“This single farm of ours would support a dozen horses, twenty cows,hundreds of sheep-and all of them living in a comfort and a dignity that are now almost beyond our imagining. Why then do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all of our problems. It is summed up in a single word-Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.
“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Our labour tills the soil, our dung fertilises it, and yet there is not one of us that owns more than his bare skin. You cows that I see before me, how many thousands of gallons of milk have you given during this last year? And what has happened to that milk which should have been breeding up sturdy calves? Every drop of it went down the throats of our enemies. And you hens, how many eggs have you laid in this last year, and how many of those eggs hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone to market to bring in money for Jones and his men. And you, Clover, where are those four foals you bore, who should have been the support and pleasure of your old age? Each was sold at a year old-you will never see one of them again. In return for your four confinements and all your labour in the fields, what have you ever had except your bare rations and a stall?
“And even the miserable lives we lead are not allowed to reach their natural span……
“Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own.
The preceding is an excerpt of the speech given to the animals of Manor Farm by Major, the twelve year old-wise and majestic-looking pig. His speech, reproduced in part here, is found at the bottom of page 6, page 7 and part of page 8 from Animal Farm. Written by George Orwell and published in 1946, Animal Farm was first introduced to me as a young student in the 60’s. The cold war was nearing its height, but I found time to read it in between class room dives under my desk in preparation of a possible nuclear event! And of course I assumed that Mr. Orwell, in using the word comrades through out the story, thinly alluded to life in a Soviet led world.
Why did I pull it off the shelf, dust it off and read it again this month? The Soviet Union tore down the wall in Berlin and bankrupted themselves decades ago in Afghanistan. Now Russia is not in the business of beating the table with their nuclear shoe any more. (At least not quite yet.) Even our latest ex- president could not hide his adoration of Russia’s current leader! Animal Farm as a parable of the collective life of socialism/ communism is no longer relevant! Or is that assumption wrong?
Orwell’s 1984 novel, written in 1949, examines the roll of truth and facts within politics and the way they are manipulated. (Wikipedia) Continuing, an imagined future 1984 when the world has fallen victim to constant war, government surveillance, historical negationism, and propaganda! (Wikipedia) Another dystopian setting used as the setting for Orwell’s characters to navigate in and through.
This month I bring Animal Farm to my metaphorical lighthouse. My reflection on Orwell’s parable opens up a color that is being painted on the horizon of my closed eyelids. Fuchsia! Why this color? In the almost pinkness of my intuition that solidifies before me I see one of my literary heroes, Mark Twain. Didn’t he have a thought, no, a quote that History does not repeat itself”? Well as I grew into adulthood, decades ago I strongly disagreed with that sentiment! Now as I am learning to age into childhood I look at that quote and find that in my older age I forgot his whole quote. Now that I am growing younger I look it up and find the whole Twain quote, History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
Well today we are surely rhyming with Orwell’s Animal Farm as our collective awareness of rising prices are steadily transferring wealth to the central banks and the top 1% from the masses of us who used to be labeled middle class. The answer? Intuitively I feel an imminent rebellion of negative energy, taxing our way out, is just as tribal as red states of mind. Our moment today certainly rhymes with Orwell’s visions of dystopia. I wear a blue glove on my left hand and a red glove on my right. My intuition tells me that communication between my two hands, no our country’s two different colored hands, needs to begin. Compromises need to be articulated. Moments of compassionate capitalism that blankets the crony capitalism and tribal politics need to be introduced. Central big brother and sister government needs to back off of their minutia surveillance! (Really,don’t you all know that when we withdraw $600.00 from the bank we most likely are just buying a weeks worth of groceries for the two of us! Come on man! Does the Gesta… I mean the I.R.S. really need to know?) Whew, I am losing my fuchsia moment. I must stop this rant or unchecked it will lead me to have to re-read Dicken’s , A Tale Of Two Cities to continue rhyming with history!
My reflection regains the meditative quality that I am growing young with. I need to make sure I don’t fall into the victim consciousness as our leaders are truly a reflection of us. Bring compromise, compassion, and a truly caring truthful attitude into our national debate. As Orwell once opined, In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
Be in peace and joy!
Thank you for reading.
Mark