Knots And People And People-Knots

I like the night here in my room. I had a headache and have ben feeling woozy all day, but it's gone, I feel fine. Here and now, in the peace and quiet, the cold fresh air flowing into my room to breath in. My  feather stuffed blankets to keep me warm while I do. Nothing between me and you.

I'm not a great poet or a marvellous story spinner. I haven't thought anything very special in my life. I don't have much in the way of value to offer the world. I just keep doing what I do, because I can, and there's nothing else to be done.

Alexander the great, before he was great, was once famously challenged to unravel a knot of rope, and produce two ends. This knot, called the Gordian Knot, was notorious in that some of the then world's greatest thinkers had failed to solve the puzzle of it. Alexander did indeed try to undo it, but was unable to find an end to start with. So he drew his sword and sliced it in half, the pieces of rope falling to the ground. Then everyone clapped for the big cheater, and he went on to conquer half the bloody world, the bastard.

Nowadays, it's a bit weird if you carry a sword around with you day to day, as the people who fight for us now do it with guns, and all that stuff, that generally involves bleeding and dying and exploding and whatnot. It's all done for somewhat confusing reasons, such as what is written in an old book, and what's written in a different old book. Or because one rich man wants something another rich man has, and doesn't feel like saying please. Or because some people look different to others and just can't seem to get along. So they put bullets in each other and it's all rather dreadful and I don't understand it much.

Because of lack of swords, cutting knots in half with them is obviously impossible. If I had one, I can't imagine I'd be very good with it, the closest I get to a sword on a day to day basis being my swiss army knife. Alexander did a lot of very clever things, but cutting a bit of rope wasn't one of them. He wanted a united world, with him at the top of it. Who can blame him? And who can blame him for taking it with the edge of a blade? 

I don't blame the world for the way it is, either, or expect it to be better. A puppy widdles itself on the carpet, it's what a puppy does. A bloke has a problem with another bloke in a prison, so instead of figuring it out, he shivs him with the sharpened end of a toothbrush. But people aren't just lifeless ropes. We are riddles to be solved, and you can't solve a man by killing him. You can't solve world hunger by bombing the hungry. Every life of every child has the potential to be just as valuable as yours or mine, whether they live in sand, slime, mountains, mansions, slums, suburbs, pigpens or penthouses.

And if you disagree with that last statement, you can fuck off and die. Because you are the problem that this world really has. And I don't love you.