by Pa Rock
Earthling
There are those who believe that after man eventually extinguishes himself on this tired old planet, nature itself will survive, perhaps in a wounded form, and eventually replenish the Earth - this time without the burden of having to accommodate self-destructive humans. It will be Heaven at last, without the blight and stench of mankind.
At this stage the planet is awash in pollution, species that have roamed, swam, and flown above the Earth for eons are becoming extinct, a global pandemic is killing thousands of humans with each passing day, and mankind is focused on making decisions about the future of the planet based on greed rather than on sustainability. It doesn't require a soothsayer or even a highly trained futurist to predict that man's reign of terror on Planet Earth may be rapidly coming to an end.
The 18th century philosopher and economist Thomas Malthus, in talking about controls on population growth, used the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (from the book of Revelations) as his examples of things that curtail population growth. Malthus cast them as War, Famine, Disease, and Pestilence.
War and Famine seem to always be with us, and they, along with natural forces like floods and droughts, work to displace large groups of population and move them about the planet in search of the ability to survive. Those forced immigrations often tend to create even more conflict and instability - and the cycle ramps up, bringing about more starvation, misery, death, and mass human migrations.
With the current coronavirus pandemic that is ravaging the planet, we are painfully aware of the power of Disease to shatter our lives - impacting where we go, who we see, and even how we space ourselves from one another as we attempt to interact within a new reality.
That leaves Pestilence, something that has also always been a factor in human suffering. Stories of swarms of locusts and grasshoppers devastating crops and upending human lives rebound through recorded history.
So it should really surprise no one that as the Horsemen seem to be gathering, the United States, the country that sits at the center of the world's economy and makes policy decisions which affect the movement and survival of populations around the globe, should suddenly be subjected to an invasion of "murder" hornets.
It is just one more "sign" of our impending doom.
The large and vicious-looking two-inch hornets which have their origins in Asia began appearing in the northwestern United States last year and have apparently now established a firm footing in this country. Reports indicate that their stings are among the most painful of any known insect, and that the stings of several at once can kill a man.
Forty or more years ago the southwestern United States was invaded by a species of "Africanized" honey bees (commonly called "killer bees" in the press at the time). They are still here and have claimed a permanent and widespread presence in several states from Texas to California and as far north as Nevada. The "murder hornets" are also likely to become permanent residents of the United States as well.
And still we have the locusts and grasshoppers.
War, famine, massive forced immigration movements, disease, pestilence - the signs are all around us, and they are piling up. At some point mankind is going to have to change its focus from raping the planet to saving the planet - if it's not already too late.
The Earth has been patient with us, tolerant beyond belief, but she has surely about reached her limit in dealing with the corruption, greed, and destruction of her most dominant species - and when that limit is reached, she has the ability to eliminate us. Never doubt that. But with our long history of self-destructive behavior, we may do the dirty job for her.
The end is nigh - and extinction is forever!
Earthling
There are those who believe that after man eventually extinguishes himself on this tired old planet, nature itself will survive, perhaps in a wounded form, and eventually replenish the Earth - this time without the burden of having to accommodate self-destructive humans. It will be Heaven at last, without the blight and stench of mankind.
At this stage the planet is awash in pollution, species that have roamed, swam, and flown above the Earth for eons are becoming extinct, a global pandemic is killing thousands of humans with each passing day, and mankind is focused on making decisions about the future of the planet based on greed rather than on sustainability. It doesn't require a soothsayer or even a highly trained futurist to predict that man's reign of terror on Planet Earth may be rapidly coming to an end.
The 18th century philosopher and economist Thomas Malthus, in talking about controls on population growth, used the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (from the book of Revelations) as his examples of things that curtail population growth. Malthus cast them as War, Famine, Disease, and Pestilence.
War and Famine seem to always be with us, and they, along with natural forces like floods and droughts, work to displace large groups of population and move them about the planet in search of the ability to survive. Those forced immigrations often tend to create even more conflict and instability - and the cycle ramps up, bringing about more starvation, misery, death, and mass human migrations.
With the current coronavirus pandemic that is ravaging the planet, we are painfully aware of the power of Disease to shatter our lives - impacting where we go, who we see, and even how we space ourselves from one another as we attempt to interact within a new reality.
That leaves Pestilence, something that has also always been a factor in human suffering. Stories of swarms of locusts and grasshoppers devastating crops and upending human lives rebound through recorded history.
So it should really surprise no one that as the Horsemen seem to be gathering, the United States, the country that sits at the center of the world's economy and makes policy decisions which affect the movement and survival of populations around the globe, should suddenly be subjected to an invasion of "murder" hornets.
It is just one more "sign" of our impending doom.
The large and vicious-looking two-inch hornets which have their origins in Asia began appearing in the northwestern United States last year and have apparently now established a firm footing in this country. Reports indicate that their stings are among the most painful of any known insect, and that the stings of several at once can kill a man.
Forty or more years ago the southwestern United States was invaded by a species of "Africanized" honey bees (commonly called "killer bees" in the press at the time). They are still here and have claimed a permanent and widespread presence in several states from Texas to California and as far north as Nevada. The "murder hornets" are also likely to become permanent residents of the United States as well.
And still we have the locusts and grasshoppers.
War, famine, massive forced immigration movements, disease, pestilence - the signs are all around us, and they are piling up. At some point mankind is going to have to change its focus from raping the planet to saving the planet - if it's not already too late.
The Earth has been patient with us, tolerant beyond belief, but she has surely about reached her limit in dealing with the corruption, greed, and destruction of her most dominant species - and when that limit is reached, she has the ability to eliminate us. Never doubt that. But with our long history of self-destructive behavior, we may do the dirty job for her.
The end is nigh - and extinction is forever!
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