We are living
I am currently watching and re-reading the Handmaid’s Tale and the whole story is making me wince. I had to keep turning back the pages last night as the book detailed the fall of the US of A and the creation of Gilead especially when it talked about an explosion and a storming of the Capitol Building and a population who did not protest as they either did not want to get into trouble, or they never thought it was going to concern them. Archie has just finished reading 1984 and he said to me on multiple times when reading it, “it is like reading about things now.”
In the world there is a ceasefire that isn’t a ceasefire continuing unabated in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, and American’s most wealthy are coat-tailing off their new President in all their glory whilst the poorest in that country struggle to live. There is an American President who looks like a caricature of some evil cartoon villain talking about places all over the world as if they are pieces of real estate for him to acquire and signing off on endless executive orders that keep stepping the world back into that fictional future we used to read about. Governments all over the world are embracing those that have whilst disregarding the rest. Despite horrific fires, floods, tsunamis and quakes our governments continue to pay homage to those who mine, burn, pollute, destroy and poison.
I could not help but think this morning that
we are living
the fictional future
of our past
I have always been a fan of Dystopian and Post Apocalyptic Fiction, but I read it differently now.
I no longer get lost in the world of the fictional words on a page, I simply hope that in this future world that is already here, my children are strong enough to be both brave and kind.
Comments