End of times....

I've just finished reading Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling.

[WARNING - spoilers here]

The plot is centered around "The Change" - a moment when everything from a simple battery on up to the mechanics of a 747 just STOPS WORKING. Cars, electricity, digital watches, gunpowder, steam engines...it all stops. The aftermath is well depicted. But even though I'm a pagan, I found the heavy stress of Wicca a bit distracting. I understand that people would need to latch onto some positivity amidst the disease, death, and violence that others would run up against, but I dunno....it seemed to distract me more than I expected.

As for the thought of the end of life "as we know it" - I'm all for it. There are too many people on this planet, and to have something from "outside" the human race (unlike a war or a human-started plague) come through and thin the herd without regard to race, religion, or politics, sounds like a great idea.

This isn't a new feeling of mine. I've read books like this before....there's even a movie we own (The Quiet Earth) that follows the theme really nicely.

I admit to being a bit cynical about human beings. I mean, I see cruelty, selfishness, rudeness, mean-spiritedness, and arrogance every single day - and most of it (I can't say all, because one never really knows what's happening in another's world) is totally and completely un-called-for and un-necessary. But it just keeps happening. It's very sad. And YES, I know that there is also a whole heck of a lot of niceness, unselfishness, and kindness happening too....but it always seems outshone by the negativity.

I was raised in the Christian church. I know the Episcopalian service very very well. I was even a born-again Christian in high school. But in my mid-20s I chose to head in a different direction. My pagan-ness has brought me great joy, as well as some sadness, but I wouldn't change my direction - it fulfills me. And too often I see the negative side of Christianity.

But I see my mama earth - Mother Goddess - suffocating. Something has to give. I don't want people to suffer, but they already ARE suffering!! Too many people = environmental disasters; famine; wars and conflicts; rich over poor...We can't keep going down this road and survive.