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An image that was etched in my mind was on the front page of The NY Times several years ago. A gaunt African man sat on his boat mending his fishing net. The caption was that so and so was mending the net (which was given to him by The B & M Gates Foundation for draping over the bed as an anti-malaria measure) so that he could catch fish to feed his seven hungry children.

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I wrote The Legend in 1984, the theme being survivors of an atomic war, which was still how we thot the world would end with a bang.

Two decades later I changed the them to how the world will end with a whimper.

The Legend

by Rob Boyte

Revised 1996

Come lad, let me tell you a tale of Ancient Tymes, of Men and Gods, of Peasants and Kings, Empires and Warriors. You know nothing of that tyme, for you were not yet born, and I, Merlin the Ancient One, was just a babe.

This was the tyme of my Parents, of which we have little knowledge, for so much was lost in the Dark Ages, when men lived as animals and knew nothing of the Civilized Arts, but only how to kill and survive.

But lad, before I grow older than my 90 years, let me tell you the tale as told me by my Father, when I was but a dozen years like you. Know you that it is true, though you may not fathom its meaning, for there are few records of the Great Civilization before the Dark Ages, gathered from the moldy books, carved stones and objects that we keep in the Archives.

My father once lived in one of the Empires that ruled half the World after a great war, but saw ruin and corruption in the way men there lived, and moved us to a lesser Kingdom in the wilderness. There he pursued life's natural course, studied the Seasons, the Flora and Fauna, the Elementals and Arcana, the Ancient Truths forgotten by the Great Civilization.

Mind you I said this tale was of Gods and Men, and lo, those were wondrous tymes, when some Men lived as Gods. There were Great Cities in the heart of the Empires, where dwelt Wizards whose knowledge of the Hidden Powers even I cannot fathom, but my Father was there and saw them with his own eyes. Listen carefully lad, for what I tell you is Truth, and not legend or the ramblings of an old man as so many would have you believe.

Their Physicians used not only the Herbs and Roots but the very Earth and Ethers to heal all disease, and their Surgeons could remove the viscera, yea even the Heart from a corpse and make it live in another person. They controlled the power of Lightning and made it move machines and give light and make heat or cold as they desired. The lightning was also made to carry their voice and image to others around the world and even helped them think, to create more wondrous devices than they already had.

There were mechanical carriages that moved five tymes the speed of a horse at full gallop, and ships of steel so large they could sail the Seas through the worst of storms, or move quickly without a breeze. Some of these I've heard can be seen today, sunken in shallow water off the coast. There were machines that flew, and could carry hundreds of people from one part of the world to the other side, and moved so fast that their own sound could not catch them. There were even such flying machines as could leave the Earth and go to the Moon.

Alas, it were these very devices which destroyed the Empires and most all life on Earth, for their Sorcerers did not see that the Elements consumed by these machines were changed to noxious gas that changed not only the Air and Ethers but the very Weather itself.

Verily, these changes destroyed the crops and livestock of the great civilization. The light of the Sun first burnt all things by day. Then the drought withered all that survived the burning light, before the clouds blocked out the day. In the ensuing years most men and beasts in the world succumbed to sickness or the Great Famine.

Only a very few survived those dreadful tymes, those Dark Ages. My Father was one. He named me Merlin after a Wizard more ancient than his own tyme, for I too refused to die, as if protected by the Hidden Powers. There were those who prepared for such a tyme, but they could not see the breadth or length of the destruction, and the hand of Death touched them with the same ease as those who were unprepared. Who lived and who died was by the Grace of God and there were many who did not wait for that Grace, for only the very strong of spirit could endure those tymes when the dead were envied by the living. My own Mother succumbed to the Great Famine, but I had been weaned and somehow lived on, eating bugs and lizards and worms that dwelt beneath the ground.

We survived, as Chronicled in the New Archives, and fell in with others, each helping in our struggle for life. We built walls and fought the Marauders, found weeds and rats and grew them for food, and scavenged through the Great Famine, and survived.

Now we are secure in our fine City with its stout walls. Those terrible Dark Ages have passed and we are building anew from the ruin, a New Civilization. Each day brings new Knowledge from old books for those of us who read, and with the Wisdom of all my years I can now see the Larger Scheme.

This tale I have told you to pass on to others, for mark my words lad, this World I give to you will pass into change, and again and again with your children's children it will change, until someday it be, as it was in Ancient Tymes, a Great Civilization with the power of its own demise.

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I enjoyed that "60 minutes" segment with Bill Gates. He seemed upbeat and confident even tho what he proposed for saving the planet is unlikely to happen. Look at where we are today with apathy to outright denial that global warming is occurring and that fossil fuels are a major contributor. His plan is for a unified global response. Humans are not capable of that even in smaller communities.

The problem with humans is our success as the dominant species on this planet. Even with our wars and diseases killing us off, we have overpopulated the place. Remember ZPG - Zero Population Growth? What an excellent idea in the 1970s that never accomplished its goal even in the Western nations. Authoritarian China tried extreme measures to curb its population growth with much criticism from the free world, and yet they were facing dire conditions from overpopulation. So instead of mandating one or no more than 2 children per couple, the freedom to breed eventually corrects itself with famines & starvation of millions or wars trying to procure more sustenance.

So to parafrase Pogo, We have met the villain and he is us.

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May I suggest as a villain Mogilevich (sp?), Putin's mob boss?

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