2017 / LIVE Without Prejudice
Hola my people! We made it. Half the planet already stepped into 2017, us Yanks are still following up in your footsteps, and I have to admit I feel exceptionally chill this NYE. It seems silly to me to even consider this night anything else than a regular night, rather, a finish line I just want to pass. I didn’t want to put any pressure on this particular night, or do anything too celebratory, exactly because how tumultuous this bloody year was!
Simply, I needed to counter all this craziness and confusion, hurt we all experienced with some, er ....... nothingness.
Isn’t it beautiful to just chill and do nothing sometimes? I crave nothing most of my days. I will spend my NYE in baggy pants, t-shirt, sneaks; chilling, cooking and enjoying the abyss.
I don’t know about you, but I’m trying to not put a lot of pressure on 2017. 2016 was repulsive. I don’t think anyone disagrees with that. Except maybe, Drake. Drake might be the only person on the planet that didn't have a shitty 2016! I on the other hand, I wasn’t too repulsed, as most people. 2016 opened my eyes on so many levels, and lessons are more important to me then trouble-less life. But then George Michael died on Christmas no less, and made 2016 my gigantic nemesis.
I can’t talk about George in this post, lots of you emailed me to write something about that, and I will in my next post. The end of this year drained me to the unbelievable altitudes; I’m sad to the degree that's not still fathomable to me. George was not just the artist I liked, and while young confused gay boys saw some sort of sanctuary in him, a way that they might not be feeling something wrong after all; I on the other hand found solace in his words, explaining a human condition to such emotional degree, it was impossible to live other then have him soundtrack my entire coming of age existence. I need a bit a time and space for GM piece, and promise I’ll do him more than justice.
In the mean time, getting back to not putting lots of pressure on 2017. See, I think we should be careful with that one! Sometimes I think about general opinion how 2016 was so bad, the 2017 HAS TO be better. But think about it, it really doesn’t have to be. What if it continues? What if that’s out reality now? Why should everything just got better, because one day turned into another? Everyone is running towards 2017, like it’s some safe haven, like it’s given, and nothing is given, we can only listen, hear, try, care for the better!
So let’s be cautious, and let's shape our small worlds around us, so those small worlds can form an entity that MUST BE better. I think it’s really important what happens next, and I think the significance of all that happened in 2016 is telling us a far more important lesson that we might think; with the deaths that occurred this year. Think about it. Who died? David Bowie, Prince, George Michael. All three artist that were so comfortable with their masculinity, that they weren’t even afraid playing with make-up, platform heels (Bowie, Price), or going the total opposite route with classic James Dean/Bruce Springsteen butchness (George) that wasn’t threatening, but rather helpful in the fight against patriarchy.
Due to a weirdest cosmic coincidence, we lost all of them in a year where aggressive, invasive male behavior reached such alarming levels, to the degree that the worst kind of toxic, male masculinity is entering the White House in few weeks. There’s a significance in that, and that’s where our thoughts should be.
I can’t help but think about the song so eerie today, that George Michael wrote 25 years ago. How is it even possible that every single sentence written so long ago has a such scary significance today, the year he left? Maybe, just maybe so he draws our attention to it and re-teaches us to Live Without Prejudice. "And its hard to love, there's so much to hate. Hanging on to hope, when there's no hope to speak of...". Can you see a more fitting year than 2016 for these words? Read the lyrics of Praying For Time, and let’s not “demand” the 2017 be better, let us do better to deserve it!
Lets LISTEN and LIVE without prejudice:
These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers
This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance
And legitimate excuses
The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much
But we'll take our chances
Because god's stopped keeping score
I guess somewhere along the way
He must have let us all out to play
Turned his back and all god's children
Crept out the back door
~
And it's hard to love, there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it's much, much too late
Well maybe we should all be praying for time
~
These are the days of the empty hand
Oh you hold on to what you can
And charity is a coat you wear twice a year
This is the year of the guilty man
Your television takes a stand
And you find that what was over there is over here
So you scream from behind your door
Say "what's mine is mine and not yours"
I may have too much but i'll take my chances
Because god's stopped keeping score
And you cling to the things they sold you
Did you cover your eyes when they told you
That he can't come back
Because he has no children to come back for...
I wish you all the best in TwentySeventeen! Cheers x