The year 2023 was a year of loss. Sure, Henry Kissinger the bozo finally kicked the bucket, but we also lost a myriad of influential people who enriched our lives in a multitude of ways. The deaths this year ranged from music icons like Tina Turner to comedy legends like Tom Smothers, from people who made your weekday afternoons entertaining like Bob Barker and Jerry Springer to people who made our summers relaxing and enjoyable like Jimmy Buffet. With the passing away of these icons, it seems as if the memories of our prime years and our childhoods are vanishing along with them. As sad as many of the deaths in 2023 have been, I am comforted in knowing that many of them lived their lives to the fullest and were able to go out on their terms.
The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people don't have that privilege. How many patients have died in the hospital due to ailments that could easily be cured? How many people of color have been killed due to the unjust oppression of imperialist violence and brutality? How many women have been murdered resisting the barbaric violence of the patriarchy? And how many workers have been worked to an early grave at the hands of the capitalist class that doesn't give a damn if they live or die? The answer is millions. Millions of people all over the world die every year due to class society and the myriad of ways it robs people of their lives.
And among those that have the "fortune" of living, they do not have that much of a life. What is the point of living if your only job prospects is making pennies a day for a multinational corporation?What's the point of living if the basic necessities of existence(food, clothing, sheltered) are commodified to the point that you can't afford it? What's the point of living if your entire town and village will be bombed to ashes because you live in a country that opposes the interests of the biggest hegemony in the world? What's the point of living if you live a world that will be inhabitable in a few years? And what is the point of living if you can't be your true, authentic self?
Millions of people all over the world ask these questions every single day. And the sad reality is that the capitalist class won't give you the answers. It is in their best interests to crush the working class every day and stifle any hope of a prosperous life. In order to cope with this, many of them rationalize that their next life will be better than this one and they try to live by the morality of the ruling class. I'm not sure if there is an afterlife, but it isn't fair to relegate the working class and the oppressed to a life of hoping, everyone on this earth is entitled to a life of joy, health and comfort. A life where they don't have to worry about being killed by bombs, a life where they don't have to work 70-80 (or more) hours a week with a pitiful pay, a life where you can enjoy the natural beauty of the earth. A life where no one knows any oppression or discrimination due to the race, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. A life where people of all abilities are valued for who they are and not for how wealthy they can make a CEO. A life that only socialism and communism can provide. And the drive to make this a reality has never been greater in any other point in my life and will only continue to grow in intensity.
The number of losses in 2023 has served as a reminder to me that life on this earth is precious and each and every second of it is valuable. We shouldn't spend it making billionaire richer, or our earth more wretched or our fellow humans' lives more miserable. To paraphrase the late Jerry Springer, we should spend it actually taking care of ourselves.......and each other.