Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "wealth"
On Space Tourism
Many people are mad at the escapades of billionaires in space, but the fact of the matter is, had they been invited to go with the billionaires themselves, most of them would be thrilled to their bones, for they are not really mad at the billionaires, they are mad because they can’t afford such fancy travel.
You see, they are the same people who save up their hard-earned money so they could have a relaxing or thrilling vacation somewhere, even though their version of vacation turns bleak in front of the glorious space vacations of the super-rich.
So to those who pompously ask the question, “should people travel to space for fun”, I ask, “should you have a vacation on an island for fun – should you have dinner at a fancy restaurant for fun – when countless souls are suffering from the lack of the very essentials of life?”
It’s all about status. A billionaire’s idea of vacation is in space, whereas a regular person’s idea of a vacation is on some island or in another continent. And if the billionaires are abusing resources for personal enjoyment, so are these regular people.
You have no right to demand moral accountability from billionaires, if you yourself don’t mind engaging in your everyday luxuries – for your luxuries may seem dim compared to those of the super-rich, but still the resources you spend on them could feed and clothe at least ten families in developing parts of the world for a year.
The very existence of billionaires is a sign of economic disparities, but they are not the sole cause of those disparities. Every individual engaging in luxury beyond necessity is as much responsible for the economic disparities in society as the super wealthy. So till you learn to distinguish between necessity and luxury and thereafter abolish all trace of luxury from your own life, you are the problem yourself, as much as the greedy capitalists and politicians.
(The above piece is an excerpt from Gente Mente Adelante: Prejudice Conquered is World Conquered, 2021)
You see, they are the same people who save up their hard-earned money so they could have a relaxing or thrilling vacation somewhere, even though their version of vacation turns bleak in front of the glorious space vacations of the super-rich.
So to those who pompously ask the question, “should people travel to space for fun”, I ask, “should you have a vacation on an island for fun – should you have dinner at a fancy restaurant for fun – when countless souls are suffering from the lack of the very essentials of life?”
It’s all about status. A billionaire’s idea of vacation is in space, whereas a regular person’s idea of a vacation is on some island or in another continent. And if the billionaires are abusing resources for personal enjoyment, so are these regular people.
You have no right to demand moral accountability from billionaires, if you yourself don’t mind engaging in your everyday luxuries – for your luxuries may seem dim compared to those of the super-rich, but still the resources you spend on them could feed and clothe at least ten families in developing parts of the world for a year.
The very existence of billionaires is a sign of economic disparities, but they are not the sole cause of those disparities. Every individual engaging in luxury beyond necessity is as much responsible for the economic disparities in society as the super wealthy. So till you learn to distinguish between necessity and luxury and thereafter abolish all trace of luxury from your own life, you are the problem yourself, as much as the greedy capitalists and politicians.
(The above piece is an excerpt from Gente Mente Adelante: Prejudice Conquered is World Conquered, 2021)
Cardiomyopathy Sonnet (Medicine and Metaphor) | Vande Vasudhaivam
Person’s worth comes from
their pulse, not from their purse.
It’s okay if your purse is anemic,
so long as your veins got plenty pulse.
It’s your pulse that brings the world to life,
Pulsating heart is radiator during this ice-age.
Ice-age never went away, it just got internalized,
As outwardly in appearance we became less savage.
Human heart is in dire need of a green house,
All the warmth is escaping rapidly.
Melting ice caps will drown us later,
We’ll have kicked the bucket long before,
from frostbitten cardiomyopathy.
Brain’s death is death of the body,
Heart’s death is death of the being.
Kindness keeps the being alive
long after the heart stops beating.
their pulse, not from their purse.
It’s okay if your purse is anemic,
so long as your veins got plenty pulse.
It’s your pulse that brings the world to life,
Pulsating heart is radiator during this ice-age.
Ice-age never went away, it just got internalized,
As outwardly in appearance we became less savage.
Human heart is in dire need of a green house,
All the warmth is escaping rapidly.
Melting ice caps will drown us later,
We’ll have kicked the bucket long before,
from frostbitten cardiomyopathy.
Brain’s death is death of the body,
Heart’s death is death of the being.
Kindness keeps the being alive
long after the heart stops beating.
All The World’s An Asylum (Sonnet 1235) | Abhijit Naskar | Insan Himalayanoğlu
All the world’s an asylum,
All the people are lunatics.
Some are but loonies of love,
Some loonies run by prejudice.
Some die running in love of currency,
Some die sharing the currency of love.
Beyond the grasp of dollar and euro,
Love is the only nonvolatile
currency in the world.
It’s good to be a loonie,
If the reason is justly humane.
When human welfare is at stake,
It’s only logical to be insane.
Sane, insane – be as the need arises,
To hell with the judgment of nitwits!
In an organic world no sanity is absolute,
Boldly walk the spectrum as the purpose fits.
All the people are lunatics.
Some are but loonies of love,
Some loonies run by prejudice.
Some die running in love of currency,
Some die sharing the currency of love.
Beyond the grasp of dollar and euro,
Love is the only nonvolatile
currency in the world.
It’s good to be a loonie,
If the reason is justly humane.
When human welfare is at stake,
It’s only logical to be insane.
Sane, insane – be as the need arises,
To hell with the judgment of nitwits!
In an organic world no sanity is absolute,
Boldly walk the spectrum as the purpose fits.
One Way to Render Government Obsolete | Abhijit Naskar | Yaralardan Yangın Doğar
I own just two 5 dollar tshirts – one is my regular wear, another my backup for washdays. And for my travels I own two 10 dollar shirts and two 20 dollar jeans, which are also used for my book covers. I don’t need more, I don’t buy more. This is not minimalism, it’s called self-regulation – the lack of which has led to the shallow, judgmental, privilege-craving prick of a society we live in today. It’s not about saving money, it’s about humanizing money, by using it wisely, not just for individual benefit, but collective benefit.
Buy the things you need the most, save a little for rainy days, and use the rest to lift up the fallen. Any citizen who masters this simple humanitarian habit, is no longer obligated to pay taxes to the government. And when enough citizens of the world make it the mantra of their life, not just to lift themselves, but each other, the governments of the world are automatically rendered obsolete.
Government is funded by the people – then the governments use those funds to manufacture war, in order to further sustain the democratic cashflow that keeps them in business. Therefore, when people pull their funds and redirect them themselves, towards actual, tangible, humanitarian initiatives, there isn’t going to be a government. It’s only the humanitarian indifference of the citizens that keeps governments alive, that in turn keep borders and wars alive. Once the citizens are actually, genuinely, nontheoretically accountable of the welfare of society, beyond the prehistoric paradigm peddled by the state, all Capitol, Kremlin and White Hall will crumble to dust.
Buy the things you need the most, save a little for rainy days, and use the rest to lift up the fallen. Any citizen who masters this simple humanitarian habit, is no longer obligated to pay taxes to the government. And when enough citizens of the world make it the mantra of their life, not just to lift themselves, but each other, the governments of the world are automatically rendered obsolete.
Government is funded by the people – then the governments use those funds to manufacture war, in order to further sustain the democratic cashflow that keeps them in business. Therefore, when people pull their funds and redirect them themselves, towards actual, tangible, humanitarian initiatives, there isn’t going to be a government. It’s only the humanitarian indifference of the citizens that keeps governments alive, that in turn keep borders and wars alive. Once the citizens are actually, genuinely, nontheoretically accountable of the welfare of society, beyond the prehistoric paradigm peddled by the state, all Capitol, Kremlin and White Hall will crumble to dust.
The Carnivore (Sonnet 1406) | Abhijit Naskar | Dervis Doctor: 100 Promissory Sonnets
Be a gentle giant like the elephant,
not an opportunistic carnivore like the wolf.
The elephant doesn’t harm anyone
to prove its greatness, while the wolf
doesn’t think twice to devour another wolf.
Greatness unfolds through gentleness,
Illumination unfolds through expansion.
Coldness is the mark of cowardly animal,
Cruelty is cover for beastly degeneration.
Worst of all carnivores are the humans,
There is no end to their appetite.
Animals no longer partake once they are full,
While human greed knows no sane height.
More clothes, more cars, more cash,
Just how much will you consider enough!
Till you put a cork on cocky abundance,
Not felicity but disparity wreaks havoc.
Savagest carnivore of all is the human.
Uncorked materialism is new cannibalism.
not an opportunistic carnivore like the wolf.
The elephant doesn’t harm anyone
to prove its greatness, while the wolf
doesn’t think twice to devour another wolf.
Greatness unfolds through gentleness,
Illumination unfolds through expansion.
Coldness is the mark of cowardly animal,
Cruelty is cover for beastly degeneration.
Worst of all carnivores are the humans,
There is no end to their appetite.
Animals no longer partake once they are full,
While human greed knows no sane height.
More clothes, more cars, more cash,
Just how much will you consider enough!
Till you put a cork on cocky abundance,
Not felicity but disparity wreaks havoc.
Savagest carnivore of all is the human.
Uncorked materialism is new cannibalism.
Obscurity Establish Greatness (Sonnet) – Abhijit Naskar, When Calls The Kainat
I grew up in a 20ft/20ft one-room house,
used to walk an hour to get to school –
and although I never knew what luxury was,
I’m just grateful, I never had to starve –
I never had to wear torn clothes,
never had to experience a leaky roof,
unlike my parents, who grew up poor,
as neither of my grandfathers were good providers.
Like my father, his father was a factory worker,
but unlike my father, he could barely feed his family,
and my other grandfather was a poor priest,
who too could barely provide for his family, with
the little money he earned from religious ceremonies.
My parents grew up in abject poverty, I grew up in
modest security, and all of it has kept me grounded.
Little obscurity is essential for building character –
luxury stunts growth, obscurity establish greatness.
used to walk an hour to get to school –
and although I never knew what luxury was,
I’m just grateful, I never had to starve –
I never had to wear torn clothes,
never had to experience a leaky roof,
unlike my parents, who grew up poor,
as neither of my grandfathers were good providers.
Like my father, his father was a factory worker,
but unlike my father, he could barely feed his family,
and my other grandfather was a poor priest,
who too could barely provide for his family, with
the little money he earned from religious ceremonies.
My parents grew up in abject poverty, I grew up in
modest security, and all of it has kept me grounded.
Little obscurity is essential for building character –
luxury stunts growth, obscurity establish greatness.
