Artistic Ramblings - WW3

This is an artistic rambling, a miniseries within my blog that aims to explore a bit of everything. Sometimes it’s in terms of mental health or outside influences – but all of which will typically relate to my experiences, thoughts and inspirations as an artist. Thank you for reading!

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With ever-rising global tensions, I have known for far too long that I wanted to write an artistic rambling about World War 3. Not about the ‘possibility’ or about who is ‘winning’.

Where do I start? What do I say? I’m not sure there are enough words in the English language that could properly articulate the clusterfuck of thoughts, fears and emotions swirling around my mind.

I am an artist.

I am a small business owner.

I am just one.

I have been taught my history. I have learnt the first two stories of this now-trilogy. And growing up, I certainly found myself hoping there would never be a third. I hoped I wouldn’t be so unlucky.

I am a writer.

I am a learner.

I am just one.

I was taught to never use violence, regardless of the aggression used upon me. Growing up, I believed that I could write my way out of anything. Too often, words failed me. My tongue could never keep up with the chaotic nature of my thoughts, and that is true to this day.

I am a fighter.

I am a survivor.

I am just one.

I was taught to be resilient – I hate that word. Growing up, I recognised it first hand as a convenient excuse for people of power to do cruel things. They are not malicious, vicious or brutal: you just need to be more resilient.

I am a person.

I am a human.

I am just one.

I always thought I could write my way out of anything. But my papers were torn up and burned. And so, I screamed and screamed and screamed, but it all fell on deaf ears. There is no reasoning with a being that sees themselves as a god.

I am a person: I have learnt that lesson time and time again. Through my childhood, through my adolescence and now into adulthood. It is something that rears its head in bitter reminders of malice and the natural panic that wants to follow.

I am a human: I do not have all of the answers, and we are not meant to. The world was never meant to be this complicated, this hungry, this bloodthirsty. Something broke along the way.

I am just one: and so are you. I am not cruel enough to ask you to be resilient. We shouldn’t have to be – not to this unbearable capacity, and certainly not for these reasons.

The world seems to be caught in a never-ending game of tug-of-war. Backstabbing nations are playing a nuclear game of 5D chess. And the people, like you and I, are forced to play the most dangerous game of limbo.

World War 3 is among us, and I think it has been for a long time. It has been building up, like a rubber band threatening to snap.

World War 3 is here.

The chaos reigns.

And I am just one.

I sip at a hot chocolate as I see the newest announcement of death and destruction. Cars still pass by my home and buses still find my stop, and I wonder for how long. I sit making accessories, and cringe at the sound of planes and helicopters overhead, wondering if ‘this is it’.

World War 3 is here.

The world is the same, and different.

And I don’t have the answers.

I do not wish I could go back to the days of naivety, where World War 3 was a far-away possibility. Turning back time will never undo the harm done today. But unravelling the expectation that kings can instigate war and expect their people to blindly defend the throne is a start. Perhaps it is time for the ‘great and mighty’ to throw their own punches and not rely on detrimental sacrifice.

World War 3 is here.

Perhaps it’s time.

We are just humans.

Perhaps it is time to return to something simpler. It doesn’t have to be archaic, just meaningful. Working ourselves to death is not natural. Our consciousnesses deserve more than a screen.

We deserve the sun and the rain and the dirt beneath our feet. We deserve time to read books and to learn and to explore our passions. We deserve the oversupplied opportunities to be happy.

World War 3 is here.

Would you like a cup of tea?

I will make you one.

In my circles, I have witnessed outrage. People are unhappy, and they have every right to be. People are speaking up and fighting back and making art out of protest. I am among them.

I hold my breath every time I open my phone, because I never know what I will find. I look up to the sky, fearfully awaiting the day the fluffy clouds are replaced with smoke and ash. And I find a brief sense of peace and hope in art, in writing and in community. And I hope you can too.

Thank you for reading. With hard work and persistence, the seas will calm again. It is never too late to turn away from the wrong path – and I have seen millions of people trying to divert the globe from that path. Together, it can be accomplished. Together, change is achievable.

It just has to start with one.

Kimberley (they/them)

Accessories by Antoinette