Fifth Letter From Zeno

Where are the gods of today? Innocence was murdered in 1963. God's death was headlined in 1966. Justice and Equality fell in 1968. Now the children recognize gunfire in the school hall, the bully prowls, dope deals are concealed. Never again will we know peace, unlocked doors, freedom, kids everywhere and safe. Heads are bowed texting like a prayer to technology that connects and disengages. A lifetime passes by with war on war on war with nothing gained. Still the soldiers die. Each year that passes takes us farther on a path from paradise, the garden lost forever. America seems possessed of greed that never can be satisfied. The economy of consumption has gone viral in China and India. The Eastern world is still exploding. Doves lie slaughtered in the killing fields. Pirates roam the Arabian Sea and tyranny reigns in Central Africa and the Sahara. What brave new world have we created? The Alpha and Beta Parties lord themselves over a ΓΔΕ fraternity of wage slaves. Huxley's nightmare has come true. Solitude no longer has a value and Soma rules the social scene. Hatred and bigotry, that we hoped to banish, have risen to a state of virtue, and racists deem themselves patriots. All this as we poison air and water, crack and frack the landscape, and ignore the melting ice and rising sea. The possibility of nuclear holocaust that seemed to grow remote now looms again in the Middle East. Optimists assure us all is well as governments build more walls and more bombers and demand less and less dissent. Pessimists seek the edge of the grid, the bunker or the insane mountains.