A day of opposition

I took today off from my 'normal' job, as if there is such a thing as normalcy amid the concept of work, to take care of some errands and there was not much to inspire words about a world that is a bit dystopian in some places and a bit post-apocalyptic in others on a day that was the epitome of a perfect day in Portland, Oregon. It was seventy-five degrees as I sat and enjoyed the day from the vantagge point of two places which give me comfort.

I spent a good part of the afternoon, sitting on my front deck, my dog at my feet, a beer in my hand as I listened to some birds chirping in one part of the front yard while ducks played int eh pond below. It was soothing and made me quite complacent for my own position and comfort.

At the earlier part of the day, I sat eating lunch at my favorite little spot in the Pearl District. But I people watched as the world stood still and passed me by all at once. There was the regular sitting at a table on the sidewalk with his dog, there were the people, some old and some young, all walking by on their way to nowhere and everywhere all at once. There were young couples with children, old couples, there were those whose lives seemed haphazard and confused. There were people who worked at the several local medical facilities, be it the hospital nearby or other smaller doctors offices, as they took a lunch.

And in all these people there is not a singular inspiration, but a plural inspiration. These are the people that make life non-dystopian. They were all living a life that was somewhat pleasant looking from the exterior and the somewhat superficial observations of a guy drinking beer and eating his own lunch. There were conversations and smiles. There were people on their way through a life that lacked a bleak quality which comprises much of my current book. And yet they are perfect for the book.

To make this whole concept of multiple worlds work, there has to be a version that is similar to our current world. In most of our existence, there is nothing really dystopian about day-to-day life. But that is because we see the world not through the lens of a future written on pages or in kilobytes. We see the world through the lens of the present tense and make fun of those who like to say 'well, back in my day' as people too consumed with the familiarity of a false memory which always seems to favor the past. Meanwhile, there are people who see so much hope in the future and the present that there is nothing at all dystopian either in the present of the future.

But imagine you are an adult in say, 1970, imagine I tell you that in forty-five years, America will have been attacked by a foreign power, that the terrorists would be working to create more terror on American shores, that there would be bombings all over the nation in the name of a terrorist group. What if I told you that there would be planes being flown into buildings on purpose, long, long lines at airports as security had been compromised, that there would be so many arguing ideologies on the radio that it would be hard to come up with a consensus on anything. And what if I told you that racism would be alive and well, that America would target certain nationalities for more stringent treatment and focus. What if I told you everything that has happened in the last forty-five years? Would that world not look a bit dystopian?

It would, and that is exactly my point. The world we live in IS what I would have considered dystopian in 1970. And the future? It is both bright and dystopian. And really all that means is that the world is NOT utopian. Is there anything wrong with that?