What Is The World Coming To

*Originally posted on my Wordpress blog 03.02.2020

As my mother used to say, what is the world coming to? The thing is she was saying that back in the 1960’s or 1970’s or even 1980’s when headlines made her shake her head in dismay. I wonder what she would be saying today?

Now I am the one repeating her words. What is the world coming to? I look at even the last few years in Northern California. In October of 2017, more that 7,500 homes and businesses were destroyed by wildfires in Sonoma and adjacent counties. The air was thick with smoke, schools and businesses were closed , and tens of thousands of people were evacuated in order to ensure their safety.

What is the world coming to? In early November of 2018, similar wildfires brutally and swiftly burned the Northern California city of Paradise almost to the ground. 95% of the community was burned, including almost 19,000 homes, businesses, and other structures. The smoke from that fierce blaze was carried by wind currents away from Paradise and into the plains of Santa Rosa. There it sat, heavy in the air, and schools and some businesses were closed for up to two weeks because the air was so unhealthy. At the same time that this fire was destroying Paradise, other fires were burning out of control in SoCal.

What is the world coming to? In winter of 2018/2019, Northern California received more than twice the typical amount of rainfall. It culminated in massive flooding in Sonoma County in late February. People were evacuated and businesses and homes were devastated with flood waters. Again, schools were closed because either the school itself was threatened with flooding or the roads were out and families could not get kids to school. Fast forward a year and you discover that there was zero rain in February, 2020. Without rain, the reservoirs shrink and drought becomes an issue.

What is happening here? In October of 2019, the Kincaid fire ravaged more sections of Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino Counties. More people lost homes and literally hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated lest the fires take out the more densely populated sections of Western Sonoma County. And, yes, schools were closed, businesses suffered mightily, and smoke turned the October but skies into an ugly gray curtain that masked the view everywhere.

And now we are talking about a deadly virus that is spreading around the globe. The media puts out information but I’m not sure how much of that is to sell newspapers or perhaps to scare people into buying stuff they don’t need.  There is a lot of hype about closing schools, about  revoking permits for festivals and such, about closing spaces where people congregate.  These are all  attempts to limit the spread of the virus and  to protect the very vulnerable. I don’t believe most newspapers and very little of what I see online. I can look to the CDC for information but even there I don’t know what might be exaggerated or underplayed for political reasons. What is the world coming to?

I don’t know why I’m writing this. I have been thinking a lot lately about life and fear and the difference between what we have control over and what we cannot control. Has it always felt this fearful? I’m looking at the leadership in the country and seeing politics and greed and oneupmanship dominating the scene. I don’t feel protected by political leadership. I don’t get the sense that leadership knows what is going on.  I get the impression that the government is skating on very thin ice. The problem with that is when the ice breaks, the wealthy (which includes most of the government leaders) can skate away yet the other 90% are going to drown.

I ask again, "What is the world coming to, Mama?"

She would have said, “Trust in God. He has a plan. He will take care of us.”

"Where’s the evidence for that , Mama?"

“Faith. You have to have faith.”

I’m losing it.