I
confess that I am now constantly stalked by the feeling that we are
slipping into the new Dark Ages.
I
know, I know – yes, I am a well known alarmist and yes, I do always
see the bad side of everything. That said, I cam rapidly coming the
to the point that I wonder if there is any chance we are in a
situation that we can recover from.
The
Social Contract feels more fragile than I think I can remember it
feeling in my lifetime, with scarcely anything holding us together.
It feels as if it would take one good shock – one – to burst the
last tenuous bands asunder and leave us flying in the wind.
And
that fear of the social contract is domestic only; it leaves alive
the international social contract which seems even more rent and
tattered. It feels as if we are not already at war we soon shall be
– over conflicts that really have little to do with our safety.
(Yes, the current standoff in Syria between the US and Russia scares
me to death. Insert Fred Thompson quote: “This will get out of
control. This will get out of control and we will be lucky to live
through it.”)
What
do I do in this time? I find myself almost bifocused – looking on
the one hand to events that seem to be accelerating every day and on
the other closer and closer to home and hearth: reading, downsizing,
looking for ways to do around the house instead of doing afar off.
One, I suppose, satiates my need for being ahead of the curve; the
other gives me focus on the things I can do.
One
wonders if Cassandra felt the same way.
I feel it too. It seems 1939-ish out there. I don't think it's alarmist to say that our little bubble is about to burst.
ReplyDeleteGlen, it feels as if there are so many things that could potentially go wrong - really badly - that any one would create a serious crisis. Maybe that is what I am feeling.
DeleteThat is very likely true. It will be a domino effect where one crisis will trigger several others.
DeleteWhich is, if you think about it, the way most of the "survival novel" scenarios actually seem to start.
DeleteDoes waking up in the middle of the night and smelling smoke in your house make you an "alarmist?" Neither then, does your feeling that things are about to come off the rails. It's not a matter of conjecture that makes us feel the way we do; it's a matter of responding to what we are seeing with our own eyes! It's a matter of watching the Rube Goldberg machine that is the sum of our political and economic farses that makes us realize "This thing is never going to catch the mouse!"
ReplyDeleteAs for what to do; there's not much we can do, large-scale. The throttle's wide open and the brakes are gone on this runaway train. Start with "What happens when the lights go out," and take it from there. Take care of business at home. Then, and only then, if any stamina or resources remain, work outward.
Above all of this; PRAY!
Stand by for heavy rolls as the ship comes about!
Thanks Pete - for validating my concerns if nothing else. It is not just me being paranoid then. Things really are on fire.
DeleteI keep reading comparisons between now, and the civil rights protests/riots of the '60s. No comparison; then, we felt as if we were a part of something larger than ourselves. Now we're made to feel like lone wolf extremists. There was not the attempt to isolate & marginalize (Cloward & Piven, anyone?) like today.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I was only a kid then, but I remember what was going on. The general attitude was "There's a big problem. We need to fix this." Now it's "We perceive a problem. We need to break this." Moreover, we who hold traditional values are actually marked as the CAUSE of the problem! Call me a doomsayer, but I don't see this ending well...
DeleteSo maybe I am a bit of an alarmist, but I wonder if in times past - The "Dark Ages" for example - the isolation of communities or the attempt to safeguard the local area (the emergence of smaller kingdoms within the larger context of the Roman Empire, for example) - were really just attempts to isolates themselves from a contagion that they were aware of? If we are being marginalized (and we are) perhaps should we not lean into this, historically speaking?
Delete