THIS POWDER KEG - EARTH

[HARDCORE]

Are you comfortable, secure, and maybe even a wee bit complacent, tucked neatly away into your own little corner of the world - WELL DON?T BE!!

The planet that you call Earth is a volatile place indeed that was born of fire, and to fire it will return! Every day, and with every breath, we roll the dice of fate anew, and there are a million unseen villains out there waiting to devour you in a cataclysm of flames and brimstone. In less than a microcosm, you and your entire plain of existence can, and eventually will, be wiped out, with in the beat of a heart or a wink of an eye!

Many billions of years ago, the Big Bang exploded in all of it?s glory, creating the expanding matrix that would eventually lead to a primordial soup of evolving life, at least upon this planet. And through countless experiments with various evolving life forms, there eventually emerged a bi-pedal, relatively frail creature called man. A thinking being that was in a race to determine whether nature or he himself would destroy that, which had given him life to begin with.

Mankind is after all, perched, precariously upon a minute speck of rock and water, floating aimlessly amidst a vast cosmic void of nothingness. And this Earth of ours may be naught but an accidental combination of elements that have came together to create this magnificent (by our own reckoning) habitat of creatures, great and small. A realm that is, as creation goes, limited and restricted in all things, save for ambition, dreams, and diverse superstitions!

Have you ever really given any serious consideration as to what you really are? It is really quite a fragile ecosystem that supports your life form, or how easy it would be for nature to obliterate you and yours in less time than it would take for a bolt of lightning to strike the Earth?

Has not the recent (as time goes) geological and astronomical occurences struck at least a little fear into your hearts? The killer Earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as the violent storms than menace our ever changing and extremely thin crust of life. The underlying sea of molten magma forever pressing at our feet, the millions of asteroids and comets that whiz back and forth overhead, occasionally slamming into an over populated Earth! The multitude of cosmic bodies that are just waiting for the most opportune time to change course and take out a large city, or maybe the entire planet itself?

And would time infinitum even know the difference, or even care, should the world suddenly cease to exist? God, some alien life form perhaps, or maybe even the universe itself, would not miss a beat, should our life form cease to exist? We were, after all, handed an Eden in the rough. A cornucopia of minerals and elements that could supply mankind with all that he needed to recreate paradise! The raw resources that could transform the snakes and plagues of being into the blessings of a long, happy and healthy existence. But what, pray tell, have we done with this bonanza?

We have polluted our seas, despoiled our land, fouled our air, created new diseases and dangers to existence, and in the process, we may have even insured our own mass extinction? We have created massive amounts of green house gasses that are drastically warming our thin layer of life-giving air. And this, in turn is changing world climates, melting polar ice caps, continuously restricting livable land mass, creating drought zones, destroying entire crops, and shrinking usable farm lands. We have also nurtured diseases (old and new alike) and these, include those of the mind and spirit as well as the human body! And least but not least, we have elevated ourselves to a state of goddom, if but in our own minds!

And yet, through all of this and more, we still continue to believe that we are indestructible, all-powerful, and indeed, the true heirs to the universe. ?What fools we mortals be!?

The Earth is just on loan to us after all. It was a loving gift that was granted to us in the hope that we would at least keep it intact, productive, and renewable! Unfortunately, however, we have virtually raped this planet, bled it to death, and danced a jig atop it?s dying carcass!

Am I a prophet of doom for pointing out the obvious? Does it make me a fool not to be a team player in all things, when that team is oft time blind, deaf and dumb? And last, but certainly not least, where will you all go, when like a drained fly in some cosmic web, you have exhausted that which gave you life - to Hell perhaps?

Think about it while there is yet time!! You are not, after all, the all-powerful creatures that you may perceive yourselves to be?

?BEHOLD, THE BRINGERS OF TRUTH AND DEATH! THEY MAY INDEED BE CLOSE AT HAND??

VERITAS

[Boats]

Sounds more like a procrastinated endurance run. When I think of WWIII is the gobal killer and the elmination of all mankind. I agree we've been too long without any world wide peace. There is always some conflict or issue taking place worldwide.

My poor kids grew up with this and they and their kids seem to accept the ongoing situation like its an everyday affair. But I remember when things were quiter and you really didn't have to fear many things or maybe it was just that your parents didn't make you aware of the current issues?

Days long gone but I still remember how you could enjoy leaving your door open at night and how quite it was.

I do remember some duck and cover training during my earlier years when we thought the nukes would be dropping - but if you notice today they don't practice that at all.

In fact I don't think anyone has written or published anything on what to do if a territorist attacked or if a nuke fell in ones area?

If and when it happens those people would wander around like lost souls.

The US doesn't have any idea on how to protect us against such devastation. I remember the bomb shelters and the stored food that was always on hand. Like you would survive the nuke when it fell in your area.

We've got to pull ourselves away from the Big Brother thing and get our National Security issues under control. We've got to find another source of energy other than oil. We will then once again sit back and watch the others destroy themselves over other petty issues.

Will it ever stop - God I wish it would - for our kids and grand-kids sake I wish it would

[reconeil]

Regarding: "Nukes",...what's to: "Publish"?

If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you die quickly.

If you're a few miles away from the wrong place, you die within days.

If you're many miles away from the wrong place, and the winds are blowing good stuff in your direction, and Mother Nature and/or rains force that good stuff down on you, you just die a little later.

Anything else about: "Nukes" is purely inconsequential, since dead is dead is dead,...anyway you slice it.
Plus, barren lands staying so for thousands of years,...isn't very nice either.

Neil

[exlrrp]

"Unfortunately, however, we have virtually raped this planet, bled it to death, and danced a jig atop it?s dying carcass!"

Sounds like fun!! Some really cool imagery here but really: it must have been a waltz,zydeco or maybe West Coast Swing I don't know any jigs.
Stay good
JaMES

[urbsdad6]

I remember the bomb drills from the first and second grade. I think they should have called them "Bend over and kiss your arse goodbye drills" because no one would have survived in the event of a nuclear attack. Corporate greed is at the top of the list of pollution villains, but we have allowed it to happen on the other hand unless we've been actively involved in making people aware of the conditions. Standing up against the oil, plastics and other industries and not demanding them to change is the world we leave to our children and grandchildren. Patriotism is more than fighting wars it extends to protecting our world for future generations. May God help us find a better path than the one we are on.

Doc Urb