Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A Voice from the not-to distant future

I had heard that we can create our own reality. So I was looking at the news and wondering what kind of reality we were collectively creating. Then I started having these "visitations" or whatever you call it when a dream turns into an experience in an alternate universe. The first question is of course "Am I going crazy?" Or has my fertile imagination fed me a glimpse into a very possible future?
My first "vision" is of Congressman Chris Gibson, our local guy here in Glens Falls, New York, sitting in his office downtown. He's made the big mistake of returning to his district during a period of martial law. A howling mob of overweight people charges down the street, drags Gibson from his office, takes him to City Park a few blocks away and hangs him from a lamp post. This episode was the first major "food riot" for our little city. It seems that people had drawn a line of connection from the empty shelves in the local food markets to those climate change deniers like Mr. Gibson and had decided to vent their rage in a personal way as though by exterminating Mr. Gibson they could somehow expiate their own sins. After the lynching the military and police showed up and shot a few people effectively dispersing the crowd. I for one couldn't help but feel some sympathy for Mr. Gibson or at least for his family. It wasn't like he had personally created the famine which gripped the good old USA in this soon to be arrived at future. He was just a tool and I will generously imagine that his own carbon footprint was no larger than any one member of the lynch mob that slew him. In fact, the more I think about it the more I'm inclined to say that if we're going to point fingers we should point them at ourselves. We are the participants who engaged so wholeheartedly in the affluence of our so-called civilization. Liberals, progressives, and conservatives alike did a hell of a lot of driving, flying, and general petroleum consumption. I never saw one protest movement to get the American people out of cars and into buses or trains. Everyone wanted to eat their cake too. So here I am in the year 2018. That's just a few years away for anyone reading this. And despite the horror that is unfolding here on planet Earth I see some remarkable opportunities for humanity to get it right this time. More to come. : )

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