Morning Pogue,

I’m feeling a little despondent this morning. I’ve just had a few days in Amsterdam and that may have added to my state of mind. I don’t know but listen.

While I was there I came across the Embassy of the Free Mind, a library and an exhibit celebrating the free thinkers, heretics, radicals down the ages. Amsterdam, as a city, has an open minded approach to life and has done so for many hundreds of years. This has meant that numerous people who were persecuted for their beliefs or their adventurous thinking have gravitated to the city. The religious, the spiritual, philosophers, scientists and more have made Amsterdam their home and that’s great. But I find myself saddened and angry at the fact that these great minds and spirits could not flourish at large and be allowed to touch society where they initially lived. Angered that closed mindedness is the default position of most peoples.

Then I completed Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken, an exploration into the food industry highlighting the huge amount of ultra-processed food that is eaten and how a multi billion dollar industry more or less determines what the majority will eat, modifies the flavours to make the food addictive, plays with textures, adds numerous chemicals and misrepresents it in advertising. Chris questions whether the rise in obesity, diabetes, cancer and the like can be related to the advent of ultra-processed food. Obviously for legal reasons he holds back from directly pointing the finger but the answer is more than obvious and the reader is left to join the dots.

So as I sit looking out of my window I am very mindful of the title of Mark Manson’s bestseller, Everything is Fucked, because it kinda feels like it is. So much of what happens to me is being determined by others. Multi-Nationals, governments that are fractured, religious organisations, agendas I didn’t sign up for. What chance does the little person have? But despite this vail of despondency, whilst in the Embassy of the Free Mind I was reminded, as I picked books from the shelves, that here is a collection of works by people who felt far more pressure on their life. They suffered where they lived, were often ostracised, labelled as heretics, as weirdos, enemies of all that was perceived right, and left their homes, families and all that was familiar to pursue an idea, a better world.

Yes there is a cost to living free from the influences that stand beyond us and determine so much of life. The question each of us must ask is, “Is it worth it?” Oh I know my expression of heresy, my choice to hold to and pursue quirky beliefs will not change the world (although some other’s have!). But my one small step in that direction will cause a ripple in the pond of life. Possibly those around me will feel it. Maybe I’ll just feel some comfort in my soul and that would be enough.

It’s a new week and the opportunity to make personal change lays ahead. Maybe it’s a review and learning about out diets followed by taking certain products and brands out of our shopping trolley. Maybe it’s reading the works of others who have spoken against the tide of society. Maybe for the first time, this week, we’ll turn to those who fill our day and say, “Thank you, but no thank you” for the first time and chose to do life differently. Your call. But remember, one small step and you will be nearer the top of the mountain.

Yours, finding hope in strange places,

Wic.