It does seem true that we are living at the end of a civilizational era, on the brink of catastrophic war followed by an interregnum that could last for centuries before another civilization arises, if one does. It's odd to me that most people don't see this. They focus on trivial, ephemeral political issues -- hostility to a personality or political perspective. They are as if the crew of the Lusitania were brawling in the wheelhouse, oblivious to the periscope of the U-20 foaming a path through the sea to starboard.
So if the coffee in your cup inexplicably trembles ever so slightly as it sits on the side table while you scroll your tablet, it cannot mean that a Tyrannosaur has smelled you out and is coming. Ridiculous. And that low rumbling you hear is merely distant thunder, not the sound of a rolling artillery barrage headed your way. How could it be otherwise?
I'm with you. I don't want to know. All these grim conversations I've had lately with those in the know, men who see clearly how things are, have spotted the avalanche roaring down the mountain toward us, the tsunami rising out of the sea and racing toward our shore -- what can I do about it? My own politics comprise the single sentence: Can't we all just get along? That gets a horse laugh from all sides -- the joy of life comes from smiting your enemies, and if you don't have any, you make them. Fight with a neighbor, fight with a nation, whatever and whoever. Just fight.
Well, I don't want to fight. Go away, all of you. Leave me alone, can't you? Let me dream of a long ago summer of love that was once real and will surely come again.
It was real. Wasn't it?
