Chapter 2: continued-part 2

"Memories of the past hundred years"
June 22, 2059

Wow! I woke up again this morning! Praise God! I wasn't so sure last night as I went to bed. I haven't been feeling very good these past two nights, kind of unsettled--hard to explain. Well, with this gift of a new day, maybe I should write some more.

First, I want to make something very CLEAR! Life today is not some type of Agrarian Eutopia!!! It's HARD to say the least! Life these past fifty years has been filled with more pain and tears than anyone could have imagined! Oh, this past few years have gotten considerably better but life is still a major struggle. Life has settled down, the bandits have been all but eliminated in Dakota Territory and we don't have to live each day with a level of fear in the back of our minds. Today, we wake up with a sense of purpose and a motivation to put life back together again rather than apprehension as to what struggles the new day will bring.

But then again, the quality of family and community life has become so much richer that even if I had the choice, I wouldn't choose to go back to living the way we did 'pre-CRASH' -- it was that insane! Everyone lived for their own pleasures. Few cared for anyone else--maybe for their own family but it was a rare individual that cared anything for their 'fellow man' if it interfered with their self-centered gradifications.

Faith in God's plan for Salvation and living their daily lifes in a loving relationship with the God of the Universe was soooo rare. Most people claimed to be Christians but only on Sundays and only if it didn't interfere with their quest for personal pleasures. It still brings tears to my eyes to think of the undescribeable suffering that we as a society had to endure to get most people to turn back to God as the center of their lives. It was like living thru the disasters God allowed to happen to Israel in the Old Testament to turn his people away from their Idol worship and turn once again to His promises. Whereas, the people of Israel worshiped the idols of wood and stone, the people of the so called 'modern' society worshiped the gods of greed and pleasure, of money and accumulating bigger and better or just plain 'MORE' things............. sigh..............

Medical care has greatly declined in some ways and greatly increased in other ways. Preventive health care is our central focus. Naturally pure, healthy foods are now abundant for all. Daily exercise with plenty of fresh air and sunshine is just normal for everyone. The 'couch potato' is as extinct as the Dodo bird. Going to the gym for exercise ended with the CRASH. Obesity is all but extinct as well. Nutritional, herbal and what was previously called 'alternative' health care are now once again normal for society. Where our health care has really declined is in treating tramatic injuries. Extreme intervention and microscopic surgery has been hard to duplicate. But then again, everyone from the very young onward are taught 'situational awareness'. They are taught to be aware of the potential for accidents and avoid them.

There are small community 'hospitals in every town or village. Many are in family homes. There are some small regional hospitals with well educated and trained doctors and nurses but nothing like the 'old days'. Many doctors travel by buggy or train from town to town and home to home to help as they can. Most births are at home with each community having a very dedicated nurse/midwife in attendance. Only the pregnancies with complications go to the community or regional hospitals. The huge, industrial hospitals of the past era were so completely overwhelmed during that Terrible Winter that they just stopped functioning. It didn't help when the Military Government ordered most of the medical staff into manditory service during the War.

Our global trade and sales in 'plastic pumpkins' to satisfy consumer addictions crashed immediately with the collapse of the dollar. Trade in the essentials of life like food and fuel was quick to follow. The existing central government was totally unprepared to deal with the collapse of the dollar, the coordinated cyber attacks on our entire command, control and delivery systems, the explosion in the Mid-East and the terrorist attacks on our cities all in a matter of days. It was 'hyper-war'!!! Life as we knew it just stopped.

We have been rebuilding our manufacturing base on a local and regional level ever since. It was like reinventing the wheel! So much was forgotten and we just didn't have the tools to manufacture the tools and replacement parts to keep the old machines functioning. Global trade and shipping of our country's manufacturing abilities overseas for the greed for profit was an all out disaster for this country. Cottage industries sprang up almost overnight. The proverbial 'butcher, baker and candlestick maker' where once again in high demand. This region was very fortunate to have some limited electrical power during the dark years and we were able to salvage steel and manufacture hand tools, wood/coal stoves and horse drawn equipment but we were unable to manufacture the complex parts needed to keep this large scale electrical generation functioning.


This here remembering is tiring!! I need a nap. I'll write more if I regain enough energy. May God bless you all!

Next:

Chapter 2 continued.........