End Times and a Time For Love

We all know about the end of the world not happening on May 21st, wasn't going to happen. Bad logic was behind the call and poor bible scholarship. Bigger question for me is who cares when our world changes, what does it matter on an individual basis, everybody dies, didn't you get the memo?

Now, this is going to be a planning exercise. If you believed that a major catastrophic event were going to occur (for the purpose of this post lets say a giant asteroid would hit the earth and cut the amount of sunshine the earth received thereby reducing the food supply). If you were in charge and believed such a thing, what sort of planning would you do?

For my part, I would want to protect as many as possible. In government they have what is known as "continuity of government". In the United States we have an extensive "continuity of operations plan". You can read the differant executive directives based on the links. Nothing ominous, planning and pubic information not fear mongering.

What would you save and how? Seeds and people and an infratructure to rebuild, obviously. What of all histories human endeavors would you save, what about the writings of Jane Austen, it would be a sad place without it. Space might require that we save only electronic copies of most things. What would you leave out, would you leave out Maplethorpes art? Would you try and purge history of the things that you did not believe were good (child pornography for example). How would you decide what to keep and what to lose and how would you justify it?

The Catholic Church has one of the most amazing libraries in the world, they have collected writings and art worldwide, much is not displaye; but, even heresey was saved because it is all part of our historical experience. How would you protect the greatest art being held in the Louve? I would make copies and hide the real stuff in vaults, same for the Smithsonian Museum. But, if you did too many would know something was going on, so you have to be very picky about the originals you kept.

I don't know a lot about the plans that were made except the obvious. I do however wonder about who would be allowed in underground basis. I wonder how I would choose. I wonder how you would keep people's spirits up, how joy would be ensured for the survivors. I would hire the best psychologists in the world to find ways to give people a individual virtual experience, tailored to them, one that could adjust and provide opportunity to fell that you had some control and could work towards goals. I don't know exactly I would do that; but, virtual worlds that provided a place to experience teamwork and community.

I would also prepare on replacing what we as humanity have achieved over the years. I look at the recent tornadoes and hope and believe that some planner has a plan for rebuilding, Joplin has a lot of history. What has happened there is devestating, we don't even know how many have been killed or injured and our hearts go out to them. When we have finished grieving for what and who have been lost, it will be time to cleanup and rebuild.

If you want to understand why the government builds survivalbe infrastructure, it is because natural disasters and man made ones have and will continue to occur. Because we know this, we have people who dedicate their lives to preparing for things that nobody wants to ever see occur.

Will there be more earthquakes and tornadoes, yes there will. Will we see a major quake on the New Madrid fault, we will one day and it will be horrific. Will we see a supervolcano, someday we will. Will asteroids hit the earth again, they have for billions of years.

How do you prepare people so that they would mentally survive such a horrible earth changing event? So much so that they would want to rebuild and not disparage any more than was necessary? That would be one of the biggest challenges, finding people who psychologically could get back up on their feet and plan for the future and work towards it rather than giving up.

I lost most of what I spent a lifetime building. It knocks you down for more than a hot second; but, getting up again is the best part. The people of Joplin will get up again and I think we need to offer them the moral support when the worst is revealed and it is time to rebuild. May God show them comfort during this very sad time.