Sorry, These Aren’t the End Times

I have always been cursed with looking at the big picture. It’s part of my fascination with history, but it’s also why I miss a lot of “small” picture details in life that are equally as important.  What I gain is a lot of perspective that eases my anxiety.  I don’t think that looking at the scope of life, culture, and humanity is very common, or else we wouldn’t have so many of the same opinions about things. 

              Lately, in my attempts to separate myself from news and social media, I keep falling victim to negativity.  There is so much at that buffet, so I should be clear.  It is this current notion that life as we know it is over.  We have somehow reached the end of civilization or human life. The political landscape plus environmental chaos plus COVID were just too much for us too handle so these are obviously the end times.

              Big picture people don’t concern themselves with shit like this.  Why?  I’ll tell you:

              First, you have to ask if the fear is localized.  Is it just Americans?  Is it just upper middle class Americans?  Is it just white Americans?  At any given time, there is suffering and terror somewhere in the world.  We are just too big and spread out to not have it happening in at least a few corners of the world.  Second, presented the facts of American life as they are in 2024, how do you think the rest of humanity would react to them?  Do you think the majority of the people who live in Senegal would think it’s over for us?  Indonesia? Poland? Guatemala?  Laos?  What do you think Guyana would say, in general?  Would they agree that dealing with problems automatically means an entire species, or at least the 340 million in America, is doomed from now on?  Or would you think they would have another opinion?  My guess is they would be split down the line into factions of “What are you bitching about?” and “You don’t know what real problems are.”

              Not to say we don’t have problems.  But we need perspective.  I mentioned white Americans specifically.  Is the same sentiment expressed across racial and ethnic lines?  It’s just through personal observation, but I don’t hear the same bleating from people of color or immigrants.  The vibe I get is that things are tough, and the very comfortable white people don’t like to deal with problems.  The very presence of problems means everything they’ve known is somehow ruined, which means humans are doomed.  My theory is that white people have already accepted either they CAN’T do anything to solve the problems, or they WON’T do anything to solve the problems. In turn, they have to sell the idea to each other that there is nothing to be done.  It’s all unfixable.

              Since recorded time, there have been people who have forecasted the end times. I’m speaking of statements made outside of any church.  I mean, the people who look at “how things are going” or “the direction we’re headed” and conclude we are doomed.  In America, we’ve made it a tradition. We do this for a lot of reasons but one of them is that we want our lives to be significant.  That something relevant to humanity will happen on our watch.

              Most likely, no.

Humanity is just chugging along. We’re merely somewhere in the middle.  Or, we’ve barely begun. You can think climate change will wipe us all out, but it won’t.  We will face disasters and tragedies, for sure.  It is happening now.  But we also haven’t done shit about it. Can we reserve judgement after we have at least properly addressed the problem?  Also, if we lose coastlines and huge cities get flooded, that doesn’t mean humanity is over.  It just means there won’t be a Miami anymore. Humanity will endure in some new shape.

              We are insanely adaptable. Humanity and America.  To think Trumpism will irrevocably crush us is ridiculous.  This shit is bad, but we survived an actual Civil War.  One with casualties and blood, not red hats and bullshit.  WWII, The Depression…why do we not give ourselves credit for this?  The problems that need to be on the table have always been there.  Maybe this current crisis will be beneficial in the long run.  The historical systemic racism and sexism in our institutions.  Our education deficit.  Our collective misery experienced from a superficial culture that values having money over everything.

              There could be a reason we have to go through the crucible.

              Our issues are not unique in the world. But that doesn’t really matter. People can only do what they can do.  Some can do a little more. I think there is a maturity curve that we have to endure.  I see America as a teenage country.  One with a lot of potential, but still freaking out when something goes wrong.  The same crying jag when we get a pimple or when we crash our parent’s car. Instead of burying our head under a pillow, turning off the lights and listening to emo, maybe we grow up a little and understand that even the end of the world might not be the end of the world.