I long ago left my chrysalis to butterfly my way around the world. Now the government asks me to wrap myself in silk and deny the reality of the swift shortening of life expectancy for all of us in this over-developed world.

T

I live in a Donegal paradise with open sky and sea space around me. I can enjoy splendid isolation. Staying at home is not a hardship but my spirit rebels in anger. Not at the government measures for the pandemic nor at being changed from a butterfly to a moth. Moth-eaten natural rather than synthetic substitutes is appropriate to the old-fashioned three score and ten in me. I’m angry at what we have NOT done to pass on what we know. When I say “we” I mean those of us who see the threat of over-development and exponential economic growth for the few at the expense of the many. We stand back and let the imaginations of our youth be colonised by bigger equals better. Colonised into thinking the robes of the distant rich are better than homespun.

The global threats of storms, uncontrollable fires, overheated economies and distorted nature don’t modify our behaviour. It takes a virus without anti-dote to call a halt to the rat race from the sinking ship. Economies are sleeping now but politicians hope the giant will wake up again and bigger will again be better. Are they right?

I invite you to step into my imaginary cocoon and create a new space between us where your imagination meets mine. Let’s imagine some positive results from the minus growth in the economy of an island in Europe.  Watch Timothée Parrique and let me know what you think. Is your imagination turned on by fiction or fact? By utopia, dystopia, or realism? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfV23a5ZNQ