Situational Awareness

It was a typically beautiful, sunny day at the office on the Big Island of Hawaii when suddenly the unexpected happened. The tap water stopped flowing.

Workers scrambled to accommodate the situation by making plans to get water bottles at nearby stores while taking bathroom breaks. Many people asked questions about what had happened and why. Phones began ringing as friends and families called to confirm that everyone's water had shut off. A few concerned moments passed but we made due, assured that this must be a temporary situation.

Then the phones, cell phones and lights went dead. Power had also been lost. Confusion gripped the office as the news, radio and television fell silent before reporting anything. We were all literally in the dark, cut off from communication and left to wonder what might be happening. That was the moment when I began to seriously evaluate the situation.

To assess any immediate danger, I looked out the window.  Everything looked normal toward the beach. The streets were full of cars and people scrambling along the sidewalk. There was no violence on the street, no tsunami rolling in, no enemy air force or invading alien army flying through the blue sky or the soft white clouds.

One cloud was not white, it was grey. As my eyes followed the cloud inland, it darkened. When the cloud reached the center of the island it was black and thinly streamed up from the big volcano.

Surely, the smoke had not caused all the turmoil. Smoke does not knock out power, water or communication. It occured to me that the flea bitten #InvadeSomeStreet protestors could be causing mayhem. Regardless, a feeling of dread washed over me. 

If the volcano was about to erupt, could those elected to power be trusted to prepare the people. Would elites simply flee before the panicked masses clog up the routes of evacuation?  Would elected leaders cut off our communications, electricity, fuel and other necessities in order to preserve and enrich themselves at our expense?

KABOOM!

America is an idea embodied by The U.S.Constitution. If usurped, this contract between We The People and the government is an illusion. Without the idea that is America, humanity is left hopeless and  faces a New Dark Age.