Greetings To The Rambling Masses

Greetings to you, oh Rambling Masses,

What a wonderfully smart-ass greeting, pretentious, wild and derogatory. A great way to start this, the first blog of one Peter Walder.

If you have heard of me before, then you are one of the very few, for I do not actively seek the 15 minutes of shame that is alloted to all of us carrot-munchers. Fuck popularity, I say, which is indeed what I would say, considering I was an unpopular child growing up, beaten by bullies, teased and largely alone.

Thankfully, I did not give up my individuality, that most precious of commodities, purely for the sake of avoiding a few rough times. The most important things (apart from "da bussy" as one taxi driver once told me) are individuality, free thought, open expression, and a will to live instead of merely existing.

I was lucky enough (and we really do make our own luck, in my humble opinion) to be blessed with a great family and a fine circle of very close friends. They help me to center myself, to complete me, and to justify the belief that there are great people living on this planet, great people who have the potential to achieve great things.

So, you ask yourselves (those who are (un)fortunate enough to stumble across my wild ramble), what is this blog all about? Good question. I don't know myself. In fact, it is guaranteed to change as time goes by, as I discover my literary voice in this vast vapid sea of the internot.

As I get older (I am the ripe old age of 35 at this point), I find myself getting more and more opinionated, more and more angry with the world that surrounds us, more and more fed up with capitalist dogma, religious extremism, short-sighted power-hungry pork-rind groping their way towards ephemeral power and money, and vast vapid seas of ignorance that cloak themselves in self-righteous costumes of right and wrong.

In fact, the older I get, the more I think that perhaps anarchy is the best form of government, considering that we've had a crack at trying to develop a form of mass co-existence for the past 5 or 10 thousand years, and have made only a perfunctory, rather ordinary progress in that direction.

Let's face it, half of our world is ruled by bloodthirsty fascists, the other half is ruled by equally bloodthirsty capitalist pig-dogs and figureheads (I won't even try to have a go at George Bush, for he is not even worthy of a vague derogatory comment, being a mere lap-dog for the monied powers that be).

So, what is the alternative? It is easy to have a go at "the system" - that's a real no-brainer. But, to truly contribute to the worldly school of thought, you need to start proposing some genuine alternatives. To be a critic is the easiest thing in the world - in fact, they should give out lobotomies to all critics, just to help them on their way. Criticism is piss-easy, something that hardly needs any effort. What really takes brains and guts is to suggest alternatives.

My confession at this stage is that I have a couple of minor alternatives, but they are poorly thought out, and not really worthy, but hey, at least I am trying.

Which is more than I can say for "Beige", the man who currently governs the country in which I live (Australia). He has spent some 20 years in politics, learning the great art of never saying anything, never committing to anything, never making a contentious decision, never advancing beyond the immediate concerns that impact on the chances of another term in government, which is unfortunately something he is not alone in, despite being a grand master of the art.

Now, hog-tie me, cover me in honey, and dump me on an ants nest if I'm not one of the most naive bastards on this fair planet, but I believe that we are one world. I was born in Denmark, and at the tender age of 8, I started a new life in Australia. Old enough to remember the old life, young enough to adapt to the new life, I have the enviable power to be able to pick and choose the best of two worlds, albeit both being of narrow western viewpoints.

One of the things that really blows my mind is the continual hustle and bustle that revolves around arbitrary lines drawn on a map, around which imaginary friend you believe in (let's call it religion for now), around which capitalist (or fake communist) ideals you follow with your every living breath, around petty power and ephemeral might, around who willl win the next rash of mindless reality television concept that is just another copy of a shite pretense of entertainment to begin with.

Why don't we, just for once, start to consider the deeper meanings of life, to contribute in a real sense, to make something of our lives more than the surface day-to-day that we think makes us who we are? Who cares what shoes we wear, what cars we drive, how big our house is? I don't, for one, but I seem to be much in the minority.

So, why am I writing this blog? To vent my spleen. I am lucky enough to have been born into circumstances where I have been able to fight my way from below the poverty line to a position of comparative wealth. I have the financial freedom to pick and choose my destiny, unlike the billions who are unfortunate enough to not be in that situation. And so, I ask myself the great question of life - how can I make a difference, how can I contribute to this life that we all hold so dear? It seems that one of the strengths I have is my ability to write, and so I write. And in writing, I hope to explore and to crystallise that which I believe in, and to perhaps positively affect others of a like mind. What more can one ask in this world?

Be warned, for I am hoping to pull no punches, to write what I feel, and to cathartically meander my way through the complexities of modern existence, learning along the way.

I am also hoping to reach a balance - to drag down that which needs to be pilloried, to lift up that which needs to be extolled. In my eyes, I hope to mirror that which you, the long-suffering reader, see in your everyday.