2014: Prelude

This is a story about the end of times. There are multiple threads and stories within each of us. Each time we use our free will to make a decision, we start a chain of events which is a story. These events can be fantasized through the imagination which is a stories gateway. Let us take a journey.

Many people believed the end of the world was coming in 2012 but it never came. Don’t get me wrong, there were earthquakes and life was hard for some. But for others, life was no different than any other time. People watched as third world countries such as Haiti and Ghana were destroyed, but it still wasn’t in our backyard. People have a tendency to not care if it is directly not affecting them. The world paused when Venezuela and its oil fields disappeared in one multiple mudslides, but it didn’t affect much outside of increased gas prices.

The end of the world did not come with a bang. Instead it came painfully slow as humanity watched cities fall one by one. Not through war or genocide. Nor was it biological or chemical. Those who believed that population growth would deplete our resources were wrong. Aliens never came from the sky or from the ocean. Strangely, global warming might have had something to do with it. You see, in the end what takes out the world is nature.

Many cultures and people since the dawn of time believe the earth gives us what we need. But what happens when the world decides it no longer needs or wants us? Or maybe a clearer question would be what happens to us when the world readjusts just as all places eventually do? Furthermore, how will people react and is it possible for humanity to rebuild?

These questions came and went during 2012. They were played out through movies, cable television channels and books. I recall many times going to the local grocery store to hear and see people discuss supplies and resources in either hushed or jokingly voices. Entire communities in the heartland of America emerged like mini fortresses that held militia ideologies. Many spiritual extremists took their own lives and the lives of those around them. Tensions created more tragedies such as school and factory shootings. The world continued to experience racial and religious turmoil but this did not attribute to the mass floods and solar flares.

Two years before in 2010, the world watched many changes that would prelude the natural disasters to come. Chile and Peru had earthquakes which knocked out entire cities; Japan and China started to experiences massive volcano activity that disrupted telecommunications. Europe experienced massive blackouts as the ash from Iceland’s volcano stopped air travel for weeks and stranded thousands. But for majority of us, life was no different. These events did not pertain to us, for our minds could not fathom the depth of the situation unless it was happening to us. Others took it as signs of revelations and the end.

2011 ushered billions of dollars in lost telecommunications around the world. With this came more civil unrest. The world watched as the Middle East was reformed as dictator after dictator was over thrown. Environmentalists and scientists warned of issues concerning solar flares which we later found out created the big flood. In the beginning the solar flares were light. They started as mellow bursts that gave the earth’s atmosphere breathtaking auras but due to depleted resources in our ozone the earth began to experience what some would refer to as nature shifts. To put it simply, solar flares started a chain of events that led to a change in our polarization.

In America we were having our own problems. Current issues during 2011 were about New Orleans and the oil spill in the gulf. Media and fanatics kept on talking about the end of the world in 2012 but others were quick to point out that they have been doing this since as early as people could remember and to put it simple, most Americans did not care. Many remembered the Y2K scare and did not want to repeat it. There were enough problems in the real world. For most, dogmatic questions are not wanted. Real issues are how to get to work on time, what’s for dinner, or what should I wear when I go out tonight. All of this changed by 2014.

2011 saw some events that made the world think the end of days were coming. February ushered in New Zealand and Australia having earthquakes and floods that literally reshaped their landscapes. Each time these natural disasters occurred people would band together and communities showed their best. People worked together and rebuilt what was broken. The problem came from the fact that the earthquakes and natural disasters did not stop. Instead, a place would get an earthquake and as soon as the people would rebuild another earthquake would follow. Scientists said that it was all part of the original earthquake and everything that followed was aftershocks. These aftershocks assured the destruction of some cities. As soon as one country would send aid another country would get hit within weeks. By the end of 2011 the world experienced a dozen countries that lost people and cities. Many feared that Peninsulas were not safe to live on but most people decided to stay still and be tough. In the beginning, coastal cities such as San Francisco and islands such as New Zealand and Japan got hit. These disasters did not make many people fear for they were expected.

So what does one do if the end of the world doesn’t come in 2012? We did NOTHING. In 2013 I moved to Washington DC with my wife, April. We decided to put fears of the end of the world into their proper place and carried on with our lives. I have a Masters degree in Public Administration and my wife is an illustrator. Naturally, a city like Washington D.C. has much potential so we decided this was the place to start our new lives. We have a 17 year old son and we came from the great Upper Peninsula in Michigan. The UP is in the middle of the woods and has a strong Finnish culture. We are tough and survive 4-5 months of winter a year. I am a scholar and we are an educated couple. On the other hand we lack more practical hands on skills and are clueless on how to survive off of the land. Our lives center around computer and television screens. Instead of living in the practical world I prefer to live in the abstract world. My favorite place is not a bar but the library. I prefer to have friends that are gamers then who are jocks. My parents are professors and dinner conservations pertain to Shakespeare, quantum physics and religion. My wife also lives in the abstract world. She prefers to zone out in front of a canvas for the day and she is dualistic with talent. She knows how to both paint and how to illustrate on the computer. Every six months we travel around the world for three months. This is our life and it is good. At 31 years old I graduated and it was time to look for employment. A few years ago I was an intern at the Library of Congress in D.C. It made perfect sense to start my career there. We never knew what was coming. For that matter, no one knew what was coming. We all thought that the danger had passed with 2012.

This is my story. This is how the world ends.