“Just wait until the climate change deniers are under water!”
“Just wait until those liberals realize they tanked their own economies!”
“Just wait until all those SJWs who ruined our military have to deal with China!”
“Just wait until those antimaskers all fall sick and die!”
Prophecies of Doom serve dual functions, irrespective of the likelihood of said prophecy to actually occur. One, they allow people the fantasy of believing that justice will be done one day. And not only justice, but Karmic Justice. They allow people to believe that others are going to get what they deserve. Of course, they think, those who spewed the most carbon are going to be the most effected by global warming. Of course, they say, those who didn’t “pull their weight” during Covid are going to be the most susceptible to that disease. “When the bill comes due,” the thinking goes, “the people that caused it are going to get what’s coming to them.”
This does not happen.
To have contemplated human life for forty years is the same as to have contemplated it for ten thousand years. For what more will you see?
― Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations”, VII.49
I’m not “almost forty” but I’m also not “barely thirty” anymore either. I understand what the stoic emperor is saying. By now, as the saying goes, I’ve lived long enough to have seen some shit. I’ve seen George W. Bush start a war on false pretenses and never be held accountable for it. I’ve watched people pin their hopes on Obama for a “change” that never came. I saw the people that caused the housing crises of 2008 get away scot-free and those who tried to organize against them demonized and put in prison. More recently, I’ve once again learned that all those politicians who bungled the Covid response which led to massive global misery will also have nothing whatsoever pinned on them. A literal rape island can exist in the Caribbean and hardly anyone get called out for having gone there. Their power and positions are not challenged. Their wealth is not taken. Their prestige remains undiminished.
So it goes.
Doom may indeed come but the people responsible for it never feel the brunt of its force. They don’t die in the wars they start or feel the economic collapse they cause or get beaten in the streets during the riots over their failed policies. The innocent do all those things.
Justice is a cope.
At least in this world.
It’s a way that the powerless console themselves for the injustices done to them. “Just wait until THE PEOPLE figure out what they did!” “When our party gets into power those crooks are going to prison!” “When these greedy policies fail they’ll lose everything they stole!” Doom is coming, and it’s going to swallow those responsible.
No it won’t.
The people will never “figure anything out”. No mass awakening is coming. Trump didn’t put Hillary in prison like his supporters wanted and Biden didn’t put Trump in prison like his did. Neither arrested any bankers. Neither went after W Bush. Neither prosecuted Halliburton. Nobody powerful ever goes to jail.
Just how it works.
Way of the world.
Pick your favorite prophecy of doom. Climate change, financial collapse, civil war, death due to pandemic disease. If they ever come to pass then in no case will the people most responsible for their coming feel the pain they bring. The guilty walk away free. Your mental health will be better if you go ahead and accept that now.
The second thing prophecies of doom do is they allow people to cast themselves in the role of hero or savior. They’re a way to find meaning. Doom gives purpose to the purposeless who seek it. “I can do my part to help stop climate change!” “If I do this, the pandemic will end sooner. I’ll save lives!” “If I tell the truth to power we can achieve a better future!” “I can go stop terrorism in Iraq! I’ll be a hero.” “I can get involved in local politics and shove back against wall street!”
Again. No you can’t.
All these things are beyond you. They’re all bigger than the ability of one person to affect. I’ve watched my friends go insane trying. Thinking that if they just recycled harder that the planet would be saved or if they just protested more global finance would become more fair. Doesn’t work. I used to try too so I can’t blame them, it was the curse of the millennial generation to be optimistic. Gen Z seems more defeatist, so at least they will have less disappointment. The best you’re going to do is burn yourself out and grow bitter. Maybe that’s okay. Maybe it’s better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. I don’t know.
But you are going to fail. Any of these Doomer Scenarios, should they be in the cards, are not going to be stopped by you. I’ve lived close enough to forty years now to know that. And one or more of them is quite likely to be in the cards so lots of people will get to see that first hand. Your efforts are, yes, largely in vain.
So what can you do?
I don’t know. I can only tell you what worked for me.
I started thinking small.
When you wake up in the morning, the list of options available for you to make a positive impact on the world are actually quite limited. It’s Monday. 6:30 AM. Your husband is still snoring and your back hurts from yesterday’s HITT session. You’ve got to be at work in two and a half hours and you need to shower. So, be honest with yourself. Composing your magnum opus that changes the world probably isn’t in the cards today. Maybe it’ll never be. Maybe that’s okay. But you could make a cup of coffee, that’s within your reach. And maybe you could take that extra step and make one for your husband too and that would bring a little smile to someone else’s face. Hey, that’s something, right?
Maybe you could call your grandmother after work. That’d be good. The overall level of joy in the world would go up just a hair if you did. You can’t save the rain forest, but maybe you could plant a tree, or at least a tomato. You can’t bring about racial equality in the world, but maybe you could bring some cookies to your Japanese neighbors. There’s lots of things you could do that aren’t glamorous but might actually make a difference, however small. The world has enough people willing to march in a big demonstration for economic justice but unwilling to give a homeless man a dollar. Maybe don’t be one of those people? Maybe try to love somebody.
Apocalypses happen. Those who cause them will not be held to account and there is no karmic justice in this life and thinking that there is is cope. You’re also not going to be able to do anything to stop it. Oh well. Take fifteen minutes out of your day and be nice to somebody and expect nothing in return. That’s probably not enough to keep the Doom away, but it’ll be a lot more effective than protesting or voting or donating to a cause.
And maybe it’ll make you happier too. For my part, it’s allowed me to whistle through the graveyard.
"Whistle through the graveyard"👍🏻
Very good words for today.