Writing Again for the First Time

The rebirth of the human spirit arrived as only blessings know how – unexpectedly and under the cover of tragedy. It was amazing how easily it returned to us when the berth of the “convenient” world was lifted from our shoulders. I can only figure it was with us all along, simply hidden underneath the complications of a more “expeditious” life. Lost under the hazy belief of self-sufficiency through technology was a strong and proud want of all people to be united with others. The once common purpose, the mandate to spread one’s ego, is dead.

I never knew how heavy a task breathing was until I first took in air for its taste and not its necessity. With a return to the world of endless lost corners and unexplained mysteries, I feel room to breath like I haven’t since youth. Barring those moments in which the magnitude of all of this freedom catches like cold wind in my throat, the action is now always sweet. In always knowing its reward comes glorious as the natural things can be, and free to us all as well, I can scarcely imagine its fragrance once some of the smog has burned off the land. I see it fade daily (at least things become ever clearer), and though nature has yet to catch up, it continues to make strong progress. How brilliant those ruins one day will be, lost within a forest. As of now, the constructions still stand as scar-like markings upon the landscape, but soon enough they will all be encased and lost fortresses – castles in the epic sense of the word. It has only been months, and the Earth has taken back so much already. Most roads are now budding forests, and animals inhabit the gas stations and high-rises alike.

Brilliant, right there! Ha! I love bizarre parallels… See, another thing about this new world, is that oddly enough, people no longer feel the urge to be so far above ground. Multiple story houses are still occupied, but anything above a few stories tends to be deserted. Funny that the relative invincibility of who we once were seemed to place faith in the metal and radio-waves to hold us up, and catch us when we fell. Stripped of those morosely post-modern inventions, two feet on firm, grassy ground just feels right. One of the few things I do miss, however, is the availability of mass produced literature. As sick as it sounds, most of the books already printed went the way of paper money in the post-apocalyptic panic of the first weeks after technological breakdown. Unable to burn books myself, I still have my collection, which I am sure will be well worn and memorized before I die. Honestly, though, in a way, I’m glad all those thoughts and stories are gone. Without them, there is no style to imitate, no standards to live up to, and a much greater ease to creating prose un-demeaned by possible imitation. We can have all new Homers, Frosts, Hughes, and Hesses. No longer will my poetry be referred to as Ginsberg-esque, but instead will have to be given merit of its own.

I admit that I do worry some about the education of our youth. No new schools have been established, and even if one had, reaching it would be impossible for any child on a regular basis. Some of the better educated individuals in my area have been offering to teach and tutor. Luckily for us, what needs to be taught is a lot less complicated these days. Yes, it’s back to the simplicity which was the three Rs, and some brief history (which in this new world reads more like folklore and fable than anything else). Children can breath a sigh of relief at not having to take physics, chemistry, calculus, psychology, or a foreign language, at least for a few decades. The only math needed is what is required for counting, rationing, and occasional inventory of stock. “English” is for the occasional written message, when we can find a willing surface, but for the most part only spoken word. Science will be more like home-economics once was, and will have to include some basic survival skills as well. Things can be tougher here, though when they are, all we have to do is look to my favorite of the still-relevant academics – Music, thankfully, will never go unheard, the stages never bare, and the palettes never exhausted of their hues. Yes, it is the arts which have won out it seems, arguably most basic, and certainly most vital.

I hope to see an artistic renaissance soon, as I pray the lack of mindless entertainment will lead people back to creative pastimes. Perhaps we can rediscover our inspired-core and birth new Da Vinci or Michelangelo caliber craftsmen – a level of ability which has been conspicuously absent during the last few centuries of industrialization. It may require a return of patience, or perhaps just proper apprenticeship, but I have a suspicion that by and large the Muses simply gave up giving us gifts which we didn’t care to appreciate. With nothing but life itself to occupy us now, human eyes will perhaps again look closely enough to see vibrancy in color and form.

I am not a religious man, but if there is a God, he can return now. Mystery and the idea of magic, so brutally stamped out by steel, cold logic and stress-filled living, is growing again within us. With them arrive a renewed connection to the earth and sky. Even those who claimed religious belief before the crash were party to the stark realities of a grey world gone science – unable to truly hold pure faith in anything. Open back up to the possibility of anything (which we are finding is better than the actualization of everything), the sparkles back in questioning eyes, God can return to us without fear of being misinterpreted or worse, commercialized. If I were all powerful, I would have relocated long ago as well, but I am sure that if he is watching us now, he likes what he sees.

Though crime (as I saw it) boomed at first, it has now become virtually unknown. There is no need to steal, except perhaps for food, but then, it is always gladly offered when needed anyway. A return to kindness and care for our fellow men. As for belongings and valuables, well, they are only worth the time it took to make them, or sentimental reasons. There is no price on gold or silver in this new world – we’ve all seen it before – and so ore holds no novelty. Only what can be used for sustenance or shelter merits being bartered. The relevance of precious metals was dashed by government when they pulled substantial backing out of paper money generations back, and yet people still lusted after the empty promise of the green slips. So now, with both government and the green slips gone, the metal itself is little more than its elemental components. And a pretty shine.

Murder and violence has and always will exist I am afraid. I haven’t beheld or heard tell of any, but it doesn’t take technology based society to cause in people anger and hate. No doubt domestic violence will rise or at least go more often unresolved without emergency services and social work, but with the way communities work these days, I know we will do our best to come to the aid of people in any such peril.

Sadly, this brings me to a worry I prefer not to over think until I have to. How do we remedy any crimes which do occur without starting back down the slippery slope of barbaric law? After all, when individuals or smaller groups take justice into their own hands, the results are usually wrong on multiple levels. Witches burned, slaves whipped, minorities hung, public humiliation and punishment – on and on goes the list of atrocities that occurred before civil prosecution and fair dispatching of punishment. However, forming laws written in stone undermined our faith in the general good of people, and form a foundation which could easily grow into government-like institutions. People put into powerful positions will corrupt in time, no matter what some may say. On this sad note, we cannot let any one person or segment of the population make rules for us without returning to a dread republic of “democracy”. And how can we make sure everyone has a say in such dictums…? What of babes in arms, children not socially and mentally mature… it all gets so dangerously confusing. I guess I can see how it was we got to where we were…

Ah, but no matter. I will leave all of these questions to time and its new philosophers and logistical scholars. Right now I’m just happy that the second part of my life will be lived in a world so beautifully simplified and vividly youthful. There is no stopping progress, even with the collapse of what seemed to be everything. I sleep soundly, though, knowing how many lifetimes it takes for even a power such as the earth itself to create black-gold from bleached bone. I also saw how few lifetimes it took to use up every drop those millions of years produced. I will never see another airplane the sky, or factory belting out Styrofoam and toxic smoke. I almost assuredly will never drive another car, see another state, or let alone take a ship across the ocean. Whatever the case, I am here now, and that is all that matters. Who knew the end of the world would simply mean the beginning of a new, more vibrant one. I could have written it better of course, but that would have been simple fantasy, and no one would have believed it. This story cannot be denied. So then, look around you humans of the planet earth, this is all Eden now, and we can’t, in the end, go wrong here.

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