A Thread for Humanity

October 6, 2025

A Thread for Humanity

Sunset over the ocean: Sun peaking through dark clouds, creating orange and gold hues, reflecting on the water.

The world economic fabric can only work if there is a thread for humanity,

or we are:

justifying the unjustifiable.

We must find a way to make our human experiment on Earth a success.

With our combined intelligence we can figure out a solution that does not involve wars and poverty.

I had a conversation this morning at breakfast with an individual who just boarded the ship in Japan. He was offended by the English language account of the US involvement in Japan that he read at the Hiroshima memorial. He felt it was inaccurate and unflattering. This appeared to me to be the wrong thing to be reacting to so strongly. There is no way people are going to flatter a country that inflicted unprecedented violence and tragedy on them. Governments start wars and people suffer.

We have to stop trying to justify the unjustifiable.

There is a human part to war; it is not a virtual experience. No government has a right to maim and kill its citizens, or those of another country.

We have come to a point where no person or country is so remote that it is unaffected by whatever wars and economic oppressions are presently happening, either directly, indirectly, physically or emotionally. An agreement is necessary to make sure every individual has a road to self sufficiency. Like a seed placed in the ground. Agreement on a good course of action will grow a little at a time. One conversation at a time. Governments will not originate this kind of agreement, they need to be guided by us.

We may feel discouraged because there is so much disagreement at this time. But we have done and still do difficult and seemingly impossible things together every day. Adjustments that make life possible. People just get on with it, in spite of governments, in spite of politics or money. We have a cohesive, intelligent, subconscious agreement to cooperate so we can move on, survive and continue, not to Nirvana or Utopia but to the evening, to the next day, and through that. For instance, the double line between two directions of traffic. We agree not to cross it as we travel at high speeds past each other. We are making a survival decision. We know that if we cross that line it may result in our death, the death of another person or both. Even in a traffic jam when patience is strained, we wait. Few people will break from the line and try to drive on the shoulder. We wait not because we are mindless followers, but because this is what a frustrating situation demands. Our turn will probably come. When we get near to escaping the congestion we often exhibit generosity. No one is to blame, we are ‘in the same boat.’ “You go, I will go next,” you think in your mind as the lanes blend and you let a vehicle taper in ahead of you. You don't care about what sticker they have on their bumper and whether you agree with it. This is how we progress till finally we are free to go our separate ways. This is freedom. Not the freedom that is promised in constitutions and propaganda. This is a kind of freedom formed by agreement with fellow humans. And you know it is real as you drive away from the congestion, open your window and the fresh air blows past your face.

This is the subtle kind of freedom we have cultivated together through careful evolution as we encountered obstacles, major and minor, for thousands of years. The result is that we have built enough safety around our humanity that occasionally individuals can have a chance to express themselves, meaningfully. Time to think and imagine. This is the ultimate freedom that is sometimes possible. A gift we can occasionally give with cooperation that relieves tension and conversation that builds acquaintance and familiarity. Made possible through consensus and our common ability to compromise and connect.

An important conversation people need to have now, so that further agreement is possible; is understanding how they are being affected by World Economics. Are things getting better for most of us? Or just a few. Why? Ask yourself, what is money? Is there a way to use money so that it provides essential basic human needs to everyone, food, shelter, education and healthcare, at no cost to them? This is the tread for humanity that is missing from our economic fabric.

Today, World Economies do not significantly value humanity or nature. They are both used only as resources that can make profit for companies, governments and countries.

Consider a Parallel Currency. Leaving the existing currency patterns in place, and adding a separate currency dedicated to basic human needs, food, shelter, education and healthcare. This sounds very simple and you might ask,”why hasn't this been done before?” Because our modern economic systems' main focus is profit making and because we have not had instantaneous communication for very long. Also, the need for this has not been as intense as it is now with populations more than quadrupling in a generation. Today, ideas can be introduced quickly Worldwide and considered by billions of people.

Profit from the basic human needs can only be made by making these things artificially scarce and their prices high. This stops a huge percentage of people from even surviving. Economics has become a danger to us all as we move through our lives. We are being forced into competition with each other for basic needs. Money in exchange for human survival has the long-term effect of stifling social development.

Poverty has only been thought of as a natural human condition for possibly several hundred years. For thousands of years we cooperated and made sure that everyone in a community had basic needs. There was not a word, poverty. Our populations were small and every person was valued. Now our populations are huge and through profit economics, basic needs are monetized. If you can't afford them you and your family don't survive.

We can create and spend money for whatever we choose. With a Parallel Currency dedicated to basic needs that is destroyed after use, inflation is not an issue. Taxes for these needs and services are not necessary. The money can be printed as needed and cannot be saved or invested. A Parallel Currency will provide basic human needs to everyone, not charge people for them as we do today. This is vitally important because our survival is at stake.

Communicate with each other about how you would like to see our future evolve. What people agree upon becomes a direction. Imagine how a Parallel Currency for basic human needs would change the economic equation and its results.

With a common direction we can go forward and recognize the obstacles to avoid. As momentum builds and we approach closer and closer, we will know we have arrived when, some fine day and into the future we will never hear again, “If I can't work for money, my family will starve.”

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Australia

March 25, 2026

The yellow pilot boat is approaching. A pilot will be brought onboard to guide our ship through the harbor. As we progress, a stretch of islands pass us on the left then, the coastline, on both sides. Sailboats, white triangles against the dark blue water, shine in the distance. Cliffs drop sheer from the pastureland to the tan beaches. Dark green groves fill the crevasses. We cruise along under the dome of the sky. Soon we will be docked at Port Melbourne, Hobson's Bay, Australia. Living life onboard, traveling around the world, I feel like a spirit watching the living as they go about their activities. I am a temporary exhalation, undetected then gone. But their doings remain in my mind. Humans are so very busy, especially the young adults. It takes significant aging to bring on stillness and reflection. My obscurity can make me sentimental. I feel a general affection for anyone who passes. I saw a baby watching sea gulls eat the French fries that someone had tossed to them. I imagined her forming her own impressions of everything around and not yet named. I wished her well and hoped that the war would end soon.

Sydney Australia to New Zealand

March 12, 2026

The most important thing we have to do, now that we have re boarded our ship in downtown Sydney, is to increase the number of pages in our passports. Most countries will stamp a whole page and sometimes two. Our passports, though new, only had twenty eight pages. This will not be enough to get us around the world! So we made an appointment with the US Embassy, along with 50 other passengers, to address this issue by purchasing larger passport books which have 52 pages. The Embassy was new and modern, the employees good natured and efficient, considering that we descended on them all at once. We conducted our business in an orderly manner under the watchful eyes of the US President, Vice President and Secretary of State, whose framed photographs dominated the far wall.

Hospital, Sydney, Australia

February 23, 2026

After all our planning for Jeff's next operation and waiting out the days till we arrived in Cairns, Australia, we finally flew to the Sydney airport. It was evening when we got there and both of us were exhausted. We both thought why call an Uber, there are a bunch of taxis hanging around, just take one of them to the motel. That was a mistake. We ended up paying $100 for a 20 minute trip in no traffic. Uber would have been half, I found out later. Since then we have taken several Uber rides in electric cars. And they have been excellent experiences. Australia has been importing Chinese made electric cars. We got to ride in a BYD and Uber drivers like to talk. We conversed with a Japanese driver and an Indian driver, both men. Both had been in Australia about 15 years. They seemed to like being in the big city. Both agreed it is generally too expensive. The driver from Japan, his wife works in the hospital and they have children, he likes the flexibility of the job so he can be involved with school and activities. The Indian driver has a son and would like to return to India so his son can experience his homeland. We are resting at our motel and I am outside watching the wild cockatiels.

Sea days

February 11, 2026

We have several sea days before we arrive again in Cairns, Australia. This means we will not see land for a while. The rhythm of sea days is very different from shore days. There are a variety of activities you can participate in. Almost anything you can imagine is being invented as a result of the variety of people onboard, some of whom want to duplicate the entertainments they enjoyed where they used to live. This is a residential cruise ship so a lot of the passengers are onboard long-term, meaning many months or years or the rest of their lives. The longest stay, if you “buy” your cabin, is 15 years. When Jeff and I bought our cabin that was all that was offered. Now you can buy a cabin for 5 years. Each circumnavigation takes about three and one half years. We are going to try to stay onboard for at least one circumnavigation. Before the sea days began, we visited two of the islands of Tonga. At the first stop, people scuba dived over a reef right next to our ship

French Polynesia, the islands

January 27, 2026

The float of cloud drifts and encircles a mountain leaving just the very top, a pointed witches cap poking through. These islands have the most magnificent mountains. They brood around the harbors, snagging the clouds that pass. No doubt they have inspired fantastic stories. The cloud shadows create chameleon-like changes on mountain surfaces, making them even more expressive than oceans that amuse themselves by hiding what they contain; mountains are hysterical by contrast. Always looking for attention. “Look. Look again!, what about this?” They may hold a pose for a while seeming docile, then you look up and they have disappeared. White mist covers just a grey suggestion, then suddenly black silhouettes like broken giant teeth rise defiantly. So much animation, millions of years after volcanic upheavals shook these mountains from the sea depths.

Notes from Fiji hospital, Oceana Hospital system and Denareau private hospital

January 13, 2026

Medical emergencies all have a similar feeling. Intensity, urgency, a changed perception of time; only events and human encounters progress, time seems warped, unimportant. After several sleepless nights because Jeff was having difficulty peeing and he was beginning to have pain, he went to the onboard clinic to get catheterized. There were three attempts with successively larger catheters. This was painful and distressing for him, though he kept joking about it, “this is not good sex!” The attempts were unsuccessful. He was given pain killers and an ambulance met us at the dock for a 10 minute ambulance ride to the hospital. Jeff is an 80 year old man with an enlarged prostate so he normally has trouble peeing. But this time it stopped altogether and there was blood. We are waiting at the hospital for the urologist. Nurses and a general practitioner have spoken to us in English. Very kind, polite, casual and patient. The urologist arrives and talks with Jeff. He is going to get the operating room ready and put Jeff out. Then he can do the operation. We wait in our curtained off cubicle Jeff is lying on a bed. A woman who came with her husband, who has high blood pressure, is behind the curtain to the left of us. He had collapsed. She is reciting the Lord's Prayer and Hail Marys over and over in an emotional whisper. She is crying. A young man is in the cubicle to our right. He seems to have broken his arm. It is all wrapped up in white gauze. Earlier a man had been stung by something and ointment was applied. A pregnant woman has come in. This is a modest hospital, very basic, two floors. They have what they need. A few flies buzz lazily around, but most are killed by the electric device on the wall. A very slight smell of urine is in the air. We arrived here about 8:30. It is now 2:00. Jeff has had an ultrasound, blood pressure checks and an EKG. Now he is in a wheelchair waiting for the nurse to take him to an operating room. The waiting room has about 10 people waiting. About 50 chairs in all. Not terribly busy for a Saturday. Light and darker coffee colored skin, attractive, rounded features and large expressive eyes set apart the native population. They are only a little curious about us. There is no rushing here.

A Thread for Humanity