Glory to those for whom “human” is not just a name

«In every aspect of human existence it is always the humanity of men that makes the difference, it is the creativity, the kindness and the intelligence that is capable of transforming not only the material things but, perhaps, even destiny. For this reason there is an inherent danger when things dominates human lives and not vice versa. In the face of sinister interests, of the delirium or of the evil, every word becomes empty and meaningless, unable to reach the hearts of those who live in the house of gold and blind obedience. When the material interest speaks, the true voice is silent: everything becomes a proxy, shifting the center of wonder from the human to the gloomy laws of the inanimate matter. So glory to those who violate the laws of the flock, those who faced with the matter say “I overcome you, I am not your slave.” Glory to those who, against brutality and love of money, answer: frangar non flectar, I break, but I do not bend. If it were not for them the world would be just horror. So glory to those for whom “human” is not just a name»

(From: Sergio Caldarella, L’Algebra degli Scacchi, Zambon Verlag, Verona, Frankfurt am Main, 2008, p. 21, Preface)

The Madman is driving

Writing? Why? Would it not be better to keep silent? Personally, I believe that screaming is definitively healthier than writing, but that’s just me. What a weird society we live in! Surrounded by a sea of words that keep repeating just the same message: CONFUSION! That’s the word that should be written on the cover of magazines, buried inside the pages of books, sketched on canvas and repeated in schools. Principals and Presidents should make it their epigram! Confusion is the most accepted sin and certainly the most accurate representation of the inner nature of our time! It’s the state of the world; it’s where we are, but not who we are. In spite of the spirit of the time, in human nature there is something different: inside of every one of us there is a sad, broken angel. And this is the same angel that was running with us around our world when our eyes weren’t corrupted, when nobody had yet taught us how to deceive ourselves, how to be different from what we really and profoundly are. What we are is what we feel. We forgot to free this delicate angel inside of us, and that’s what makes us so poor when faced with the world. True richness is that of the spirit, the only health, that of our hearts. We also believe that this forgetting is an excuse, and that our forgetting will be forgiven, that we will be absolved of our failure to remember. But that’s not going to happen. Would you ever go into a restaurant without money to pay the bill and still order a fine dinner expecting that you will be excused at the exit? Sooner or later, the check will come and not having means will not be an excuse or a reason not to pay!

I like but I don’t enjoy watching rich people and trying to detect the differences between them and the poor tramps on the streets begging for a penny. I am not talking about a social difference, that’s evident; the difference I am interested in is the human difference: the way a rich person perceives himself and the world, compared to that of a socially disadvantaged person. Rich people, for example, smile in a different way: their smile is never open; it’s a tool, a presentation accessory, which they try to impose on everybody.
The rich person’s biggest delusion is that he really believes that he owns something that human life is made to hold and not to give. In fact, he is a poor, dangerous man. Why is he dangerous? Because society trusts him and believes in his delusions, letting him shape the future of us all. Using either coercion or subtle means, he lets many people believe you can measure human value with money and that money is all that there is, all that counts. In their hands even time has become money. Too bad that money is not time, and even the biggest sum cannot buy an extra second of life.

© Sergio Caldarella, 2007.

Anthony Balderrama Esq.

Recently the web has been stormed by articles and suggestions by a certain Anthony Balderrama, a "writer" and blogger for CareerBuilder.com (this is his blog: The Work Buzz). According to the description "He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues." In reality when you read his "suggestions", you see that Mr. Balderrama is a new fascist that believes only in the power of corporate and try to convince you, with not so subtle arguments, that the strongest is always right and if you are on the other side of the power chain, too bad for you. For him employees have to be always like little nice small sheep in the hands of the big, strong and powerful boss. The boss is always right, whatever he/she is doing and the employee, for his daily bread, should change his mind, his soul, his personality only to accommodate the wishes of the strongest. Daily fascism under the mask of nice advices... It is definitively true the proverb: "worse vice, be advice."

(Dr. Divago)

Time of Crisis

Crisis is a short word with long consequences. For ordinary people, those who restrict themselves to implementing the orders of the strongest, it's just a storm that they hope will soon pass. For those who govern with cynical attention for this theater, is the perfect script for a reorganization of the world. They shout the word “crises”, but in reality they are just tightening the screws of the social device. Thanks to the crisis they can force people to work harder for less, they can throw the mask of smile, show their sneer and punch hard, and because of the crisis, people will bear even that. The same day that Bill Gates, one of these great man lit by darkness, has donated 250 million dollars to the Rotary Foundation, has also fired 5000 employees. Ah! The crisis! A few days after Boeing fired 5000 workers also invoking “the crisis”. But nobody says that if it were not for the empty-headed management that decided to invest huge sums in the failing developing of a new mega airplane, perhaps not all those people would have been redundant. Lehman Brother, Chrysler and other bad company orderly follows. Ah! The crisis! The true fact is that we have forgotten how to look at people. Just by looking at the faces of those who govern us how can you believe that this world is heading in a good direction? How do you think that people with a hard muzzle will do something good? They do good things for themselves, but even this is a debatable issue. They are under anesthesia and know nothing about the true, real life. I traveled a lot and I saw many people and many places, but rarely have met managers or people of power who were good people, people capable and genuine. Those “power people” are generally social climbers, small souls, and poor individuals --often ridiculous. But it is in the hands of these people that we put our future. And no tiger is never so dangerous as a small and ridiculous human being.

(© Sergio Caldarella, 2009)