Something has definitely changed. The world is darker now than I have ever seen. I would explain it to you in detail, but you already know. Our only hope right now is denial, or a deeper knowledge of God to transcend the worst thing any of us has ever witnessed first-hand.
I am not trying to make things worse, but merely trying to be honest. I am writing for myself as my anxiety is higher these days, and also for you, and for something inside that is urging me to write, something unknown. I will say all I can and try to put the pieces together in some meaningful way, and end in hope. In God there is always hope. We have gotten to the place where it is either this, or utter despair.
Let me put it like this, there is a dictator ruthlessly, unconscionably killing people, and no one can stop him. In the nuclear arms race of prior years, I don’t think anyone foresaw this. We always knew the world was in danger due to the new threat of nuclear war introduced at the end of, and in effect ending, World War II. I don’t think anyone foresaw that this same threat would allow a psychopathic authoritarian leader to have his way with mercilessly and brutally killing people for days on end.
To my knowledge (and I guess we all would know), this has never really happened before. It has often been said since the escalation of the current conflict, that we are apparently headed toward WWIII. Each day hinges on what activities Putin decides to execute. The whole world hinges on him. He has a new general in place at this time who is known to be a very onerous ruler himself. Chemical warfare is feared, as well as cyber-warfare, and of course more shelling of innocent men women and children, in Ukraine. Should a missile strike a NATO country, such as Poland, it is WWIII, because “An attack on one is an attack on all,” as per article 5 of the NATO charter.
As we are together recovering from the coronavirus pandemic of the past 2 years, a new surge is spoken of in the nightly news. Some places are requiring masks to be restored. We are weary and it feels like we have lost 2 years of our lives.
2020 and 2021 are marked for me by strength given by late night talk show hosts, namely Stephen Cobert, and a new found creativity as many have tried to make higher choices with their time like planting gardens and doing crafts with the kids. I also recall sirens when I look back at the last 2 years, which sort of merge into 1 in my memory. One day I counted 11 sirens. The day, otherwise peaceful and serene in my cozy central Jersey apartment, the sounds of ambulances let me know the pandemic was real and people were infact dying of this monster. To date, I believe we have lost over a million people in America alone. I suppose the earth is lighter with the loss of so many souls, now turned to ashes and corpses lying quietly in the cemeteries. The entire workforce has changed, and suicides and drug overdoses, already a problem, became even worse.
It has come to my attention, as I am a chaplain intern in the hospital, there are much more still-births than usual. This is particularly concerning. When I googled it, I found that this is apparently related to unvaccinated women getting the coronavirus, which has caused injury to the placenta. There are few things I simply can’t face without God’s help. I must say this is one of them.
I have concluded in a previous article that these days are simply about the inherent corruption and destructive quality of who we really are as a generation without Christ. As a result of the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden so many years ago, this world became godless and self seeking. It does not seem like we have ever seen this ineptitude in such a manner as we have in these past few years.
I believe political leaders have something to do with this. In America at least, they have become much worse. Congress always seemed to be a very respectful body of men and women of very high caliber, as was the president. He was never perfect, but he did not ever have the baby-ish qualities of the previous POTUS.
In his speeches, Trump even seems to be siding with Putin, and brags of a good relationship with him. His followers, having made their mind up about Trump and, unwilling to change direction, or admit they were wrong, continue to blindly follow him anyway. This is very scary. One who is not attached to this frightfully deceptive man can see what is happening. It has been remarked that if Trump were still president, Putin would not have committed the recent atrocities in Ukraine out of respect for Trump. But the truth is, if Trump really cared about America, he could stop him now, if such a relationship between them truly does exist. What’s more, Trump had reportedly sought to pull us out of NATO, which is our connection to European countries. And if he were still in president and had pulled us out of NATO, Ukraine would not be able to fight back in the current war, and Russia may have not only won by now, but taken over other countries in the region as well. To anyone who is truly paying attention, this may have been the plan all along between Trump and Putin, and thus the great necessity to take over the country by lying that the election was “stolen” by the democrats, and then inciting a mob to attack the capital.
As I suspected prior to the 2021 election, things would really have gone in a very bad direction if Trump had remained in power. I could just feel he was up to something. Many of us have the ability to sense such danger, the rest are currently falling off a cliff together and won’t listen to those of us who inhabit greater reason, or intuition, about such matters.
I also suspect that there is something behind the conspiracies that still dispute vaccines. One AM “Christian” radio station I was listening to last night stated that anyone who took a vaccine will be dead in 2 years. The way I put the pieces together, Putin is connected to such conspiracies, as is Trump. It would seem that the Coronavirus, which is now mercilessly pummeling China, may have come out of this same nefarious organization.
There is one more thing I want to say about this current time. Perhaps this is a prediction, perhaps an observation, maybe a little of both. The admittance of authoritarian cruelty into our world is appearing in other areas. It is seemingly a new norm that has opened up. I guess I am assuming this in part because people tend to follow leaders without concern as to whether they are right or wrong, good or bad. They follow just because they are leaders.
Yesterday I stepped outside to wash my car and observed a man mowing the lawn. When he saw my lawn ornaments, close to the side of the apartment building, he began vindictively pulling them out. He pulled out the fences I had carefully placed to protect my hopeful vegetable garden, not yet producing shoots. I said to him above the motor of the lawnmower, “hey! That’s mine, I put it there to protect my tomatoes.” He felt he had a right to usurp authority over my property and he insisted that it was not allowed. I got his information off his shirt and contacted the company he works for. Fortunately the lady who answered was much more compassionate. She knew who the guy was and promised to talk to him. I confided to her that my vegetable garden was in place due to my fear of things going on in the world and my desire to have my own food available in case of something drastic like what was occurring in the Ukraine. She said she completely understood. When she called me back later that day, she said they were going to give me a $25 gift certificate to Home Depot.
The kind lady made me feel much better. But the cruelty and irreverence of the guy who pulled out my carefully placed fences stays with me. I had had a neighbor who quickly moved out after I prayed. I may have written to you about him before. He was from Russia and struck me as being very scary and threatening. He accused me of putting a dent in his car. While I vehemently denied this, I later came outside to find a dent in my car. He also argued with me at one point as though he knew me, though we had never spoken. He insisted that there should be nothing on the porch. I complied with his wishes at that time wanting no trouble. I later spoke to someone who explained to me that this is the way people from Russia are. It has only been in the past month or so that we have had extensive knowledge of the essence of what the Russian mindset may be, as exemplified by our un-acquiescing confrontation with this horrifying individual, Vladimir Putin, the now infamous president of Russia.
Like many, I am stressed out these days. It is necessary to lean on the Bible and I tell this to others as well. I have something I take for anxiety that seems to work pretty well. And I may have to turn down a job I interviewed for recently due to not being able to handle the anxiety of being required to be there 3 days a week at 9am. My goal is to not drink. I am observing the same behaviors in others. More people are drinking these days. The world is stressed out. As a very interesting caveat, they are about to legalize recreational weed in New Jersey. Simply stated, I don’t think it is a good idea. New Jersey is a highly structured place. And this works well in some ways. It is like having authoritative parents over permissive ones. It will be very interesting to see how New Jersey changes as a result of moving in this new direction. One thing is sure, the world will change a great deal by the next time I write to you. I will see you then.
Where is God in All of This? 