It's Getting Darker Outside

There is a lot going on right now in the world.

In just about every direction you look, there is something wicked slouching its way toward you. Pick a horror, any horror, and you'll find some vestige of it somewhere. There are even horrors that aren't yet fully realised, like the more severe forms of climate change, waiting their turn to fully reveal themselves in the hot bright lights of general awareness.
Forget the theory; there's more than enough actual stuff happening that has serious implications for the future, although the present is by no means underrepresented. Just when we had begun to think that the spectre of nuclear extinction had been banished by the finale of the Cold War, it turns out that it remains a real and ever-present danger. The fingers on the buttons have been replaced in some cases, but the truth is there are simply more places that have buttons of their very own now.
Internecine warfare, always a perennial favourite, continues in various places. There seems no end to the bloodshed and misery humans are perfectly capable of inflicting on each other, despite there being organisations in the world dedicated to providing alternatives that theoretically make actual conflict a last resort.
Economic difficulties abound. All of the richest countries on the planet are facing an imminent collapse of their financial systems, currencies, and economies. Jobs are being lost, bankruptcies are rampant, and the social divide between 'have some, at least' and 'have nothing, damn' is beginning to manifest itself in an increasingly un-civil fashion. Owing to the perception that racial differences are at play in the struggle to find a job and pay the bills, there is a growing tension between various racial groups, especially in Europe and the United States. The American situation is particularly delicate, in that the outcome of the election in November stands an excellent chance of being viewed through the filtre of race now that politics has proven itself to be somewhat lacking in truth and honour.

It would seem that day-to-day life is about to change in real and pervasive ways, since the abstracts of the market and its behaviour are of no moment to the average person. All such a one sees is that the grocery store still has empty shelves, or that the gas station offers product that is no longer affordable. Hungry children and wind-swept houses are powerful incentives for rash actions, for when the lights go out the places with generators become attractive. Eventually, such places will become targets.
There is talk of revolution. Everywhere there are whispers of change, violent change, done in the dark with knives and silent. More and more people are realising that soon they can expect less and less of what they have hitherto enjoyed. This is worrisome. They prepare & arm themselves against the day when the men come in their armoured trucks to collect what little has been laid by, and they design sinister ends for anyone who comes to their door seeking help. What happens when submission is not an option, but there is no other choice? When the cities are finally empty, having let their masses loose in the countryside, there will be nothing left but hardship and empty pockets. The bunkers will at last be silent, as the ammunition runs out and the gates fall. Those who chose the apparent safety of the camps, the stadia, the relocation centre, will find that their choice did not lead to a new beginning, and the safety was temporary and illusory. As the weather changes, and the sun dims, and the land lies fallow and unloved, the ones who stayed close will regret that they did not do more, could not have done more, and in the end all that was left was a last bullet.

Nevermore will we be safe, or free, or contented. The easy years are gone, left behind in a cloud of auto exhaust and high-density polyethyelene. The faded pictures of our young, strong, hopeful parents, who faced the future with such optimism, will go down into dust with what remains of their legacy to us. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves- unless the dice do not belong to us, and our fate is too closely tangled with that of our forebears to ever be separated.
We will have to deal with a fate not of our making, and there are few choices left.