Here’s part of Neil Oliver’s weekend monologue to ring in
the New Year:
In a few hours, we welcome 2023,
but as far as our leaders and their lackeys are concerned it might as well be
Groundhog Day.
I look at the headlines on this
last day of 2022 and what do I see? Covid, Ukraine and Climate Change. Folks nuttier than anything found in a selection box are talking about bringing back
face masks. God help us. Let’s remind everyone for the umpteenth time that
Covid is now no more dangerous to most than the common cold. But still, the
talk is of the pandemic, same old, same old.
. . .
I honestly feel the relentless push
to keep us down, with fear of pestilence, fear of war, fear of the ending of
the world, is the equivalent of a sustained beating designed, once and for all,
to knock the last of the spirit out of us so that finally we shut up and do as
we’re told.
But here’s the thing: that spirit
is not vanquished. Instead, and on the contrary, in the hearts and minds of
enough of us, that spirit has been ignited into flame.
. . .
The more each of us speaks to out
in the world, the better. The more we share, the more reassurance we provide
one another, and the stronger we are. That’s where the hope lies, and the
promise of brighter days sooner or later.
. . .
The Hobbit Frodo Baggins feels all
but overwhelmed by the enormity of the task ahead of him and tells the wizard
Gandalf,
“I wish it need not have happened
in my time.”
“So do I,” replies Gandalf. “And so
do all who live to see such times. But it is not for them to decide. All we have
to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Happy New Year, to all dear friends
and fellow travelers.
Read the rest of the transcript here.
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