The charge of cogitation

This morning I was reminded, in no uncertain terms, that it is my duty and responsibility to think of ways of making the world a little better, a little safer.  I was having a conversation with my husband about my thoughts about life and the continuation of life in the universe, even should the worst happen and the asteroid hit, the supervolcano erupt, the global climate finally break down to destroy all that has been built so far to date....  This is getting a little gloomy, let me elaborate.

Let me go on record as saying that I'm not an optimist.  It's in my personality to think of the worst case scenario in any given situation and run with it.  It comes from being told from a very early age that the world will come to an end within my lifetime and truly believing that until my early twenties.  Yes, my upbringing was strange.  I've often been told it's a miracle I'm as well adjusted as I pretend to be. 

Anyway, since I discovered things like cable and National Geographic, I've been fascinated with learning about all the different ways the earth could be destroyed.  I'm sure many other people have this particular hobby, all of you crazy nihilist out their raise your hands.  Yes, I know you're out there, come on, you can admit it.  Ok, so I'm a weirdo, but this type of thinking occupies my mind often.  I've tried to treat it the way a samurai would, looking at all the ways it could all end and being ok with it.  I mean, what can I do about an asteroid?  If it happens, it happens. 

So you can imagine my surprise at having a different seed planted in my mind this morning from such an unlikely source as my husband, who's known me for ten years (you get so used to people, you don't expect to have them surprise you with things you didn't think about before).  He said that it would be a moral failureof the human race to allow our own extinction given the level of intellect we possess.  If we can build bombs, rocket ships, submarines, airplanes, etc., we should be concentrating on all of these problems of extinction, finding ways to divert asteroids, study magma chambers and curing the common cold.  He is much more intelligent in his speech, so it only took half the car ride for him to convince my stubborn brain to cooperate.  I was surprised that he firmly believes this... and to some extent, I do too, although I have my doubts that the human race can pull it out of the hat. 

It is somewhat disturbing to me that my lack of faith in my fellow man runs very deep.  I hear so much talk going on, but I know that people, in general, are so stuck in their own worlds of drama, t.v. and junk food that they literally won't know what hit them.  And despite my own high minded ideals, I find my own lack of action as irredeemable as everyone else's lack of forethought.  Yes, I take the time to think about these things, but what, in fact, am I doing?  I'm not building a fusion generator or a CO2 collector.  I'm not out searching for a cure for cancer.  I'm not an astronomer looking for super asteroids.  I'm not studying tectonic plates.  Sure, I KNOW all of this stuff, but what am I doing with it?

And then I'm reminded of what I can do.  I can talk about it with people.  I can make them see it with me.  I can transmit all of this stuff, this trivia of knowledge, to anyone who wants to listen or read.  I can think, as thinking leads to the doing.  Kind of a precursor, but you get the idea.  Yes, to some extent, I'm an armchair activist.  I sit here and think about everything from animal sociology to the movement of the stars.... but that has it's purpose too. 

Who else is going to do it, if not me?  and some day, maybe an idea will come that will be put to good application in the greater community, if I am brave enough to follow through by example.  Perhaps my best goal it to get people to just THINK. 

But how does one create a grass roots movement to get people really thinking and learning? I know most of the people reading this think already, it's the nature of a small group of intellectuals that makes places like Gaia exist.  How do we spread this infection of thinking?  How do we get to the 75% of people who are content to sit at home have nothing to do with thinking?  I see it happen when I talk to people.  No matter how impassioned the speech, how interesting the concepts, all they hear is "yada, yada, yada" and it's back to Nieman Marcus and the latest Survivor episode. 

I guess I'll have to think about this some more; lately I've felt very much like I've been preaching to the choir.... I'd like to expand the area of like minded people to those who believe they have nothing better to think about.

I just have to maintain faith that we can figure it out before the asteroid hits Yellowstone and we're all screwed.

Namaste
Thea