First Posted 19-Sep-2015
Maybe you too have friends like this. They are in love with the apocalypse. Each time you meet then you have to grind through another rant about how we are all screwed, our tinfoil hats will just melt into our skulls making our scalps shiny and us easy targets. It is the end they say.
It is the end and it isn’t the end. Rome burned in 64AD. Rome was sacked several times before the collapse of the Empire in 1453. There are still people living in the capital of the Empire. Now, the nation is called Italy and the old capital is called Rome. Constantinople is now Istanbul, Turkey. It is a vibrant city with the ruins of the old empire still on display. There was/is a tomorrow for Rome.
https://youtu.be/JSUIQgEVDM4
Glen Beck and Donald Trump are in a dystopian mood. Kim Davis, the Rowan County Court Clerk in the news because she won’t issue marriage licenses in defiance of the Supreme Court, said that these are then end times. This is the end. These are the last days. The devil is in charge, God is somewhere off recovering from a hangover after an extended period of debauchery. Guys like me, WASP, middle aged, Christian, are prey. If you believe this, there is no tomorrow.
The death of the Roman Empire was brutal. A lot of people died in wars, from the usual depravities of urban life, as players in the games at the circus. For those folk, their day came and they met their maker. There are no more tomorrow’s for them. I’m not them.
There have been apocalyptic events through history. Each time there is tremendous destruction and death. You all can name the ones that come to mind. I’ve posted a video here of the Tsunami that hit Japan after their earthquake in 2011.
My point is this, each time something horrible happened there are survivors. People eventually moved back to the places that were destroyed and built lives. There was a tomorrow. The Chicken Little bunch like Glen Beck and others, wants you to believe that the moment has come to pucker up and kiss yourself goodbye. For some in 2011 it was. For many more it was time to grieve, clean up the mess, and figure out how to build a life in the aftermath. Humans are incredibly resilient.
For all my hardships, I’m still here. Lately, I am doing better. Every time I hear about another dystopian Christian, who is sure that we’d better pucker up, I remember that the city of Rome is still there and where there was once an Empire there are still people living lives under different rule. The common constants of most lives, the need to earn a living, maintain a household, maybe raise a family, these continue. The latest idiot to wear the crown changes, has changed, will change. Government’s fall to be replaced by yet another clown who wants to be in charge. The world can end. Some will survive and in the meantime, do what needs doing. My constants are the need to maintain that small town, do for each other care that is part of our culture. To maintain relationships with our neighbors so we can thrive in hard times. Alone we are weak. Together we may still be weak but our odds of thriving improve. I’ve quit worrying about what our politicians do or whether it’s the end times. I plan on being around through it all, thriving as I have in good times and in bad. In the meantime . . .