The only constant in life is change. A fact that was becoming clearer and clearer to Norman with each passing day as his circle grew smaller and smaller. Things he once took for granted, like Sunday nights at the bar watching the game were replaced with Sunday nights alone at home watching whatever happened to be on the TV. Truth is he was never a sports guy. He just liked the communal aspect of hanging with friends. But those friends now had families. Now had responsibilities. Something Norman avoided. It wasn’t that he was irresponsible. It’s that he enjoyed his life and wasn’t ready for it to change, and yet it had.
Like everyone, Norman was powerless to stop the flow of time, or the changes that it brought with it. But unlike most, he missed the point. That time isn’t the enemy. Change isn’t some monster trying to upend your life. It’s an ally helping you move into the next great adventure you’ve yet to take. If only you put yourself out there and embrace it. Norman never did. He sat in front of the TV, living for the moments when old friends would call and check in on him. Never grasping the gift that the changing times tried to give him.
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Abby walked through the wasteland, a desolated ruin of a once proud civilization. Her heart yarning for the world left behind. A world full of hope. Full of promise. It had its problems, but what place doesn’t? People helped each other. Built each other up. Contributed to the greater good.
A stark contrast to the world she now found herself in. A world where people fled from one another. Scared for their lives. If the wasteland didn’t wear you down to nothing, then the few other survivors would pick your bones clean. God forbid they took you alive. When civilization fell, the first thing to go was trust. Humanity evaporated and showed us for the beasts that we are. It all came crumbling down so quickly. Millennia of progress, undone in a single generation, those in power manipulated fear to control the masses. Rally them to their causes. And as always, it worked. Only too well. The artificial fear grew to real fear. Grew out of their control. Abby, like so many others, watched as society tore itself apart. As conceived slights and arbitrary differences grew the divide further and further until there was no return. Till all that was left was this desolated wasteland. Her hand rested on the bump that was her stomach. Terrified of what awaited her child in this hell that we created. His eyes were weary as he laid his head for rest. The struggle of the day overwhelming. Not that this day was different than any other. The same monotonous routine, day in and day out. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the relentless machine coming to consume him. Just as it consumed everyone else he had ever known. Sometimes it seemed as if there was no escape. No freedom from the onslaught, from the horror.
Often, he would lay up at night and wonder how the world became this way. How at a time when humanity had it all, we seemed to have nothing. Every morning the panhandlers increased, every evening another evicted neighbor poured over the remains of their lives for the world to see. How at a time when communication was instantaneous the distance between one another grew insurmountable. How we as a people march towards our own oblivion, oblivious of the doom that awaits. More concerned with the shinny distractions than the emptiness of our own lives. But today was not one of those days. Today he just let sleep overtake him, content with the only victory left him in this world. That he stayed one step ahead of his fate. At least for today. |
AuthorJonathan Gutheinz writes for fun on his off time. Maybe you'll enjoy it. Archives
April 2024
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