How the World Ends

When my daughter was young, I used to help her with things like grammar and poetry interpretation.  I recall explaining Frost’s “Fire and Ice”: He seems to be saying that the world could end either in fire, perhaps nuclear war, or by ice, our vast indifference to the well-being of one another. They are both extremely powerful forces, and either one will get the job done. 

I suppose what we’re experiencing right now is the latter, ice, as wearing masks has taken on a political meaning, and as a result, millions of people refusing to go to even the slightest effort to protect one another.  Hospitals in places like Los Angeles are so overcrowded that COVID-19 patients are being treated in parking lot tents and gift shops, but these people just couldn’t care less.

Building communities based on reason, kindness, and empathy is something that modern day America is simply incapable of.