To be a barnacle: a rant.

Oh, to be a barnacle, with my head down there, deep in the dark, unseeing, unknowing! And with armoured plates over all to keep it that way!

Acorn barnacles, large and small, shut down for the duration.

I feel powerless, mostly. The news is always bad, the future unpromising. And I can do nothing to change that.

So I putter along with my little blog, focusing on the beauties all around us, the glories we should be preserving and protecting. Maybe if there are enough of us noticing, we can hold back the tide.

Or maybe not.

Today's news; 50 people. For starters. 50 people killed, 53 more shot but surviving. 100 people with friends and families; make it 1000 people grieving. More; those of us who care; tens of thousands of us.

When will it ever end?

The climate is changing. The oceans are faltering. We all know that, even people like Donald Trump, who denies it, but takes care to protect his own property from rising seas. But what do we do about it? Insist on our creature comforts, the hot tubs and iced drinks, the smooth rides, the good foods from the far ends of the earth, while we pump more carbon into the sea; it's all good, it's not happening, or if it is, someone will fix it. Not to worry.

Once upon a time, the slogan was "A chicken in every pot." Now, it's a gun in every pocket and purse. And when someone uses theirs incorrectly, liquidates someone or many someones, the solution offered is "More guns!" The good guys will always outshoot the bad guys. Except that they don't. Still, that's what police and jails are for. Not to worry.

In politics, in religion, in conversations over coffee, the issues of the day revolve around hate. Who do you hate? White people, black people, browns, reds, women, men, teachers, the poor, the different, the stranger, the immigrant; someone hates you! Fundamentalist Christians hate fundamentalist Muslims (never mind that Islam is the closest religion to Christianity) and by extension, all Muslims, and by extension from there, all brownish people, or people who speak the "wrong" language. And vice versa.

Yesterday's shooter hated men in love. He saw two of them kissing, thought it over, and went out to solve the problem. Because hate is encouraged, and guns are there. After all, aren't our good soldiers doing the same thing, solving the ills of the nations with firepower? Good, noble soldiers, bravely protecting our freedoms. Not to worry, then.

I'm reminded of the lines from the old hymn, "Though every prospect pleases, and only man is vile." Of course, I don't hold to that theology; I don't believe humankind is vile. Sure, there are vile people, maybe many of them, but in general, I see good people around me, doing the best they can.

But en masse, I think we must be terminally stupid.

Rant over. End of sarcasm. Back to noticing beautiful anemones and smart snails. Before they're gone.