BACK IN MY DAY...

"What are you thinking about,

Granpaw?

All I can see of you across the fire..

is your bent head...

I can't even see your face...

That silly old hat covers it like that..."

"Donnie,

This silly old hat...

as you call it,

is probably one of the reasons this old grandpaw is still alive...

So don't you go making light of it...

That crazy green thing that covers your head ain't no prize, either...

But don't you ever stop wearing it."

"Yeah, mom tells me every day...

Something about the way the sun shines through that atmosphere stuff that makes it dangerous to be exposed to it...

I don't even know what that is all supposed to mean...

sometimes she even tells me not to look directly at the sun for very long..."

"She's right....

You make sure you listen..

All life on this planet has to live different now..."

"what do you mean...now?,

Wasn't it always like this?"

"No, son...

a long time ago...

Even before your mom was born...

It was a whole different world...

Now we live in...

what once was called a city...

One of the best cities in the world to live in...

Close to everything...

You could put in a full day's work...

and three hours later...

Be fishing off the dock at your own cabin...

Far from your nearest neighbor...

Or put your boat or canoe in the water,

and go around the lake...

enjoying the beautiful day

If you wanted to...

Or,

Go the other way...

and less than three hours away...

You were in the majestic Rocky Mountains...

And parks...

We had the best known parks in all the world...

Banff,

Jasper,

There you could enjoy your stay...

for however long you wanted...

Any way you wanted...

You could tent...

Rent a cabin...

Park your RV with or without amenities...

Have a real fire...

Not this chemical burning thing...

We burned wood...

Old dead branches that would blow off trees,

or just fall in the forest...

Or,

if you had to,

You could buy previously cut wood,

from the managers at some of those sites...

This was always old dead wood...

And helped to preserve our forests...

And we used it to cook...

the best stuff..

Hot dogs,

hamburgers,

fish...

sometimes just caught...

right over those fires...

Even things like eggs and potatoes...

Now...

We are limited to this damn hour of pure...

Nothing...

no smell...

no sound...

Just heat and light...

A constant light...

It doesn't even flicker...

Sorry...

Grandpaw's old mind was just wandering back awhile..."

With that,

The thin, bent old man got up to adjust the box he was sitting on,

pushing his old faded "safari hat" further back on his head,

wisps of old dirty grey hair sticking out randomly,

His gnarled old hands protruding from his heavy grey protective suit...

"and we didn't have to wear these damn suits...

Can't do hardly anything in these bloody things..,"

"Granpaw..

What are those things you were talking about...

And why can't we do them anymore?"

Boating, mountains, camping, fishing,

What do you fish for...

Parks...

Wood...

And camp fires...

and all those wonderful foods...

Why don't we have all that stuff now...

couldn't you have helped to stop all that stuff from disappearing...

You were a doctor of the earth..or something..."

"I was a Professor of Environmental Studies...

I was working with UNHEC...

United Nations Health and Environment Control...

They don't exist anymore either...

In fact...

Nations don't even exist anymore..."

He shifted his twisted right leg as he sat back down on the old box...

"Now we live...

Let me say...

survive...

As one global community...

The Earth Development Congregate...

EDC...

Back in my day...

D.C. was the capital of the most powerful nation in the world...

They had their problems...

But they kept the world peaceful...

As best as anyone can...

or could...

sooo many bad countries wanted to get more land...

and resources...

No matter how many people they killed...

heck...

they even had trained killers...

called suicide bombers,

go to other countries...

and kill people...

thousands of innocent people...

All...they claimed..

in the name of religion...

something else that no longer exists...

Now...

We have no GOD...

no faith...

or belief...

We all...

just obey the Council...

In fact,

you could be punished,

or even put to death...

for talking about a "Supreme Being"...

But I like to think there are many more...

Like me...

around the world who still believe in a "Divine Creator"...

who else could have created the wonders and beauty of everyday life...

and not just this world...

a whole Universe of Universes...

Each with their own sun and moon...

some even had more than one of each..."

"well,

What happened...

and why didn't you stop it from happening?"

"Donnie...

I tied...

I really did...

the best I knew how...

and not just me...

a group of the smartest people of the time...

We were part of the Green Movement...

All we wanted to do was save...

or halt the destruction of...

The environment, the people, the animals, all our wonderful places to go, do ....

Just enjoy...

A safe life...

and make sure our kids and our kids kids...

"That would be me!!...

Yeah, Donnie,

It would...

but wouldn't you like to have a brother or a sister?

Be honest now...

"Well,

sometimes I think about it,

And doing neat stuff with someone my age...

I do get lonely sometimes...

Granpaw...

Can I come a sit by you?"

"why sure, boy

...but you have to bring your own chair ..."

"Silly,

This is not a chair...

mom would never let a chair out of our complex...

It's just an old container thing..."

"well,bring it on over and have a seat...

I was feeling a might lonely myself right about now...

So the young boy rolled the heavy old seat up to his grandpaw,

Using his third arm...

extending from his chest..

for balance...

"What were these Green people you were talking about?"

"No, Donnie...

they weren't "Green People"...

they were normal people who decided to work together to to keep our world like it was...

like the stuff I said...

Or make it even better...

Eventually people all over the world joined this movement...

And we had..

"Green Peace"

"Green For Humanity"

Sadly...

Not enough people...

Too many still wanted their fancy cars, homes,

wasted fuel and energy,

cut down or ruined our trees,

and our parks...

killed or polluted our wildlife,

rarely cleaning up their trash when they left...

all they cared about was enjoying their life...

computers, personal small phones...

a "Better One" every 2 years...

you could talk, take pictures, send messages all around the world...

THAT part was great...

They wanted more money, fame, self promotion...

and the world was run for real by big corporations and pharmaceutical companies...

Who didn't care about anything except making money...

Their lies...

along with the lies of a few politicians...

Were the real cause of the earth's ruin"

"what's a politician"

"My boy...

I don't know what to tell you...

They were people...

Usually rich white people...

who did what we called ...

"Ran for office"...

That means try to get elected to more and more positions, so they could get more and more power and money, and live their own crooked lifestyle,

no matter what it cost others...

or the world...

It didn't start that way...

some wonderful people ran for office...

United their country into a great nation with a Manifest Destiny...

oh, there were bad things done by them too...

Only not on purpose...

they worked with what they had at the time...

Problem became...

what they had...

grew into so much...

It became the target of every narcissistic...

(that means someone who really loves himself)

Greedy...

sometimes insane...

crook...

that could get enough others to vote him or her,

into "Office"

from County Dog catcher to President"

"so what happened,

Granpaw?

"Well,

around the year 2020...

or thereabouts...

A sickness spread all over the world...

It killed many millions,

and ruined many economies,

putting millions out of homes,

or jobs,

with no way to look after or feed,

their families...

causing the rise of self-serving militant groups all over the world...

Even to the point of beating or killing those who "stood in their way"

And this was all made worse by the lies and promises...

and basic insanity...

of the guy who ran things then...

He even told everyone to inject themselves with a form of bleach to kill the "virus"...

even lying and saying he had used the bleach himself and felt great...

the great thing was...

The son uv a bitch caught the virus anyway...

but he completely disregarded all the doctor's and researcher's rules,

right after he came out of hospital,

they say he even went golfing...

(that was a form of sport back then)...

THE SAME DAY!!!

"Why did people let him do all that stuff?"

"Well,

eventually they stopped him...

Voted him out of office...

Even impeached him...

(took him to court on some criminal things)

I think he was even sent to jail later...

but he still lived on his personal island until he died...

staying out of real prison because he could afford to pay so many different lawyers to use every means the Justice System allowed...

tho in this case...

There was no Justice...

just the worsening world he left behind...

and thankfully...

That is how History remembers him..."

"that doesn't seem right, granpaw..."

"It wasn't...

But if people,

Back in my day...

Would have known what 2054 would be like...

I am sure he would have met True Justice...

"there's the siren...

we have 30 minutes to get back up to the complex...

And I am feeling like...

Back in my day...

was a long long long time ago"

"kin I ask you just one more question granpaw...

You said we are living in a city...

What is that?...

We live in rubble...

there is nothing outside the complex..."

It once was a great city

10 miles of it...

They even had towns spring up so close...

(we called them "Bedroom Communities")

we had to start extending all our basic systems and roads to them as they progressed...

They even became cities eventually...

What you see around you now...

And all over the world...

All the wreckage, hopelessness and fear,

Is the result of those years...

And the fools who never listened or cared...

Wasn't like that....

As he got up...

He slowly reached back behind him to get his faded old green jacket...

some of the letters so faded and worn...

all you could read was "Gre.. Pe...e"

BACK IN MY DAY