FROM THE DEATHBED OF A DYING PLANET

Preface:  CODE BLUE!

Ayn Rand, in "We The Living" wrote of  "...the sanctity of human life... 'sanctity" not in a mystical sense but in the sense of  'supreme value.'"   In a foreword to that first novel, when being reissued twenty-two years later, she reaffirmed her conviction that in 1958, no less than in 1936 when she wrote it, "...this attitude toward one's own life should be, but is not shared by all people" and "its absence," she noted, "represents some enormous evil which had never been identified."  To this day, she'd be sad to observe, if she'd remained among "us, the living," that attitude still is not shared by all, the evil still not clearly identified.  Most alarming and disheartening of all... no seems to care if it is.  Moreover, were it to be isolated with the same dedicated zeal as deadly viruses are pursued, how few... if any... would care enough to attack and destroy it before it finishes us off?  Lack of healthy regard for self or others is simply not a popular disease these days.  Not that it has been, for some several thousands of years.

Now, more than ever, its potential for decimating our world's population at break-neck speed is too horrifying to contemplate.  Too awful for anyone (enough of us, anyway) to want to take seriously.  "Life is cheap" was never so accurate a description of the human condition ... of humans' view of them-selves and their world... as now.  Even the elemental forces which sustain all life... water, air and earth... are treated with such disregard for their needs, that they have begun to rebel, and all too soon are bound to go on strike.  Finally refusing to continue maintaining us in the manner to which we have become so selfishly accustomed, all systems will be "down" before anyone has a remote chance to repair the damage.

"We're still here, aren't we?" usually quashes what few twinges of fear dare raise their ugly heads in most people's weakest moments.  "Let the other guy do it" is now our global version of that old French copout, laissez-faire.  Better yet, the stall "Let's let everyone else do it first!"  That common theme applied to everything from politics and education, to ending endlessly bloody conflicts, is what caused the mess we're in in the first place.  The beeping ups and downs of our earth's vital signs monitors are fast nearing deadly flat-line silence.  What emergency response team do you expect to come on the run with a defibrillator to jump-start it?  Think just a shot of adrenalin can prime our planet's dead carburetor?  Think again.

Wake up and smell the burnt toast, people!  Your coffee's toxic and the eggs were rotten before they left the hen.  You turned the butter brown in the pan, from not watching and turning down the heat in time... and it was rancid, anyway.  If your noses weren't so clogged by all the latest lab/factory-grown synthetic allergens you might've noticed.  Surely the greasy black clouds over your kitchens had to tell you something wasn't kosher!  Our condemned's last meal... the "Last Supper" for us self-appointed apostles of the animal kingdom, our custom-tailored gods and sons-of-same... will most likely be a pitiful repast.  Some day soon, even bread and water may be a welcome treat.  But dead land can't grow things to bake.  And water poisoned by greed will only kill those who tainted it. 

So, when it's "Code Blue" for our big, brave, beautiful marble, don't expect any miracles.  We've used 'em all up.  Wasted every single one.  Face the truth, people... we never deserved any.

                                                                                                                                   maia

                                                      Flagstaff, Arizona