And the world keeps spinning. Round and round it goes. The stars still shine their light from billions of miles away and the sun still warms this planet. In nature, the order of events still moves on without regard to the chaos that humanity continues to bestow upon civilization. Therein is the effect of man on all that surrounds him. Kind of makes you want to throw up, some days!
I had the opportunity the other day to sit outside and listen. My mind filtered out as much as it could related to humans. I pushed out the sounds of cars and airplanes. Ignored the drone of lawnmowers and chain saws. Blanked out the chatter of children and their parents throughout the neighborhood. What I really did was to focus all my attention on the nature. As much as I could, that is. It was a tranquil moment! The visions of trees and the vastness of the blue skies. The feel of grass and soil below me. It was wonderful, and it all seemed…normal.
What I discovered was that there sure was a lot of nothing. Nothing, in the sense of peace and quiet. I found that, though nature was all around me, there was a sense of craving that was occurring, a craving to be in that ‘world’. As much as mankind has injected his will and way throughout planet Earth, the other inhabitants were still alive and well and doing just fine! I was really enjoying their company for the moment. It was a mini-vacation from the ‘plague’. The ‘plague’ is a sickness that has been spreading like a wildfire throughout humankind. It has been discovered that it destroys the brain by tearing out the common sensory lobe and then starts to dissolve the emotional cortex. All that remains is an uncaring, no-conscience, zombie-like thing that seeks to inflict misery on whoever and whatever is around.
What made me really dwell about this were some of the events in recent weeks. You see, I’m a news junkie. I find myself searching for updates to the happenings that go on, not only local, but nationally and internationally. A story breaks out here and I need to know. Not just what the media filters to us, but the whole picture. Don’t give me a nugget and tell me I’m content! Facts, figures, pictures, summaries….I want to know it all! Junkie! But recent reports of people pistol-whipping elderly women for their purses, thugs shooting at police indiscriminately, violent home invasion on a family with young children, and an elderly man shot by a thug as he walked into his own home, I’m finding that there is such a thing as ‘too much’.
With all of that coursing through my cranium, I’m finding there are some adverse physical and emotional effects from the worldly feed, as well. I’ve heard the phrase before: information overload. And it seems to be overloading with sadness, despondency, pain, suffering, violence, and destruction. The sickest part is that you don’t have to go international or even national to be filled with this negativity. It’s in your back yard. It’s down the street. It is permeating throughout what was once called civilization. Uncivilization. The plague.
So what’s the solution? Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have one. Like a seeping cloud of vileness, this uncivilization is moving throughout the lands, decimating good things, tearing away the very fabric of decency that could, and should, be our humanity. You and I could sit for days upon days and point the finger at this and that and never really hit the source because there isn’t just one source. This is an evolution of allowances that have continued to bloom into the destruction of decent folk. In the past, when people would do nothing but commit horrible acts upon others without remorse, we called them a scourge upon society. But nowadays, there seems to be an acceptance to such violent behavior. Amazing how someone can commit such atrocities, but because we have to be concerned about their ‘feelings’, we have to go soft on them. Thus, the plague is back on the streets in no time, doing what it does best: destroying.
Uncivilization. It’s funny how we can look back at each generation in our little worlds and think that those before us were so “uncool”. Our parents thought our manners and actions were barbaric. Their parents thought they were out of control. Their parent’s parent’s thought their kids were the end of civilization itself. No one point to blame, because it’s been an evolution of degradation. I believe the term used in the past has been ‘the decline of western civilization’. But somewhere, somehow this has to come to a stop. And I sure hope that it hits the brakes before our blue earth looks like some postapocalyptic scene from a science fiction movie.
Demographics aside, it has become a global thing. People groups aside, it has become a social stain. Religious groups aside, it has become the bias. Ethnicity aside, it has become separation. It doesn’t matter who or what anymore, what matters is that it is. It is a violation inherent in the system. Can we tune out? Are we allowed to turn our back on the seemingly senseless disregard for people and property? No! We cannot! Just because it is all around, we can still pick up the pieces and continue the good fight. We may not impact the whole world, but we can impact our little world. There is too much at stake here and anarchy running rampant is not an option. We fight at the local levels. We fight against the liars and cheats. We fight against evil that is now accepted. We fight against the all these things that are rotting our moral flesh. We fight against the plague. We fight!
And so I listen all around and try to isolate the tranquility of nature. I try to focus on serenity that will sooth a weary soul, worn out from the information overload. I know that it is out there. If, but for a moment in time, we can find some peace. Because we cannot bury our head in the sand, we seek some solace from the uncivilization that surrounds. Just a moment of refuge. I know the plague is spreading. I’ll be there in a minute…have to re-energize for the next round.
Harbor Lights Ministries 
Great post!