But I've sat with enough elderly and hurting folk (volunteering in Canada especially) to know how easy it is to lose those social scripts. Touch deprived, disconnected, caught up in one's thoughts...

It's very easy for us to feel invisible, and very hard to return again to the full fraternity of human beings to which we all belong.

May we always remember the times when we've needed others to help us learn how to "people" again. There will surely come times when we need another's kindness anew.

Although I had a lovely round of chats coming back from the run, I also had one fellow who rushed from friendly chat around the tinto vendor to trying to get my number.

The trick with this type is that they're not all ill-intentioned. Many are just so unused to being seen that they don't have a fuller range of scripts. Ah! Feminized person talking to me! Must pursue!

I politely decline but keep the group chat going. Most then get over the initial brain spaz & everyone goes away feeling good. 👌

🤗 If anyone lives in a place where they don't have friendly encounters with neighbours when they step outside, please take a greeting:

1) Off to work? The energy rolling off you is *incredible*. I hope it carries you through a wonderful day.

2) Hey! That is a smashing colour on you. The fabric looks super comfortable, too. Rock on, you stylish beast.

3) What a gift to see your face again! It's been a bit, hasn't it? Hope everything's going great with the fam--and say hello to your dog for me!

Just finished a lousy 5K--but although my time is still poor, I had a good chuckle while passing a news broadcast.

Colombia may be known as a land of drugs, but fentanyl only showed up last year, & I've done a lot of PSA'ing with street folk about its dangers & how N Am'ns have built a culture around naloxone readiness.

The chuckle: Authorities just took down some fentanyl smugglers, but are still warning Colombians about the scary drug from beyond. Every culture has its outside menaces eh? 🙃

Y'know, folks...

I know it can sound silly when I marvel at how well we "human" together here.

But I don't just mean in the good times, when we're checking in with one another and cheering each other on.

I know a lot of people's kindness is hard-won.

And sometimes, when we meet others on a bad day here, all we can offer is patience and maybe space.

But it's not perfection or relentless good cheer that I adore in you lot.

It's honesty with the mess.

*Our* mess.

Thank you for that, always.

Ridiculous bit of street harassment today.

Fellow was handing out flyers to stir up business for himself as a handyman, & I thought to myself, "oh that might be useful", but this dude could NOT stay professional for a second. Gushed about my skin, talked aloud about how it would look against his, made kissy gestures... in his 30s!

But the thing that really gets me is... he lost a sale! Why would I *ever* let him into my home? Sometimes the mouth moves before the brain can catch up, I guess. 🙃

And paid subscribers - sorry about not having your piece up Sunday.

I did that thing I sometimes do in editing, where I pause, pace, and reassess some of my initial premises. Hopefully for the better, in the end!

As you'll see later tonight, this one has a dramatic premise. Trying to stick the landing on what comes next was the tough bit - but we got there eventually, I think. 🤞

I hope your weeks are starting with brilliant reading, viewing, or just plain living, wherever life finds you all.

Earlier this month, I wrote on the Global Risks report, which found false information to be the world's top concern, because 3 billion are going to the polls in the next two years amid a propaganda nightmare.

Last week, I wrote on the start of India's election season (1.4b) and the start of the US election season (340m). Today we look at Germany's (84m), in light of its struggle with nationalists. How have recent protests and bans fared, at stemming the neofascist tide?

https://onlysky.media/mclark/germanys-far-right-politics-narrowly-nipped-for-now/

Okay, CoSo.

I'm going to take the next couple of days away, but newsletter subscribers will still receive their mail-outs. (I just won't post them here.)

Take care of the joint, eh? Use the designated smoking areas, clean as you go (and always go Pro), and remember that we recycle the empties but toss the crackpots.

💛 TTFN, you nuts.

And now for something lighter...

Death!

Specifically, "Ghosts vs. Ghosts": a wee meditation for Psychopomp, on how two versions of the same TV concept diverge widely on cultural concerns, but are united in a curious indifference to the mysteries of the afterlife (even when living with it!) that speaks to the strikingly fluid ways we view family and purpose today.

Just a lil' fluff reading for your afternoon, if you're so inclined. (With thanks to @WordsmithFL!) #CoSoTV
https://psychopomp.com/ghosts-vs-ghosts/

In case anyone needs a refresher:

I am Canadian.

I write from a perspective of global humanism.

For OnlySky, I explore international struggles for humanist action; climate change and its impact on human agency; media and sci/tech literacy. Sometimes I rap my fellow atheists on the knuckles, too.

Elsewhere, including my newsletter, I throw in historical and lit analyses. But I don't *ever* come to my work by playing into condemnation narratives.

There's enough demonization to go around.

There was definitely more to say than I addressed here, but there'll be time enough in the coming months for the rest, I'm sure.

The real site of grief today, for my US friends, is the election you *won't* get to have in November, thanks to your narrowed options for presidential candidate.

There are so many important economic, legal, and foreign-policy issues you should be seeing hashed out on the main stage.

But the 2024 election has already been stolen--from you.
https://onlysky.media/mclark/the-election-us-voters-wont-get-to-have/

Yea though I walk under the shadow of pollen, I will fear no sneezing, because I am not allergic. (My clothes are covered, though. 🙃 I'm a walking allergen.)

Everything looks a little alien before dawn.

Body's all creaky today, but at least I'm up and out. 👍🏻

#Nature

If anyone else has been holding their breath through the last few days of war news out of Israel and Gaza, please remember to breathe, hydrate, and take breaks.

This is not a post inviting commentary on the aid blockades, the indomitable work of victims' families, the ICJ's scope of inquiry, the ongoing politicking with third-party brokers--none of it.

Just a simple reminder to breathe, hydrate, and take breaks.

A watched war is constant turmoil.

Health first, to prepare for what comes next.

(More on this with tomorrow's article, but for now, I'm just expressing gratitude for the important practice of leaving one's info silo, and listening to many sources.

It is incredibly important that we question our assumptions and operate with caution whenever receiving data that affirms what we already believe to be true. Always interrogate first impressions: at worst, you'll end up better prepared to field doubts and counterpoints to solid intel; at best, you might learn something new!)

Although I'll never stop referring to one financial podcast as the "sociopaths' pod", I also follow both right- & left-wing legal analysis, & I deeply appreciate the insights I get from the former.

There *are* coherent right-wing arguments for many legal positions we tend rail against because the consequences of a verdict are so blatantly bad, especially amid far-right culture--and listening to classic conservative proceduralism often reveals the deeper textual problems that need to be undone.