If you wish to spoil your senses, give the “Wolgalied” (from Der Zarewitsch by Franz Lehar) a listen. It tells the story of a lonely soldier overlooking the Volga River far from home. It was written in 1926.
Fast forward 16 years, and a shattered 6th Army overlooks a hostile Volga River, lonely and far from home. The prophecy was fulfilled, and no-one even knew it was a prophecy.
Our far-fetched fantasies of 2018 may also be fulfilled in a single lifetime. Will there be forests in the Amazon? Will the organophosphates have finally bleached and destroyed every coral reef?
Or do we see a world with clean watercourses, sustainable agriculture and sustainable (decreasing) world human populations?
We concentrate on the “big” issues of the day and buzz words like “energy efficiency”. I suppose rightly so. Yet sometimes I think we should dream – and perhaps change our bad dreams and negative visions from the lonely shattered and hostile natural environment that looms before us, to a beautiful happy place. Then let us strive to make the “happy” prophecy come true.
It is true that lunatics made the nightmare of the Wolgalied come true. It is equally true that the start of a better future “liebestraum”, needs us to fire the lunatics who are presently lighting our path.
[Photo Elaine Reed: Lilian’s lovebirds Mana Pools]
