The tsunami wavers along the horizon out to sea, while the sun shines down, lazy clouds in the sky. It’s too late to run, no escape from the walls of water. Alone on the beach, just some sea birds hovering in the breeze.
I resign myself to the death approaching me.
But there is such a time to wait.
What should I do?
Look at this litter on the beach! A chocolate bar wrapper, a plastic cup partially bleached. Rough-sanded pieces of glass. I start stuffing the non-degradable pieces of our legacy into a cup.
Such polished stones glint in the sand. A little starfish with a broken arm, long dead. Spiral shells and muscle shells… so many millions of shards amongst the trillions of grains of sand.
The wave continues approaching. Too late to run, no hiding, the end comes.
Analysis
This above is the Dream I had before I realised the magnitude of the calamity that is consumerism, our civilisation. The tsunami is the power and force of the information I uncovered, and the comprehension of its consequences.
Our species is in dire straits, and we are collectively calling upon ourselves our own extinction.
My lifeline has been my ‘rules of life’, such as have good manners, treat others fairly and equally, cooperate and be considerate. I have been clinging to these precepts whilst I’ve been submerged in my comprehension, in my trauma.
I have been unable to write along this sequence:
I must make a difference
Writing stories is my way
To write I must look at the state of reality around me
This state places me in shock
I am swamped by the impact of what I discovered and what I know
I drown in shock
I cannot write
The very topic I am driven to write about is what triggers my terror.
I have desperately clung to my principles – life rules – as my life line. I am terrified of the prospect of the destruction of our civilisation and all our cultures. And I am extremely disappointed that we are collectively bringing about our own extinction. We have already made millions of other species extinct.
I really believe that we are better than what we are today.
I must have hope, and I desperately want to communicate this hope through my stories. I want to lead by example to show possibilities. We must move forward and I need to do something about it – I need to play my part.