Eve of Destruction II

I recently listened to the 1965 recording of Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire, a protest song written by P. F. Sloan alluding to the social conflicts of the 60s — some of which were: the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, and the Middle East.

Looking back, the social issues of my youth were human vs. human issues. Today, in what I'm thinking may be Eve of Destruction II, our conflicts are human vs. nature issues such as Covid, drought, heat waves, wildfires and flooding — not to discount the part humans may be playing in their creation.

And not to discount that we still have our share of human vs. human conflicts, Afghanistan, Iran, Korea, China, Russia, Trumpian right wing anarchists, and a coterie of ultraliberals that want change faster than many middle of the road people are ready for.

The Chinese are said to curse, "May you live in interesting times." Probably not attributable to the Chinese but anyway...

Yes, we do live in interesting times. On one hand, we are entering a science-fictional world of self-driving cars, drones, artificial intelligence, and on the other hand we are entering a science-fictional world of pandemic, climate crisis, and cyber crime.

Add to this our social problems of homelessness, immigration and civil justice — well, things are confusing and worrisome.

And right now, I'm struggling — to mask or not to mask, indoors that is. And if I travel, what are the rules? And what will be the rules tomorrow?

Oh well, here's the chorus of the original song:

"And you tell me over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction."

~ Al Zagofsky