Pseudo Civilization Built on the False Promise of Social Safety

Brace yourself. This one is short and sweet. Two weeks ago, I contracted COVID. The virus didn’t seem like such a big deal but the drugs were something else. It’s been over a week since I took any meds and I still cannot think or write a complete sentence without going back over it three times. Hence, the very short newsletter. Hopefully, next week will be normal.

Imagine if you will, a quiet moment in time some thirteen billion years ago. Granted, that’s a ways back to imagine, especially since few of us can even remember the sixties but suffice it to say that things were much quieter back then. In fact, sound waves and even the air particles that would transmit them were yet to be “created”. Yeah, there’s that “word” but don’t get defensive yet. Just put your finger on it and let’s keep moving. And let’s not say “big bang” yet because that would be disrespectful to Fred Hoyle, American astrophysicist, atheist and one of the self-styled four horsemen of the Apocalypse who coined the phrase in an effort to ridicule any who would attempt to reconcile their faith with their scientific knowledge. Boy, that came back to bite him on the hinny.

Let’s just say “small ding” and by that, I refer to something like the text alert on cell phone turned almost to mute. Simply the most petite of sounds. After all, the only elements available to clink together were a single atom of Hydrogen and two twin brothers of Helium. How much resonance could one expect? Expectations aside, what resulted was the single most violent cataclysm of eternity, a sound above all sounds, containing trillions upon trillions of atomic explosions in such rapid succession that they actually snuffed each other out and spawned new reactions on the spot, not just creating every known element in our universe but generating life from non-life with all the attendant complexities and rules of physics required. In short, nothing we have ever known or ever will know is contained outside those few initial milliseconds of unspeakable violence.

Is it any wonder then that man as far back as one can remember has been obsessed with things that go bump in the night? And is it any wonder that we have devoted so much of our intellect and creativity to shielding ourselves and our clans from those perceived threats? From the first good old boy who accidentally chipped a sharp edge onto a piece of flint, to his daughter who wafted a banana leaf over a smoldering ember and watched it erupt into full flame, imagine how much less threatening the roar in the dark seemed that night. We’ve since dedicated untold man-hours of cooperation and collaboration in efforts to build great civilizations on the theory that we could protect each other from the evil out there.

Where we couldn’t overcome the threats with superior technology, we employed diplomacy. We made pacts, in business, politics, church and family. And we established a fragile truce across our lands and in our herds. We patted ourselves on the back and extolled our personal tolerance. We “counter-cultured” those who failed to grasp our wisdom and exiled those who failed to keep up. In short, we are well on our way to becoming God. That which goes bump in the night and scares the natives? It’s only us partying in the dark….or is it.

Kiss your mate and your children and tell them in no uncertain terms that they truly mean the world to you, for tomorrow is not promised! There’s a tiny virus out there and it eats people who think they’re God.