10 Things that Scare Me

THINGS THAT KEEP ME UP AT NIGHT

Ok, so I admit I was not really feeling especially creative today; “do not come lightly to the blank page” says Stephen King. So I got out my handy dandy cheat sheet guide for good blog post ideas and here I am.

I suppose I hit on this one because lately I have felt very scared about any number of things and while I can be a worry wart, it isn’t like me to let it keep me awake at night. I had never really sat down and tried to come up with a list before. Now that I have; it’s a pretty long damn list.

So for this purpose I had to make it the top 10 things that scare me. You ready? Here we go:

• 1) CLIMATE CHANGE

• 2) CRISPR

• 3) NUCLEAR POWER

• 4) THE WORLD TAKING A HARD RIGHT

• 5) SOCIAL MEDIA AND ALTERNATIVE FACTS

• 6) OUTLIVING YOUR INCOME

• 7) DYING BADLY

• 8) LOSING THINGS I LOVE

• 9) THE DEMOCRATS LOSING

• 10) GOD DOESN’T HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR

CLIMATE CHANGE

Why you might ask? Will you still be alive when we actually start feeling the changes? I WAS under the mistaken notion that I would not be but apparently the unthinkable affects are going to start happening a lot sooner than anybody thought.

I mean if multiple back to back crippling storms, massive flooding, raging fires and record setting temperatures aren’t enough, start thinking about the loss of the icebergs and the rise of sea levels and what that means for places like Florida and the entire Eastern and Western coastlines of the United States.

Start thinking about entire islands and countries that may just disappear. Where will all the people go? What will they do? This was a totally possible story line floated on an episode of Madam Secretary recently where they soberly watched on screen as a country disappeared off the map.

I some how don’t really feel comforted by the people who think this might be a great way to open up the arctic and get ships to places much faster. Nope….definitely doesn’t make me feel better.

CRISPR

Forget what it stands for; that isn’t the important part. Simply put, it is a game changing genetic engineering tool. I may not technically explain this right in short form but if you want to know more you can always fire up your google machine and read up on it.

Basically the technology can keep your immune system safe from replicating viral infections. Now this could be used down the road to make children immune from HIV for instance. It could have an unbelievable effect on all kinds of diseases like Parkinsons.

Basically you could just send it in to an area that isn’t right-snip it out and replace it with good stuff and botta boom you got a well person again. So why would that keep me up at night?

Because anything you do to alter human DNA has an overall effect on evolution. And you know some scientist somewhere in a country that never thinks things through will do something with that technology that they should never be doing (read Russia and China here for starters).

You know they will start using that technology to create smarter people, more people of one type or another, two headed cows and vegetables the size of houses etc.. .(or things worse that we can’t even imagine yet).

Ever listen to NPR? They had a couple of geniuses argue back and forth about why it was good vs why it was bad. It was vewy scawy!

NUCLEAR POWER

My father was a child prodigy of sorts. He displayed a musical genius early on that I believe had a lot to do with how well he did in school. He graduated with an engineering degree from UVA at 19. Luckily, a heart murmur from a childhood disease and thick glasses meant a tour with the computers of K-25 in Oak Ridge, TN instead of a gun for WWII.

He told a visiting secretive kind of guy that he thought we must be developing some kind of bomb to end the war from what he could tell (said the guy looked surprised but had no comment apparently). Now I don’t doubt for a moment that if we hadn’t someone else would have.

Does that make it right? I don’t know. Should we have used it then? I’m not sure. I don’t think we knew just how bad it was going to be. I like to think that anyway. Has having it made a difference? My father thought it would be the eventual answer to the world’s power needs.

I don’t think so because I think it is too dangerous to be. I think we don’t have the technology for what to do with the waste it creates. Right now the United States has a dire problem with exactly that. Every temporary place they try to find to stash it wakes up a community of “not in my backyard” folks and I can’t say I really blame them.

There are guys that sit in a room coming up with scenarios for our guys to think their way through. Most of them say it’s not if but when. Where will it be? Will it look like Chernobyl when it’s over for the next 100 years? What if it is New York or Washington D.C.? Riiggghhtttt….sleepy yet?

THE WORLD TAKES A HARD RIGHT

They say that what happens in Europe does not stay in Europe apparently and they are the harbinger for what happens to the US; politically anyway. People think that center politics does not work and they want to shake things up; no politics as usual.

So what do you get with that? Well, clearly the hard right wants everyone to think you are one step from communism if you put anybody from the hard left in. The hard left wants everyone to believe facism is on the rise if you put the conservatives in. Who is actually right and which would be worse?

I think I know. Do you? What I know for sure is that Russia and China seem to be pretty happy these days. If you look at a map, there is an autocratic leader that gets along well with both in every corner of the world now. China likes you to stay out of other countries business and Russia likes to have power meetings to divide up the spoils between a small number of nations.

Another thing I know for sure is hate is on the rise and propaganda has become common place and believed to be true by the uninformed. Make them doubt the real news outlets and tell them something often enough and they will believe anything; 2 plus 2 is 5 for instance. Why?

SOCIAL MEDIA AND ALTERNATIVE FACTS

I don’t think even Zuckerberg knew the immense power that social media would become and how it would change our world, our children, our politics and our behaviors. Change has come and come very fast. Our laws do not scratch the surface much less keep up with the changes.

Social media was supposed to be a fun way to keep up with friends. It is that but as usual, left to their own devices, men will find a way to screw up anything. They will find a way to harness power and turn it towards an end that will only benefit their own agendas.

Some agendas are good and some not so much. Coming from a world where anything labeled as news was coming from trusted journalists imparting fair and unbiased facts about what had happened in the world for the day (think Cronkite here) to this ……well daily shit show is disturbing at best.

Most days I feel like I am stuck in a loop on Saturday Night LIve where Will Ferrell is still asking “What the hell happened?” When did people get so mean? How can you have an alternative fact? Why do people think if you read it on the internet it must be true? Why do people still think Fox is a news outlet?

OUTLIVING YOUR INCOME

Google how many people will be older than 60 in the coming years; particularly in Atlanta where I live. (pssstt….errmmm…more than people under the age of 5). Just think about THAT for a minute.

A man at 55 who had little or no savings would have to put 13% of his income away every month in order to have any hope of not outliving his savings. For a woman make that 18%. Anybody putting that kind of money away that you know? Not me.

Most people could never afford that kind of saving. So what will happen? You live in poverty with whatever programs your federal, state and local governments will dole out to you or you live with your kids if they can afford it. That is if you have any-I don’t.

So I will be the first generation to do worse than my parents as one is gone and the other has enough to last until she is 105 if she is careful. Daddy managed to do that with two cars, a mortgage, and four kids in college and retired early from a lifetime of working for the federal government. Hmmmmm……

DYING BADLY

There are worse things than dying. This I know for sure. I have had conversations with people about what is worse; to lose your body or your mind. I could make an argument for either because I have seen both and neither are pretty or easy.

A good friend of one of my sister’s got diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers. She was gone in five years but the last three were more than terrible. Another friend got diagnosed with early Parkinson’s. His wife left him when he found out and he was in a home within two years suffering a lot before finally dying at a fairly young age.

I watched a much loved Aunt retire at 70 only to get pancreatic cancer two years later, go through a horrific procedure just to gain two pain filled years. I held my own father’s hand while he passed after a terrible last year that I wouldn’t wish on a mortal enemy.

I am not afraid of dying but I am afraid of dying badly. Afraid enough that I know I will do almost anything to make sure that doesn’t happen. Which naturally brings me to…

LOSING THINGS I LOVE

Well as you already know….my mind would be one of those things. I already find myself saying stuff like “I believe in the here after…." after walking into a room and forgetting what I am there for (ok…I’m here….what am I after?). I have on occasion looked for my glasses only to find them on top of my head.

But what I really mean is when you start to enter a season where you have to accept loss. It starts with your grandparents, than moves on to the odd occasional friend from an accident or young illness. Than it marches on relentlessly to your parents.

Than you start looking around at people at your high school reunion and wonder how they all got so old? Am I right? It never really occurs to you at the time that you are them; them is you. Well, I CAN say that I went to school in a state known for smoking, obesity, hard living and drug abuse so …..maybe them isn’t me.

And then there is my husband and my dogs. So far I have four small canisters of ashes (dogs…not husbands). I look at my latest little buddies eyes and teeth every day and wonder how much longer he will be with me (dog not husband). He is a rescue so I am not entirely sure how old he is but I dread the loss. Which brings me to….

THE DEMOCRATS LOSING

So I guess that really means the Republicans. They aren’t the same anymore. They have been pulled so far right and have lost so much cred by their inability to take up where John McCain left off and keep the car between the lines that I don’t know how they recover.

They may think the Democrats have lost it but I argue several fine points here. Everyone who knew Trump in New York knew he was a grifter. There is no doubt that he has been grifting while running for office and after taking the oath. We have a report that outlines every instance.

What he has done, is doing and will continue to do is divide the nation, put our constitution and democracy at risk and make unbelievable money personally from the office.

I left the Republican party after voting for it two times until I realized that they had no respect for women. They continue to have none with their recent abortion drumming, questioning rape and the Me Too movement. They don’t get it….men are not in charge of women’s bodies anymore. Which leads to the final fear...

MAYBE GOD DOESN’T HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR

I am afraid that if he doesn’t than he won’t ever get the joke of human beings. We are disappointing creatures with a bent towards chaos, war and a bad case of never learning from history. We are hypocrites at best with our proclamations of loving Jesus and attending church but forever missing the true lessons of what Jesus would actually do.

I’ve heard if you want to make God laugh, tell him you gotta plan. That would most definitely make me laugh. A whole butt load of things have happened in my life that I didn’t plan; couldn’t have planned for.

I have a black sense of humor in that I can see humor in a lot of things that most people would not; that might seem irreverent to others even. There are days that I like to think God must too.

FINAL THOUGHTS

You now know the 10 things that scare me and pretty much why it matters. Some of them are big issues requiring a lot of time, attention and big ideas. Ideas that may require sacrifice from us. It will not be easy.

Others are issues of a more personal nature but still involve thought on how you want to deal with them, what kind of person you want to be or how you want to be remembered.

Still others, require a steady hand, a compassionate empathetic soul and an ability to have every ones best interests at heart; not just your own. Elections have consequences and we get the government we deserve; is this what we deserve? The jokes on us cause somebody has a black sense of humor!

You might be interested in reading other blogs under Just Because. It is the category where I talk about all kinds of things you might or might not expect. Others like it - you might too. Hey, don’t be a stranger! Let me hear from you on what keeps you up at night. What scares you? What are you struggling with? Until next time…

Cheers,

ArtsyChowRoamer

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