Frame Publishing

A dusty closet

of knick knacks

strewn across the floor

memories of a past long gone

and out a gate

and down a narrow path

winding up and back

then stopping

A house I once knew

long ago

rejoicing of childhood dreams

but now misty memories

So leaving and on my way

desolate and lost

a bump in the road

a cancer that’s spread

but I live on

and on again

for if I did not

who would know?

But I settle here

alone but not alone

hand in hand

with my partner, my wife

but in my room

where so much time goes

I recall what has been

and what I had lost

Magnificence
And supple grace
Radiant smile
An ageless face

Love’s archetype
Perfections own
Greater brillance
Gods never known

So when you rise
And face the sun
Remember you
and eternity
Are one

So when a rainbow
Skirts the sky
I’ll know a tear
Has crossed your eye

How can one know what to do? How can one know how things should be? Only through our acts can we know ourselves and only through our acts can others know us. Our actions are key. They define us. We must do what we value for otherwise we have betrayed our own nature.

But to know how things should be one must consult others. Shoulds are based on opinions and many times on bad advice. Shoulds are someone exercising power over someone else. This is true whether this person is friend or foe.

Complicity is one bound by association, especially in an act. One must choose their actions well. To be effective in the world one must act alone as well as in concordance with others. Different situations dictate different actions. When one is caring for one’s family then the individual and their family are most important. When these actions are in regards to the state then one must act in unity with others, whether it be through a political party, action committee or even as a form of resistance.

One is bound by society. Society has educated you and your children, kept you safe and done likewise for your children and others. But this obligation depends on a just state. An unjust law is not a law at all Dr. Martin Luther King Junior asserts. Justice denied any member of society is an unjust society and falls short of what we have come to expect in our democratic republic.

All should be honest and just. For to be dishonest is to be unjust and much injustice is wrapped in dishonesty. The laws required of its citizens must be required of all including those corporate persons. While the pleasure of innocence may be impossible, knowing that what one has done is righteous is reward enough. To do otherwise ultimately is cowardice and is a corrupting influence on the coward and others around them. And like the incidence of disease, it must be controlled before it has spread.

There are different theories about the state of disease in the world. Some feel that as countries become developed communicable disease will invariably decrease and non-communicable chronic diseases will dominate. This position is taken when referring to the global burden of disease. When thinking about the global burden of disease one is thinking about not only mortality but also morbidity with the consequent impact on the quality of life. Highly infectious diseases tend to have a higher mortality rate compared to the long term morbidity rate of chronic non-infectious diseases and morbidity and mortality must both be looked at to get a clear understanding of the overall impact of disease.

The other perspective addressed is referred of as the third epidemiologic transition which states that while antibiotics have lowered the incidence of infectious diseases and eliminated others, new diseases, especially zoonotic diseases are appearing and former pathogens through natural selection are quickly becoming resistance to antibiotics and therefore these pose and even greater threat to the world’s population.

These two positions tend to be contradictory. When looking at the global burden of disease it appears that microbes are permanently on the decrease thanks to technological advances while the position emphasizing the third technological transition asserts that they are eemerging and are a real threat, maybe greater than they have ever been. There seems to be no connect between the two positions.

Technology is often seen as a sort of panacea which makes possible urbanization and the centralization of healthcare and with a market driven economy people’s needs are better addressed. But as a result of urbanization there has been environmental degradation and therefore for instance the invasion of new niches by disease such as the Lyme tick or the Hanta virus infected rodents bringing about contact with humans. Also with urbanization it makes it easier for certain diseases to spread. Diseases like influenza spread quickly through a population and can be transported internationally quickly.

Yet with urbanization and technology disease spread can potentially be addressed by better monitoring systems which can result from the better use of technology. Computerized databases with accurate reporting would simplify monitoring of disease and would more adequately address the risk of disease spread. With increased technology new treatments can be found and vaccines can be created.

Whether microbes seem to be getting the upper hand over the long term and whether further technological advances will be able to rebut immediate microbial treatment resistance is open to question. While it may be difficult to continue to create effective antibiotics, because of technological advancements different strategies may become available. More sophisticated strategies to addressing microbe antibiotic resistance may be found, and with the new field of genetic engineering by addressing specific genetic weakness in microbes. This is one hopeful strategy to address the HIV virus.

Therefore it is unclear whether disease will be more completely controlled in the future. Present evidence shows some diseases on the rise such as AIDS, Staphylococcus, Malaria, Cholera, Tuberculosis and others. The future is unclear. But promising new strategies and theories are being implemented. Perhaps there will be a better time for control of these deadly threats in the future.

Silence
A tapestry
of sights unseen

wrapped in a golden haze
a shade of light
a veil of a dream

to look
and speak
resounds around
the world unfurled

But smite
the death of meaning
the life of seeming
the wrath of nothing

so speak
a day
or a fortnight
of better days
and better ways

for when the end comes
none shall cherish what will be
nor remember what’s not