I am so fucking angry, I’m way beyond upset, my heart is bleeding, my head is racing, my gut wants to vomit until there’s nothing more left inside, and I’m disappointed beyond even my own comprehension. I’m sitting shaking my head in sheer disbelief. My eyes are dry from too many tears. Yet I won’t give into fear.
To help me on my voyage of words, I’ll bring along a mate of mine, Roger Waters, a man I’ve never met but who stands by me every single day, and his words stick to my head like glue. And this is why I consider him my friend, even though our paths are likely to never cross.
Now I’ve got that feeling once again
Pink Floyd – Comfortably numb
I can’t explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am
I have become comfortably numb
And why have I become numb? The world makes me numb, and the reasons are many. The hatred, the misconceptions, the hostility, the ignorance, the unwillingness to learn from our past mistakes, the segregation, the lack of belief in the better of man, the lack of love. At times, it’s just too much to bear.
There must be some mistake
Pink Floyd – Mother
I didn’t mean to let them take away my soul
Am I too old, is it too late?
(Ooh, ma, ooh, pa) where has the feeling gone?
At times, the world numbs me to such an extent that I wonder if I have any feelings left. When you see how cruel men can be to one another, to what lengths they will go to hurt one another, to spread terror and hate. It’s easy to become numb, and in many ways quite natural, it’s a line of defence, our mind protecting us from that which is bad.
The modern Western press seems to come to a collective halt whenever terror strikes on Western soil, and social media go into a frenzy and everyone shows their support by changing their profile pictures, cover photos, a long string of more or less famous quotes, all to show their support to those that lost their lives all too soon.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t look down on those that show their support, nor will I ever. However, what makes me angry to such an extent that I want to smash something, is that the Western press rarely spends any time on terror attacks in other parts of the world. Terror has become so common, and terror strikes almost on a daily basis, with thousands losing their lives every year. Yet, if a life is lost in the none western hemisphere, it’s almost as if the Western press labels those lives of less worth.
When the fuck did lives outside of the western hemisphere become less worthwhile than my life or yours? And when did it become alright for the majority of the press to create articles that highlight Muslims and those with the Islamic faith all be terrorists?
Please spend some time doing some basic math, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that this is a grave misconception. The press is taking their part in making the actions of a few stand out to be like it was something that was carried out by the many. They are helping instil fear and hatred in man. They are in many ways helping the terrorist win.
If you should go skating
Pink Floyd – Thin ice
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear-stained eyes
Don’t be surprised, when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
As you claw the thin ice
Modern life is like thin ice, and you should be careful when approaching the ice. Too many eyes are left with millions of tears every day, because of the action of the few. Going back to maths, there is an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims on Earth, and out of those 1.6 billion Muslims, a bit over 100 000 of these are considered to be extremists or fanatics.
That would amount to some 0.006625% of all Muslims being considered so extreme that they would go to the lengths of conducting terrorist attacks. Some people today actually label all Muslims as a terrorist, and given that there are 1.6 billion Muslims on Earth, which accounts for roughly 23% of the world’s population, common logic would dictate that the terrorist would by now have killed anyone and everyone “not worthy”.
Don’t let the actions of the few, and don’t let the media fool you into their click baits and fear-mongering.
In many ways, I understand why Roger Waters wrote the album “The Wall”. The world was becoming too much for him to cope with, and he, like me, use the written word to gather his thoughts and tackle our fears and hopes. But in the end, Roger Waters didn’t let the wall stay up, he tore it down.
And that’s what we must do. We are well on our way to making a society of “us and them”, where “us” are the Westerners and “them” are everyone else, those that don’t necessarily subscribe to the way the Western world live their lives.
But we are no different, we are all human beings, and we all want the same things. Freedom to speak our mind, freedom to do what we want, freedom to make our lives what we want life to be, freedom for education, freedom – freedom.
He could not break free
Pink Floyd – Hey You
And the worms ate into his brain
Hey you, out there on the road
Always doing what you’re told,
Can you help me?
Hey you, out there beyond the wall,
Breaking bottles in the hall,
Can you help me?
Hey you, don’t tell me there’s no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall
Yes, you there beyond the wall. Can you please help me, help your common man, your neighbour, your friends, your family, and the rest of the human race? We all share this planet, we are all made of same the cloth. We are the same, all of us. And if we don’t stand together, and come together as one, we will fall divided.
Don’t let the actions of the few divide us. It’s more important than ever that we push aside hate and fear, and let sympathy and love be spread to all the corners of the earth. We all have but a limited time on this planet, and let’s make the best of the time we got. Time is not well spent with hate and fear, life is only lived to its fullest when you have love and compassion in your heart.
All alone, or in two’s,
Pink Floyd – Outside the Wall
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they’ve given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it’s not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger’s wall
Yes, some of us will stagger and fall, and life was never meant to be easy. Life in itself is a challenge, but a challenge is there to be overcome and won. We are facing the biggest challenge of them all, to make this world a better place. Will you do your part? Will you be like me, a mad bugger with the hope and desire that love will prevail?
Will you do your part to spread the love, and kill the hate and fear with compassion and empathy? Will you stand united, or will you let us fall divided? Look into your heart, and ask yourself, would life without love be a good life? Love yourself, love your next one, love everyone. It’s not easy, but again, life isn’t easy.
We all have a dark side, to say the least
Pink Floyd – One World
And dealing in death is the nature of the beast
One world, it’s a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world … One world
One world! Imagine that, face the reality, we only have put this world. Let us not let it go to waste, and let us not under any circumstance smash it. Smother that dark side, shine a light instead, and be the light.
For we are but one race, the human race, here to make the best of what we got. Don’t take that away from me, don’t let anyone take it away from you, and god dammit, don’t let anyone take it away from anyone else for that matter.
One world – with love – with light – we shall prevail.