The Anti-Apocalypse

The end of the world is coming.

Later.

Not now, not today.

Not — in spite of all those bemoaning the loss of their previous lives — any time soon even though their lives will never return to what they thought was normal. What is normal, anyway? The anti-apocalypse is the acknowledgement, the affirmation, that life is a matter of constant change. We are granted a lifetime to explore, learn and grow.

Wars, famines, hurricanes, natural disasters, acts of God and nature will always exist so long as there are planets. Not just this planet, this earth, but all planets. The end of one world or solar system is not the end of all worlds.

It is not the end of time.

Creation goes on.

If you’ve been whining and complaining about being constrained from living as you had or as you imagine you’d like, suck it up. There are all sorts of sports heroes, warriors, titans of business who suck it up and shoulder on through adversity to meet their personal goals.

Be like them.

Regular men and women have done shouldered on throughout history.

There have always been tough times. Ordinary people have done the best they can as long as the world has existed. They endlessly tilled the soil. Built buildings and roads. Dreamed of the day when they would be able to sit on cushions and couches. They could not have imagined the cushions and couches which we, their descendants, rest upon in comfort.

They heard all sorts of apocalyptic tales of their small worlds. Their towns. Their countries. Some of them lived through fire and famine and war. Some succumbed. Over the course of the last two centuries more have survived than expired.

Our ancestors provided us with a positive working example. They turned to their spiritualities and religions which showed them how to dig deep. With prayer and meditation they found practical solutions to their hard lives. They fed the hungry, clothed the naked, sheltered the homeless.

Exactly as we are required to do in this time of pestilence, illness, wars and natural disasters. We see what they did and how they did it. We can repeat and build upon their life-saving works. We get to break out of negative thought and behavior cycles to move ourselves and this world forward.

Whatever official numbers we hear of people contracting or dying of coronavirus around the globe, triple it. Even quadruple or quintuple it. Those numbers are more accurate.

More will be ill.

More will die.

The world will go on.

New composers who will write their Dies Irae when it is all over. Modern writers will pen their Decameron. Someone may come along with a new Inferno. Artists will paint their new version of the Last Judgement.

Whatever others do — or not — it is up to you to make the choice whether to sit on the pity pot or to move your life forward. To live an honest life helping others move their lives forward. Or not.

We were not born to serve our own wants and desires.

It’s time to tighten our belts and toughen up. Be sober. Be vigilant.

Politicians will do what they have always done. Some will attempt nobility, to rise above the fray. They will search for ways to lead us out of our current morass. Others will flail uselessly. They will blame this person or that thing for the multiple crises in which we live. While we are focusing on positive thoughts and actions, working to make the world better for the next generations, those politicians will be paving their own road to hell.

Focus on the positive.

I’ve said before and I will say it again. Things are going to get worse.

What are you doing about it? Are you taking the small, necessary steps to help others and yourself in this time of wars, epidemics, famines and social unrest which could otherwise best our world?

It’s your job to improve life for all people. To work for the betterment of all — in whatever small or large way you are able. Your duty is to meet the needs of the day.

It is your responsibility to turn this world around.