Apokalypse Soon?

What are you most worried about for the future?

When I retired, I planned on travel and creative projects. I’m working on both. But always nagging somewhere are fears for the future. And not those little things like cancer or knee transplants. Global things.

Worldwide, there’s global climate change. Grow a garden and you can see proof on a local scale. Fluctuating temperatures, drought, then flood—and that’s just in the backyard. When Florida cities start to dip underwater, will people become more aware of it? Will they finally take action, or will it be too late?

Then we have Vladimir Putin, nuclear saber-rattling in Russia. When anyone has been an authoritarian leader for any length of time, you have to believe they will do anything. I’m hoping for a Hitler-esque black capsule in a bunker, leaving the rest of us (I mean those who haven’t already died in his senseless war) unscathed.

Finally, domestically, we have people who want to disrupt and dismantle the very government that allows them the freedom to express their ridiculous opinions and espouse their insane conspiracy theories. I’m constantly baffled why people run for office only to obstruct the proceedings, to set fire to the very institutions they inhabit. I started in academia with the goal of teaching to make the world a better place. Making the world worse doesn’t seem like a very good goal to me.

I’m writing this on the Fourth of July, with cautious optimism. I still hope for the Gene Roddenberry Earth when humankind has survived terrible ills and has come out on the other side. And I think there are a lot of people working toward that. Here’s hoping/wishing/praying those individuals can create the positive energy to heal the planet and society (which is kinda what my Steampunk novel Watchers of the Dawn was all about).

I once said I didn’t retire to have a front row seat for the Apocalypse; still hoping that show’s cancelled.

Sorry for the commercial message about Watchers of the Dawn; I guess you can’t escape ads even from the guy with the sandwich board that says, “The End of the World Is Nigh!” Probably on the back it says, “Drink Pepsi!” or something.

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