Is This Really Who We Are Now?
One reason I liked the idea of moving from Long Island, New York to northern New England was the difference in community and the sense of independence. I was nervous about what actually came to fruition after Hurricane Sandy - getting supplies into Long Island and surviving if something like that, or even worse, happened. I remember when people were afraid of Y2k some of them stocked up on things like firewood. My thought on that is "how quaint."
Here I am surrounded by farms. With the type of winter that you could be socked in for a few days, most people are pragmatic about supplies. Most homes have a heat source that doesn't need power, whether their primary heat source or secondary. Even if we were without power for a few days, I could take a few things from my pantry, toss it in a cast-iron Dutch oven, and let it cook on top of my wood stove as we rode it out. I also felt that as a community, we would come together and help each other out. You know, invite people in who might not have an alternative heat source. Give them warm food or coffee. Typical thoughts of the Norman Rockwell type nostalgia. Now, I'm not so sure.
An acquaintance of mine we'll call Jay is a decent person who puts in a hard day's work, contributes to the community, and is in general a good person. If he showed up at my door and said they had no heat at his house, I likely would have just let him in, until a conversation a few months back. Somehow we got onto the topic of these people who claim the end of the world is coming and were all going to be in some Mad Max-type future where everyone is out for themselves. His statement to one of his closest friends was "I love you man. You're about my best friend in the world. But if it came down to you or my family, adios."
I guess because all these months later I'm still thinking about it, it bothers me. I've always said I wouldn't live in a world like that, where the only point of life is not dying. Hey, we're all going to die in the end. No one here gets out alive, as Jim Morrison said. I'm not so afraid of dying that I would destroy the person I am to keep living.
Others, obviously, do not feel this way.
And I keep thinking about this. I keep thinking about someone who is so afraid of dying that they would kill their best friend. They would kill their neighbors. They would kill anyone they perceive as a threat to the continuation of their lives.
The irony here is how many call themselves Christians. Yes, I'm going to get religious for just a moment. As we approach death we are supposed to not be afraid for we are promised a life after this one. I do believe there is something after this. Exactly what it is, I don't believe anyone knows. Why would you be so afraid of death that you would turn who you are inside-out if you are a Christian? Why would you feel the need to arm yourself to the teeth to defend yourself again imaginary enemies and kill family, friends, and strangers who mean you no harm as a preventative measure?
I cannot comprehend this way of thinking. Perhaps that is why I have always said I will not be a part of a world like that. I always thought if the unlikely happened, I would take my own life and let the world go on. Now I think about my son, though, whose innocence is so tender that he would not survive it, either. I think about the horror of someone he trusts as a friend murdering him because he wanted a few boxes of pasta in the pantry or our chickens.
And really - that's what these people are whether they realize it or not.
Humans (especially the males) seem to seek out violence. I am becoming more and more convinced its just a part of our nature. Much like the animal kingdom where a male must battle others to show his superiority, there is some of that still in our genetic makeup and there are those who embrace it. Of that, I have no doubt.
We've also been given a brain. We've also been given a heart. We've also been given a soul. We should be striving to embrace the better parts of ourselves and our nature. Instead, it seems that the basal instincts of our nature are being cultivated by some who seek to use them.
We should be better than this. We aren't.
I'm scared of how many of my friends are like Jay and don't say it aloud. I remember The Monsters are Due On Maple Street and think it's more likely to come out as a result of panic than "the end of the world."
I wonder if there's a day coming that Alex Jones or someone else sets something off and in a panic when I open my door, Jay blows me away because he thinks he needs my chickens.
Who are we, really?
Here I am surrounded by farms. With the type of winter that you could be socked in for a few days, most people are pragmatic about supplies. Most homes have a heat source that doesn't need power, whether their primary heat source or secondary. Even if we were without power for a few days, I could take a few things from my pantry, toss it in a cast-iron Dutch oven, and let it cook on top of my wood stove as we rode it out. I also felt that as a community, we would come together and help each other out. You know, invite people in who might not have an alternative heat source. Give them warm food or coffee. Typical thoughts of the Norman Rockwell type nostalgia. Now, I'm not so sure.
An acquaintance of mine we'll call Jay is a decent person who puts in a hard day's work, contributes to the community, and is in general a good person. If he showed up at my door and said they had no heat at his house, I likely would have just let him in, until a conversation a few months back. Somehow we got onto the topic of these people who claim the end of the world is coming and were all going to be in some Mad Max-type future where everyone is out for themselves. His statement to one of his closest friends was "I love you man. You're about my best friend in the world. But if it came down to you or my family, adios."
I guess because all these months later I'm still thinking about it, it bothers me. I've always said I wouldn't live in a world like that, where the only point of life is not dying. Hey, we're all going to die in the end. No one here gets out alive, as Jim Morrison said. I'm not so afraid of dying that I would destroy the person I am to keep living.
Others, obviously, do not feel this way.
And I keep thinking about this. I keep thinking about someone who is so afraid of dying that they would kill their best friend. They would kill their neighbors. They would kill anyone they perceive as a threat to the continuation of their lives.
The irony here is how many call themselves Christians. Yes, I'm going to get religious for just a moment. As we approach death we are supposed to not be afraid for we are promised a life after this one. I do believe there is something after this. Exactly what it is, I don't believe anyone knows. Why would you be so afraid of death that you would turn who you are inside-out if you are a Christian? Why would you feel the need to arm yourself to the teeth to defend yourself again imaginary enemies and kill family, friends, and strangers who mean you no harm as a preventative measure?
I cannot comprehend this way of thinking. Perhaps that is why I have always said I will not be a part of a world like that. I always thought if the unlikely happened, I would take my own life and let the world go on. Now I think about my son, though, whose innocence is so tender that he would not survive it, either. I think about the horror of someone he trusts as a friend murdering him because he wanted a few boxes of pasta in the pantry or our chickens.
And really - that's what these people are whether they realize it or not.
Humans (especially the males) seem to seek out violence. I am becoming more and more convinced its just a part of our nature. Much like the animal kingdom where a male must battle others to show his superiority, there is some of that still in our genetic makeup and there are those who embrace it. Of that, I have no doubt.
We've also been given a brain. We've also been given a heart. We've also been given a soul. We should be striving to embrace the better parts of ourselves and our nature. Instead, it seems that the basal instincts of our nature are being cultivated by some who seek to use them.
We should be better than this. We aren't.
I'm scared of how many of my friends are like Jay and don't say it aloud. I remember The Monsters are Due On Maple Street and think it's more likely to come out as a result of panic than "the end of the world."
I wonder if there's a day coming that Alex Jones or someone else sets something off and in a panic when I open my door, Jay blows me away because he thinks he needs my chickens.
Who are we, really?
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