07 December 20XX+1
My Dear Lucilius:
Today was the lighting of the second Advent candle.
Pompeia Paulina was patiently waiting for me when I came out into the early morning grey that constitutes daylight in Winter here. It is one of the things that I had underestimated when I first relocated here, the true shortness of the days of Winter. Especially in a world without power, one can work before the daylight, but one’s effectiveness can be serious curtailed – who wants to risk an injury just to get a 20 minute head start on something in the dark?
The Advent wreath was there, along with its for candles. The match sparked; one candle, then another candle glowed in the early morning gloom.
The second candle, she said. The Candle of Bethlehem, of Preparation and Peace.
Bethlehem in our day was one of the most well known small towns of history; we had the benefit of 2,000+ years of Christian history behind us. And while even leading up to Christ’s birth it undoubtedly had some fame as the birthplace of David, one of Israel’s great kings, it (like many other birthplaces) had slipped into backwater status; were it to have happened now, likely there would be some small sign commemorating David’s birthplace and perhaps a small museum preserving David’s birth house, manned by volunteers and preserving his parents’ memorabilia (all of the good stuff would undoubtedly be at the museum in Jerusalem), selling post cards and bumper stickers that read “I felt Bethlehome in Bethlehem”.
It was a small place, that history seemed to have moved on from. And yet Scripture promised that something amazing would happen there:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.” - (Micah 5:2)
It was almost 1,000 years between David and Christ and almost 700 years between the prophet Micah and Christ. What did people do?
They waited. They prepared.
They prepared for the coming of Messiah. They waited. They kept the laws as they were given and looked to the future and God – sometimes a God that was not speaking to them at all. They prepared their hearts for the Promised One.
And then, in the fullness of time, Mary and Joseph prepared themselves for a journey they did not intend to make under circumstances not of their choosing to this small, backwater town. Where something which had been prophesied – but was still very unexpected – happened.
We sat in the candlelight as Pompeia Paulina read and then just watched the candles burn for a bit in silence. And then, in silence, blew the candles out and began the day.
Even with the promise, Lucilius, there is still preparation – and waiting – to be done.
Your Obedient Servant, Seneca
Waiting...... with the long slide towards the end of the year, less light as the days shorten TB. How long will the portable solar panels last to provide their power? How long is the fall? Waiting.......
ReplyDeleteIt is never enough, Nylon12. That is what the collapse of civilization tells us. The things put in place are never enough. Either the civilization has to recover or it gets reinvented as something else. After the Late Roman Empire, engineering feats that had been ubiquitous in some cases were not maintained or unable to be performed again for centuries.
DeletePortable Solar Panel lifespan depends on materials used. Plastic vs tempered glass the plastic starts getting hazy reducing power made like a cloudy day in a few years. Harbor Freight has sold both glass and plastic models.
DeleteTempered glass and aluminum framed panels unless broken (and thus moisture gets in BAD) have a 90% plus power generation for around 20+ years.
Batteries are the weakest point. BUT if you do direct use and avoid the batteries you can do well for decades past weak and failing batteries.
Examples pumping water into a raised storage. Not using on demand pumping for pressure that way.
Running Boom Boxes directly using creative use of wiring and wood-plastic as to allow a small panel to replace the disposable batteries.
Running small refrigerators keeping them sheltered from sunshine and heat for efficiency you can keep them going in the deer camp without batteries. Just like operating during a power outage but with sunshine power added.
Collapse of civilization is more from LOSS of Knowledge and skills not being passed onward. Paper books well preserved is key in my opinion.
I have too many computer style data sticks and disks that I cannot read now due to damage or corruption.
Why this computer has me anon now and Michael later is beyond my understanding.
DeleteMichael (the Anon, apparently) - Printed materials have always been a key to recovering civilizations; the fact that there are civilizations we know nothing about stems in part from the fact we have no written materials from them.
DeleteI believe that the Roman hydraulic cement had to wait nearly two millennia for reinvention.
ReplyDeleteWill, I believe you are correct. As I was reminded last year, they finally discovered the "secret" of how the Romans made a form of "self-healing" cement.
DeleteAll the easy access ores have been hoovered up. The next civilization is going to have to excel at scavenging, repurposing. It will likely be light on electricity and manufacturing.
ReplyDeletePersonal weapons will be taken for granted and revered. It will be a much leaner, tougher world.
T_M - That is a great point. Whomever or whatever comes after us will have to like repurpose all ores and metals. Even now I would have to guess at where the modern mines that produce them are.
DeleteI don't know which is more interesting, the post or the comments.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, I have to admit I am always amazed (thankfully so) at the comments to these posts. It represents, perhaps, one of the actual things that I had hoped for from this serial: conversations, be they specifically focused or higher level theory, about things like economic scarcity and the interruption or even cessation of a civilization or economic order.
Delete