It's the End Of The World...
Nah, I'm just messin' with 'ya, but you have to admit we're seeing our share of WEIRD out there.
And there are those of us who seem to handle weird better than others.
Let it be said that I don't go LOOKING for weird...it just happens to wander into MY space from time to time.
I equate weird to trouble...eventually, it WILL find YOU, so don't bother hiding from it.
This hearkens back to that whole PREPAREDNESS thing I spoke on a while ago...
If you come to "expect" it, it won't seem as bad when you're staring it in the face, rather than having it sneak up from behind and tap you on the shoulder.
You can't seem to pick up the paper or turn on the news and NOT hear of a situation that just REEKS of something "out of place" in the world.
Look at OUR economy (and much of the rest of the world for that matter)...in some pretty neat shambles.
Then there's the weather...we ALWAYS have weather.
In the Houston area, they're being deluged with damn near MONSOON rainfall (thought that only happened in the far east?)...or that EIGHTEEN FEET of snow they have in ALASKA...(that's a helluva LOT of snow...for anyone)...or how about the droughts in other parts of Texas last year, or the tornadoes in Joplin, the earthquakes around the world, the volcanoes, and the occasional tsunami...hell, it's enough to make you want to crawl under the bed and wait for "the end"...
But time and again, we see the resiliency of the species - the pulling together of the common people in assisting one another any way they can.
(how DO you shovel 18 feet of snow from the driveway anyway?)
I find it amazing that no matter WHAT the circumstance, people WILL help one another.
That's not to say that everyone always does, it's just that ENOUGH people STILL choose to help, and that says a lot for the human condition.
Whenever a people face a problem be it starvation, Mother Nature's fury, or something man made that causes an upheavel in our everyday lives, there always seems to be some sort of polarization of the populace.
There ARE those who will immediately begin to assist in any capacity they can...AND there are those who will ALSO immediately begin to prey on others. We wind up with a schism of sorts; a division of societal mores, if you will.
All one has to do is recall what went on in New Orleans during Katrina to figure that one out.
It's almost like disaster separates the "wheat" from the "chaff", if one were to use a Biblical analogy.
Still, in very many cases, you don't even NEED some sort of disaster, plague or pox upon mankind to "cull the herd".
All you really need is something called OPPORTUNITY.
We are creatures of habit for the most part...we do a lot of things every day by "rote"...the way we were brought up or taught.
And that seems to work pretty well for us, even if we're not even aware of it.
Many of us live to help in some fashion...and we don't even know we're doing it.
Sadly, those among us who live in the realm of the "chronic bad choice" are also creatures of "habit", even if it entails being habitually stoned, drunk or predatory in nature.
Yes, this part of humanity is ALSO a TWO-WAY street.
THOSE people live to help as well...help themselves to anything of YOURS, be it property, money, or even your life itself.
That is something you must be ready to resist.
If you are ever to be a good steward of the things life provides to you, you must be willing to make sure that it remains under YOUR care.
We do live in a more disposable world than in times past...no getting around that, but that doesn't mean we set about WASTING anything, especially time itself. Time is still the most coveted commodity of humanity. We never seem to have enough of it, do we?
If only we had MORE time...for whatever it is we want to do...to pursue...to read or to watch a movie...raise a child...whatever we feel we HAVE to do.
More time with the family or friends...more time to make more money...it's ALL important to us at some level.
And yet, whenever some crisis hits, we toss all that to the winds and help one another, because THAT is in our nature.
There are people that wind up losing everything every single day on this planet, due to natural causes, fires, floods...you name it.
There are also people that are victims of crime, and lose possessions and even their lives, again, on a daily basis.
And there are those in war who lose lives fighting for something they believe in...daily.
So, is this really the apocalypse as predicted?
These things occur every single day, and have done so since time for mankind began...nothing new about that.
What we need to think about is the analogy to a flock of sheep.
There are the sheep themselves...doing their thing, and then you have the wolves (predators), and finally, we have the sheep dogs (guardians of the flock). Mankind mirrors that "threesome" very well.
What WE need to do is become more like the SHEEPDOGS in the flock, as there will always be more sheep...AND more wolves.
This might seem like idle ramblings, but think about it...
Can you take charge in YOUR life...be the person you were meant to be?
Or are you content to just be another one of "the flock" following whoever is leading the group, to whatever outcome?
We KNOW who those wolves are, and need to be aware whenever they rear their heads.
Can we take a cue from those sheepdogs and be more aware for not only OUR sake, but for others?
I think we can...and I think we must.
The world can end for any one of us (literally) in a heartbeat...or a single breath.
But we should also look to the future, because we're going to spend the rest of our lives THERE.
And it should behoove us to make it the best damn future we can.
Is it the end of the world?
Only if we give up, give in, and pull the ground over us.
Most of us are much better than that, and have proven so many times.
And, as is often the case, we weren't even aware of THAT, either.
Just a little something to think about.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.