From: hart0037@student.tc.umn.edu ()
Subject: Re: Who are we kidding?
Organization: University of Minnesota
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 04:51:57 GMT

In article <2B0A8245.16232@news.service.uci.edu> cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu
(Janis Maria Cortese) writes: 

>I ran up against the truth today that we have an estimated 30 years or
>less to change our ways before the damage we do becomes irreparable.

    Ouch!  What happened to slam you into this?  I'm sorry :-(

>If this is the denial game we're all going to play with each other,
>let's just give it up now, okay? 

    Kind of funny that there have been recent postings about the 5 stages
of grief.  Sounds like those could apply to seeing the death of a species,
or a community, or a planet too....


>It's finished, people.  We're just not going to change in thirty years,
>face up to it.  We're not the first evolutionary cul-de-sac that's ever
>come down the pike.  The dice rolled, and we came out, and it just
>didn't work out.  If we had 150 years or 200, maybe.  But we are NOT
>GOING TO CHANGE IN TIME.  Think about it.  Do you honestly think that
>today's 10-year olds are going to suddenly have this mass jump in
>consciousness despite being reared by today's 40-year olds and rise up
>as one and go back to living in thatched-roof houses or at least give up
>their Nintendos long enough to find out what's happening?

   I agree that things seem pretty desperate, and I often feel like I'm
living through the dying process of the human species and life as we know
it (why do I always get a visual image of a cartoon character carrying a
sign saying "The world is doomed" when I think of this topic?).  I think
the analogy of the five stages of grief is a good one--at least for what I
go through.  Is that what you are going through?

   Who REALLY knows when our species will implode?  Will it be a quick
death or a long and drawn out one?  I do have trouble imagining that
things will not collapse during my lifetime because I look around and see
the wounds we have inflicted upon the world.  I hear the screams of
every living thing and it can depress me to no end.  And sometimes I think
that it wouldn't be so bad if our species disappeared and left the rest in
peace....

>something else have a shot at it.  Right now, all I want to do is find
>some quiet little island or something to live on so I can avoid as much
>of the splat as I can when the shit finally hits the fan. 
>
>Janis
> 
      I'm new to this group, and I'm very new to thinking of myself as
neo-pagan (although my religion has been with me my whole life), so please
excuse me if I'm butting in and if I don't understand how you view your
religion.  This is just my viewpoint and please accept/reject/modify or
ignore it as you see fit.  I'm replying because your post is sending waves
of pain that I just can't ignore..... 

    Sometimes I want to run from this dying too, and I get mad because I
just can't understand why it has to be.  I go outside and ask my
equivalent of gods and goddesses WHY.  The only answer I ever get is that
the universe is an endless cycle of birth and death and that there are NO
exceptions to this--us included.  This cycle and the power that comes from
it/drives it, is far older than our species and will continue far beyond
our extinction.  Yes, we have done damage to the world, but it isn't dead.

    If we are going to die, let's die with dignity.  Neither you nor I can
stop all of the pain and destruction our species causes.  But you and I
CAN make whatever time there is left more beautiful.  I don't know you
Janis, but from what I've seen of your postings, you give a damn about
people and the world.  That is a huge contribution right there, and you DO
make a difference.   It's ok to be angry and tired sometimes, but please 
don't retreat to your island for forever.  Keep striving for beauty and
give as much of it as you can.  The worst that can happen is that our
species will find some way to continue, and you will have helped us to be
better :-)

     Peace, Amy
Newsgroups: alt.pagan