Never Could I Have Imagined

Never in a million years could I ever have imagined:

that what we once spent to buy a house people now pay to buy a car

that you would ever need a million dollars to buy a house

that three stalks of celery - stalks, not bunches - would ever cost $2.99, and a cauliflower $7.99

that people in the country that fought the Nazis would ever walk around wearing Nazi insignia and talking about killing Jewish people

that civilians in Gaza, so many of them children, would ever be bombed so mercilessly

that hatred and division would be everywhere, making it hard to remember that most people are basically good and kind (yet thankfully, everywhere, they are)

that fascists would increase in numbers strong enough to topple democracy, and are trying to

that conspiracy theories and misinformation rule the internet and so many misinformed people believe it

that dictators around the world are increasing in power

that the climate crisis would accelerate, yet be ignored because the "economy" depends on oil and gas and North America is addicted to capitalism

that the cost of capitalism is coming due, faster than we expected

that the poles are melting, and no one is panicking

that people are in denial that, at any moment, everything we take for granted can be gone: in war, in floods, in hurricanes, in rising sea levels, in wildfires, in extreme weather events

that, within my lifetime, in under 50 years, wildlife populations have declined by 69% *

that leaders now make decisions based on re-election, rather than serving the public and protecting the environment

that a racist, angry narcissist, with  90-plus criminal charges against him, who incited an insurrection against the Capitol when he lost the presidency, would be allowed to run for re-election

that we are facing catastrophic climate crisis and hardly any leaders are doing more than pay lip service to lowering emissions "by 2050" when they needed to start lowering them 40 years ago

that governments know this information and still put the Economy God first

* The Guardian 

Shared with the fine folks at Desperate Poets open link.