I recently heard someone say they are tired of hearing how bad the future is going to be with climate collapse––they want to hear what to DO, how to live in the coming bad future.
Wouldn't that be great, a foolproof list of What to Do?
I might like that, but who would compile this list?
Survivalists have a list.
So do neo-Nazis.
I do think it'd be good to think more about how to live in a scary future, and not to focus to the point of paralysis (or ignorance) on how scary it is.
That's part of the appeal of zombie stories right now:
The Walking Dead is an exploration of what to do when the lights go out.
Here's what, though:
The Future doesn't come with instructions, right?
The future's not going to be like the past, and it never was.
Like everyone else in history, we have to figure out what to do as we go along.
We might have guidelines, or we might practice along lines that might be helpful. Maybe learning how to survive in the woods would be helpful:
to build a sense of self-sufficiency, for instance. Helpful in a zombie apocalypse. And in a concentration camp?
Maybe meditation would be a better bet?
Both?
Neither?
Who knows?
It's all improv.
The life of Frenchman Frederic Ozanam (1813-1853) overlapped with Victor Hugo's and Honoré Daumier's--a terrifying time of social injustice, poor governance, and revolution.
Social unrest removes the illusion that the future is stable. (It might be an illusion, but it's a comforting one.)
In this time of heightened uncertainty, Ozanam founded the Society of St Vincent de Paul––not just to help people in poverty, but to remove the causes of poverty.*
He said this thing that would make a cheerful refrigerator magnet. But he was talking about knowingly launching into a hurricane.
(I posted this yesterday, but I keep thinking about it--in the light of his times, and mine.)
“Do not be afraid of new beginnings. Be creative. Be inventive. You who have energy; who have enthusiasm; who want to do something of value for the future:In other words, Make that shit up. Start now!
Be inventive, launch out; Do not wait!”
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* Ozanam also said [via],
"We should occupy ourselves with the people, whose wants are too many and whose rights are too few;Article from Vicentians.com:
who are crying out, and fairly, for a share in public affairs, for guarantees of work, and against distress;
who follow bad leaders because they have no good ones...."
"Frederic Ozanam and Social Justice"
