It is a great feeling to return home.  A “get-a-way” is a luxury, and I have memories that I will cherish for quite some time.  When visiting the shore of Lake Michigan I am aware that my presence is limited.  I fantasize about making time stand still.  A fantasy.  Time, a feature of the mind always moves on, and so must we.

A return “home” is to again take my place in my habitat, in familiar surroundings and to assume responsibilities and routines that belong to me.  Who does not miss one’s own bed when away?  To sleep in your own bed makes homecoming a delight.

“The world” staggers on, relatively unchanged from five days ago when I left for vacation.

This graphic was featured by the New York Times this morning.  A grinning Jeff Bezos, after his space flight, in unguarded ecstasy, spoke more of the truth than he knew:

“I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this,” Mr. Bezos said during a news conference after his spaceflight.   — NY Times

There is no doubt in my mind that capitalism, a set of practices for amassing wealth, is the “heart of darkness” for the time in which we live.  Capitalism is the secret of Jeff Bezos staggering wealth, an open secret, an object of emulation for millions around the world.  Commerce is the binder, the matrix of supply chains and factories, low wage workers, the bond which the vast majority of us have in common.  Billions derived from Amazon’s global commercial hegemony makes possible Bezos’ joy ride into space, — not unlike having a go on the “Tilt-A-Whirl” on the glittering midway of attractions.  But you have to afford the ticket…

If you’d like to read the brief article featured by the New York Times CLICK HERE.

Do I use Amazon?  Yes I do.  I have one or more books close at hand that were purchased from Amazon.  Is there an alternative at a reasonable price, and convenience?

There is simply no “outside” of our way-of-life in the aftermath of the industrial age, and of our capitalist practices.  Do I know of an alternative?  I do not.  It is imperative that we conceive and practice an alternative way of life.

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These events also caught my attention in today’s Times summary that arrived in my email box.

The wild fires continue to burn in California and the northwest.  Conditions are so dry, the terrain so inhospitable, fire crews stretched so thin that there is dwindling prospect of suppressing the fires in Oregon.  Smoke from these massive fires has traveled as far as New York City.

And then there is the flood in China…

Cars sitting in the flooded streets of Zhengzhou, China, on Tuesday. In one day, the region recorded roughly the same rainfall it gets in an average year.   Credit   Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Meanwhile billionaires joy-ride into space as Gaia casts the “thumbs down” upon our extractive way of life.

Enough said.