to send to the Conservatory to study the violin.

Gregor watches his movements carefully, since any noise he makes distracts his family. He learns from their conversations that in addition to money from the business, the family has also saved money from his salary, but it isn't enough to live off of for very long. Gregor feels deep shame every time money is mentioned. He finds that his vision is getting worse, so that he can no longer see across the street. Every time Grete walks into the room, she runs to open the window, which bothers Gregor. Realizing that his sister is uncomfortable in his presence, Gregor figures out a way to cover himself with a sheet to keep out of sight. Gregor's parents never come into his room, and when his mother begs to see her son, the others hold her back.

Gregor discovers that he enjoys climbing the walls and the ceiling. Noticing this, his sister decides to give him more space by clearing the furniture from his room, and she asks her mother to help. Gregor's mother says that this will make it look like they are giving up on Gregor's recovery, but Grete disagrees. Hearing his mother's voice, Gregor realizes the importance of the furniture to him. The noise that the women make upsets him, and he decides to come out of hiding to save the framed picture on the wall from being taken.


Seeing him, his mother faints and Grete runs out of the room for medicine to revive her with. Gregor follows and when his sister sees him she runs into his room and slams the door, trapping Gregor outside. His father arrives to find him out of his room and begins throwing apples at him. One of these lodges itself in Gregor's back, almost crippling him. As he loses consciousness, his mother begs her husband to spare her son's life.

We started singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
And singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

Gregor's injury makes the family decide to be more accepting of him, and they leave his door open so he can watch them. They are very quiet most of the time and extremely tired from the jobs they have taken. No one bothers with Gregor too much. They have replaced the servant girl with a charwoman. Gregor, lying in his room, resorts to his memory. The family considers moving, but can't because they don't know how to move Gregor. He becomes angry that he is being neglected. Grete barely cleans his room and doesn't bother very much with his food anymore. When his mother tries to clean the room in Grete's absence, this triggers a family fight.

The charwoman, discovering Gregor, is not repulsed but rather spends her time teasing him, which annoys him to no end. Three lodgers have moved into the apartment, and the excess furniture, as well as all superfluous junk, is moved into Gregor's room so that he barely has room to move. He also stops eating almost entirely. The door to his room is now usually kept closed because of the lodgers, but Gregor doesn't care any more and often ignores it even when it's open.

The lodgers, who are domineering and receive too much service and respect from Gregor's parents, ask Grete to play the violin in the living room when they hear her practicing. She begins to play, but the lodgers are soon tired of this and move away to show that they are disappointed with her playing. Gregor, however, is drawn to the music and crawls out of his room to get closer, dreaming of getting Grete to play for him in his room and of telling her about his plans to send her to the Conservatory. The lodgers suddenly notice Gregor and give notice immediately, saying they will not pay for the time they have lived there.

Grete steps forward and tells her parents that they have to get rid of Gregor. He is persecuting them and trying to drive them out of the apartment and, if he really were Gregor, he would have left of his own accord and let them live their lives in peace. Suddenly realizing that he feels only love and tenderness for his family, Gregor understands that his sister is right and he should disappear. He returns to his room, waits until sunrise, and dies.

Gregor's family is happy, but they also mourn his passing. Mr. Samsa instantly kicks the lodgers out and the family decides to take the day off from work and go for a stroll. They feel relieved and the future seems bright to them. The parents notice that their daughter has grown up and decide that it is time to find her a husband. At the end of their trip, she is the first to stand up and stretch.

Oh, and while the king was looking down,
The jester stole his thorny crown.
The courtroom was adjourned;
No verdict was returned.
And while lennon read a book of Marx,
The quartet practiced in the park,
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died.
- Don Mclean

Mad World... What a wonderful World

Imagine a new Future together....

   All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world mad world

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

   - Gary Jules (Mad World)

  Black on flat water past the jonquil lawns

       Riding, the black swan draws

  A private chaos warbling in its wake,

  Assuming, like a fourth dimension, splendor   

  That calls the child with white ideas of swans   

       Nearer to that green lake

    Where every paradox means wonder. 

  Though the black swan’s arched neck is like   

       A question-mark on the lake,

  The swan outlaws all possible questioning:   

  A thing in itself, like love, like submarine   

  Disaster, or the first sound when we wake;

       And the swan-song it sings

    Is the huge silence of the swan.

…. The Black Swan by James Merrill

… undirected and unpredicted...

The 16 Hundreds...

Juvenal: "Rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno" - "a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan.”

Willem de Vlamingh: “ Oh look! A Black Swan!”  (Dutch explorer, (Vlamink?) who discovered Black Swans on the Swan River in Australia.)

The 18 Hundreds...

Hans Christian Anderson: “Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg”.

The 19 Hundreds...

Albert Einstein: " You cannot simultaneously prepare for and prevent war."

Tom 'Tommy' Blue: “If you kick her in the heart, she'll break your leg.” (From the Movie Black Swan, 1942)

Jamie: Church bells.
Tom 'Tommy' Blue: Aye. Some people like to hear them. I like trumpets better ( From The Black Swan, Movie, 1942)

Microsoft: "Ah, the first personal computer!" (1980"s)

1990's: " Ah, a network of networks. The commercialization of the internet"

The 21^st Century... 

9/11: "Today is truly a day that will never be forgotten.  It was on this day, September 11, 2001, that ..... Events took place that changed the lives of ...."

The Future...

Nelson Mandela: “ A rare Black Swan event!”

Desmond Tutu: “ It is beyond everything we could have ever expected.”

Barack Obama: “ I could have never predicted this... 

Zuckerberg: “ Scientific methods was used in the non-computability of the probability of this consequential event.”

The Pope: “ My bias made all of us blind to uncertainty and the massive role of this event in the future of the World”

A few examples of Black Swan Events through the ages...Yes, it is sometimes interesting to imagine Black Swan events in our future...  it may also be good to observe the lessons of Nassim Taleb...

Nassim Taleb: “Our fixed model considered the "known unknowns", but ignored the "unknown unknowns":

- What is fragile should break early while it is still small

 - No socialisation of losses and privatisation of gains

- Whatever may need to be bailed out should be nationalised; whatever does not need a bail-out should be free, small and riskbearing.

-  People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus. The economics establishment (universities, regulators, central bankers, government officials, various organisations staffed with economists) lost its legitimacy with the failure of the system. It is irresponsible and foolish to put our trust in the ability of such experts to get us out of this mess. Instead, find the smart people whose hands are clean.

- Do not let someone making an “incentive” bonus manage a nuclear plant – or your financial risks.

- Counter-balance complexity with simplicity.

- Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning .

- Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to “restore confidence”.

- Do not give an addict more drugs if he has withdrawal pains

- Citizens should not depend on financial assets or fallible “expert” advice for their retirement. Citizens should experience anxiety about their own businesses (which they control), not their investments (which they do not control).

- Make an omelette with the broken eggs.

It is all fine to observe the above principles, but...can a small change at one place in a complex system have large effects elsewhere? Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in South Africa set off a tornado in the rest of the world?

The truth is...?

Thomas Leroy: The truth is when I look at you all I see is the white swan. Yes you're beautiful, fearful, and fragile. Ideal casting. But the black swan? It's a hard fucking job to dance both.
Nina: I can dance the black swan, too.
Thomas Leroy: Really? In 4 years every time you dance I see you obsessed getting each and every move perfectly right but I never see you lose yourself. Ever! All that discipline for what? 

Nina: [whispers] I just want to be perfect.
Thomas Leroy: What?
Nina: I want to be perfect.
Thomas Leroy: [scoffs] Perfection is not just about control. It's also about letting go. Surprise yourself so you can surprise the audience. Transcendence! Very few have it in them.

(From the movie The Black Swan, 2011)

... imagine a Black Swan ...

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you.

Riding, the black swan draws a private chaos warbling  in its wake.... paradox means wonder...  
'Mmmm…” ISTART2 Caregiver,  27 November 2011