© NTS                                                                     Nina Simone telling it how it is

Beyond Coronavirus, life goes on. This was written last week, before sprouting segments of the Globe were swept up in the tornado of Covid-19. We’re posting it because it’s still relevant and because we’re all capable of holding more than two ideas at a time.

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One might legitimately ask the question ‘why has it taken so long’?

Why, when all women have known for their whole lives that we don’t like being man-handled, have our protests not been heard?

Mebbie because Listening’s only just become a thing?

Nina Simone’s excruciating line from Mississippi Goddam “you don’t have to live next to me, just give me my equality” gets right to heart of injustice. One way to interpret that is: you will never be anything other than what you are. For some crazy reason, you think I should only exist if I am compliant.

The pandemic sweeping itself across the world will bring in its wake threats and opportunities on a scale we haven’t seen … maybe in our lifetime. An aspect it affords is the chance to re-think how we … each of us … behaves.

What is the chance, do you think, that the MeFirst thing – you know, iphone et al – might pivot to #U-phone or even better #phone-U?

We’ve talked about Smeagol/Gollum before in the context of holding onto to stuff that damages us. Well, he’s also an example of how a creature shrinks its heart through grabbing for himself everything in reach whether needed or not.

Putting others first rarely jeopardizes us: no, we benefit. Think of the last time you did some small kindness for its own sake … and how good that made you feel.

Well, maybe treating men and women with kind courtesy, respecting their inalienable right to exist and contribute to the world’s wellness might have a positive role to play in fashioning values of which we might all be Goddam proud?