It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. [REM]
Understanding how eotw scenarios might play out, especially
when they are based in very real interpretations (not paranoid, but grounded in
solid scientific and rational studies) of situations and events, is important.
We should avoid at all costs the temptation to bury our heads in the sand and
feel content to let the future fall where it may. But these
considerations must be balanced against the fundamental idea that, no matter
how much we may want to believe otherwise, we cannot know for certain
what will happen in the future. The dour Chicken-Littles of the world who run
around bemoaning the fate of humanity and the planet, though they may turn out
to be absolutely correct, do no favors to anyone, least of all themselves. I
say that we must understand the truth about what’s going on and what
seems likely or even merely possible to happen, but to bring such emotion, and
certainly much neurosis, to the planning table is ridiculous. That “strategy”
only serves to trade any present peace and goodwill for future (and perhaps
vain) assurances. Leave the emotion at home, people; wallow in it at night when
you awaken out of your horrific dreams. And, in the brightening morning, in
light of day, consider this: You may believe this is all going to happen
to us tomorrow or next week, but it’s not; not even next month or next year.
And the bits of it that are happening right now, the real-time ongoing
situations and events, are concerns enough; by dealing with them,
properly and adequately, rationally and objectively, in the present, we
effectively deal with them in the future as well. My big point here is this:
these catastrophes you worry about, these imagined nightmare scenarios, will in
no way be avoided because you have gotten all bent out of shape, emotionally
charged, and driven to despair (even to the point, as more than one person has
testified to me, of imagining how you might, as painlessly as possible, kill yourself
so as to avoid the time when food and energy shortages have created a world
where you must live cold, hungry, and without your internet or TV). Yes, we
need rational, scientific solutions to present day problems so that they do not
escalate further; but your anxiety is misplaced when it’s projected onto a
failing planet. It’s you you’re worrying about, not the future of
humanity. Get a grip. More than likely, certainly if you are over 40 or 50
years of age, you will be gone before conditions deteriorate to a point
of what you might consider severity. (The scaremongers who say the end is just
around the corner are wrong; their message is an outshoot of their pathology.)
And, likely, if are younger than 40 or 50, you’re not one of the end-of-the-worlders;
those kids are dealing. [I make a minor exception to my angst-dismissal for
mothers (and wussy-tending fathers) of younger kids, with one caveat to this
caveat: consider how your biological attachment may be affecting your rational
judgment.] So, in short, potential eotw scenarios may or may not have a very
real basis in science, but the near-hysteria phenomenon attached to them is an emotional disorder. Deal with that (pathological) issue, and
you’ll be fine.
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