Meteors And The Afterlife

Dear Dead,

You tell me your guiding constant is the pursuit of survival. You tell me that it is only a matter of time before the earth is obliterated by a meteor, or the sun, or nuclear war. The only solution, then, is to create a space colony. It makes sense to me. It reminds me of sci-fi novels, and I remember reading in a magazine that sci-fi novels are written by nerds, which is another name for socially dysfunctional geniuses. Just because they can’t dress doesn’t mean they aren’t right about their technofutural-inspired predictions.

I try to imagine the earth being pulverized by a meteor. With our telescopes, we would know it was coming. The government would tell us they were doing everything in their power to stop it, but they couldn’t stop it. They would only be lying to keep everything from turning into total chaos. A few people might have the foresight to burrow into underground shelters. Religious people would carry signs telling everyone to repent, while the unreligious people would presumably spend their last few days doing things that need repenting from.

Funny, it had never bothered me, the thought of the earth being destroyed. There is always the afterlife. I think religious people are famous for that mode of thought, and I ask you if you think it makes us wasteful of the earth’s resources. You hesitate, and I tell you that I want honest answers. That’s what this is all about: honesty. An open exchange of ideas. You pause for a moment, trying to decide if I’m telling the truth about wanting honest answers. I guess you decide I’m telling the truth, because eventually you nod and say you think it does make religious people wasteful of the earth’s resources.

Procreation is your next passion, even though you never made it past one offspring. In the fight for survival, you explain, the human race should procreate as much and as often as possible. This creates a common point of belief between us: we are both pro-life. Your reason is survival, mine is morality. Either way, we finally agree on something, and it feels good. The disagreement feels alright, too, but I think we humans like to agree with each other. We sense that unity is a positive experience.

The more we talk, the more you feel the freedom to be yourself. You get louder, enunciating your words and especially your profanity with clear, ringing bell tones. Your hands move, and you ride your chair like a bar room mechanical bull. Your eyes are so bright. I think to myself that if religious people were so passionate, we could end the orphan problem in Africa, or the sex slave trade in Asia. Maybe we could do those things instead of building temples and mosques and churches, instead of having religious TV shows, religious books, and religious wars. Maybe, if we were passionate, we could do good things.