THIRTY SOMETHING by Ishi Dinim
This time last year I was in mourning and now I’m celebrating. I feel so thankful for the life I have and for the people with whom I have been blessed to share it with. Am I naïve to be so positive?
Six months ago, everything was about going green, electing Obama and a bright future. Now I’m told that the next great depression looms on the horizon, our government is in shambles and no one cares about the environment anymore because we’ve got terrorists again. I try to grasp how all the news will actually affect my life; it seems like a comedy skit that’s gone from parody to reality.
I’m no economic sage, but these recent bailout plans seem a little odd under the current system. It is a free-market Darwinist philosophy when times are good for the big boys. But when times get bad, we hand them a socialist taxpayer-paid bandage. Go figure. Well, the fact that there is a president who plays basketball is something to be thankful for. In the New Year, I imagine we’ll be reading about people in the White House shooting jumpers in their friends’ faces instead of shotguns.
I hope there’ll be news that I actually want to hear about: how the concentrated efforts of conscientious, generous humans are widespread and making the world a distinctly better place.
These days, I’m humbled by Mother Nature’s abundant delivery of snow and the way its gentle force makes us slow ourselves and ponder the world inside and out. In all the cultural stir at this time of year, remember what we’ve already got, love the people you’re around and be kind and gentle with yourself.
Quote
I think it’s realistic to have hope. One can be a perverse idealist and say the easiest thing: ‘I despair. The world’s no good.’ That’s a perverse idealist. It’s practical to hope because the hope is for us to survive as a human species. That’s very realistic. – Studs Terkel
Film/Series
The Visitor
The Wire (All five seasons)
Hamlet 2
WALL-E
Web
www.stv.ca
www.dublab.com
Ishi graduated from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2001, with a BFA. He makes films, collects cacti, and ponders many things. Currently he is doing what he can for himself, his family and the planet. contact:ishi@yahoo.ca