The Future: Inviting or Foreboding?

During my childhood, it was the Cold War.  I watched "The Day After" when I was 9, while my parents were out.  That's some pretty heavy stuff.  In middle school, I read all about the details.  Warheads, ICBMs, stockpile sizes, megatonnage.  False alarms.  Radiation types, doses, effects.

I was a brainy kid, and I wasn't happy.  It seemed to me, one small slip, and the world was toast.  But why were all the adults not worried about this?  Why was everyone walking around like everything was normal?

"DON'T YOU PEOPLE REALIZE THERE IS A GIANT FLAMETHROWER POINTED AT OUR WORLD?" I wondered?  Why wasn't that the main priority?  Were the grownups all crazy, or just stupid?  Didn't they know?  I fretted.  So I asked my Dad about it.  Was he worried?

He said something like, "Son, I trust in God."  He was just trying to pay our bills.

At that moment, I realized he had no answers for the big questions.  He couldn't save us.  Could God?  I really wasn't sure.

The years passed, and the Cold War drew down.  The nukes were still there, but there were other problems to focus on:  The ozone layer.  Deforestation.  Massive air and water pollution.  Oil spills.

In my mind, the future had giant, dark clouds over it.

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Fast forward:  I'm a father of two amazing boys.  The oldest one is the age I was at the beginning of this post.  And since then, it hasn't gotten better.

I want a bright future for my children, and theirs, and for the world they will live in.  Not in the same way that I want a new car, or a vacation, or even good health.  I mean, if I could trade everything for that, every single thing, even if I have to live in a cardboard box and eat woodchips,  it would still be a good trade.

And yet, I spend most of my energy, just paying the bills.  I realized I needed something to help me focus on the bigger picture, bit by bit.

So this blog is dedicated to The Future: the dark side, the bright side, and what we might do to tip things the right way.

They deserve it.