Elmer's Glue

[Collimator]

28. And thanks for your words of encouragement, too.

You are completely right about the self-fulfillment of the "all is lost" thought process. It's not unlike the belief systems of a certain stripe of right-wing religious types.

They've been taught all their lives that this world that we live in is essentially a lost cause. They actually want to live in "The End Times" not only because they think the next world is the only one that counts, but also because they think that their position as believers makes them the heroes of this end-of-the-world drama.

The events written about in the book of Revelation can be interpreted thousands of different ways and none of those things actually has to happen. But if people keep imposing certain policies, funding different governments and groups and pushing certain political agendas, then we will find ourselves in some version of "End Times".

Let's all take a deep breath and remind ourselves that it doesn't have to be this way and that people all over the world have pushed through some terrible times. World War II was a crisis point for humanity and we shouldered through. To paraphrase Captain America, there were things that we lost, but can you imagine a world where the Allies actually lost the war?

The Civil War in this country was devastating. But, as a massive armed conflict, it did end with our country intact and now we have to pick up the pieces of the unfinished conflict and continue the fight in the political and social realms.

Our revolution was an incredible long shot. I'm sure that most well-read students of history living in that day and age would not have bet on the rebellious colonials.

Going even further back in time, there is genetic evidence that during a certain period of pre-history there were fewer than 2000 human beings on this planet. However, we are a very scrappy, very clever, and possibly very horny species. We managed to survive.

We can survive this crisis in human history. In fact, failing an actual killer asteroid, we will survive. The real question is what sort of world do we want to construct from our current instability?