Though I like to write about ghosts and the supernatural, I’m not a particularly superstitious person. I think there’s more to life than what our various senses are capable of perceiving, and maybe we get an impression of things beyond what we can see, the way eyeless fish might know about light by feeling the difference between shadow and illumination.

I’m trying to say that sometimes, I feel like I have a sense for things to come. It’s like I can feel the winds of change blowing long before there’s any sign. It’s like the emotional weight of certain events press so hard on my life that the effects travel back in time.

That’s all poppycock, I know, but there’s a lot of silly nonsense that I want to believe.

With that in mind, I thought I might try to figuratively put my ear to the ground and sense what’s coming.

Hopefully this won’t be too pessimistic.

Covid

We’re not freed of that snake yet. Too many people are still fighting reality. There is too much distrust and division, and we all have to be on the same side to fight this monster. People are tired of wearing masks and social distancing and doing the things that slow the progress of the disease. As millions of people continue to get it and hundreds of people die from it every day, we continue to get interesting mutations.

I’m still feeling the effects of my bout with it. I’m still coughing, and I don’t think I have as much air capacity in my lungs.

By March, we’re going to be at a point where there aren’t enough people vaccinated, because the message is that “the pandemic is over” so people think they don’t need to get vaccinated. But it’s still spreading, and people are too tired of it to remain vigilant. So, we’re going to get back to the point where 2% of the population will die from it, and it will just keep going and going.

Economy

War and disease have crippled supply chains. At the same time, corporations see an opportunity to rake in profits. The oil barons have had a banner year this year, and there’s too much political strife for anyone to do anything about it. Again, we’re too divided to look at the actual culprits, the robbers stealing from us at the pump and raising the price of production on everything. Too many people blaming people in power that had nothing to do with the rising prices.

The stresses on this great machine will continue to build up. How long can it hold? People are struggling. There are jobs, but not all of them are that great. A couple of young adults are no longer able to make it on their own. Not on one job, and not with the wages that are available. When the collapse happens, it’ll come from the bottom. It’s not very far away, now.

Politics

People are divided, and it’s getting worse. I don’t want to talk too much about politics right now. I don’t like what I see, and no one wants to hear my prediction for the near future.

My Future

I’m going to keep plugging along. I’m not going to slip unscathed past all the things I was just talking about. Covid will visit my house again, probably even worse than last time. Money will get interesting. I’ll continue to get frustrated by what I see on the political stage, where it seems our collective wisdom has run dry.

I’ll keep writing.

There’s a number of things I’m trying to start now, and I’m not sure how much of those attempts will succeed. We’ll finish renovating the bedroom, but I’m not sure I’ll succeed at NaNoWriMo this year. The vision isn’t clear enough. I tried to work on the outline today, but there wasn’t much gas in the tank. I’ll finish the next three keyboards and continue to derive pleasure from making things with my hands.

I’m trying to exercise more, but it’s hard to say if I’ll have much success there. It’s just really hard to breathe these days.

I’ll keep plugging along.

When Will Things Get Better?

It’s hard to say.

We’re just so fractured. If we can’t hold ourselves together, then there is no unity and support for growing together in wisdom. We have to be able to trust each other in order to communicate and protect each other.

There are still too many people that love money more than they love people. There are still too many people that would rather lie and try to nab an easy dollar than do something hard and help lift someone up. It’s hard to see the good in people when the people refuse to be good.

Money is still a problem. Money motivates the people that are working to keep us apart. Money motivates the monsters and the people I’d rather not talk about. If we were wise and good, we would spend our days seeking knowledge and love, rather than all the different forms money takes.

Can things get better?

Yes, but I think things have to get a lot worse first. I’m not looking forward to that, because it means a lot of people are going to have to hurt before we learn the lesson.

We have to find another way to run things than the way we’ve been doing it.

I guess that’s it. I don’t want it to be pessimistic. I want to be hopeful for the future, but it’s hard to see a way forward that doesn’t involve everything falling apart so that it can be put back together.

All of this is going to go into my next book.