When the world ends, who will admit it?

Will we appreciate that we’re arriving at the conclusion of a grand epic, or insist on denial?

Do we admit when death is near for ourselves or those we love?

What about when an empire falls?

We are a blink in a moment of eternity. Our human life spans are so short. It took billions of years to get here, and the term “year” is our own planet’s little orbit around our solar system’s star. Our sun is one among trillions of stars. Whether life on earth ends sooner or later by our measures, it will be too soon to accomplish everything.

And we, us tiny miracles, are fighting with each other, neglecting each other, because our overlords are greedy.

The election results were not a surprise to me. It was a severe blow nonetheless. Last week was harrowing for me and others in marginalized groups. I’ve been gathering myself, doing my best to rest and take good care of myself. Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I want to share some ideas about hope.

I’ve written before about how the United States is an empire built on genocide, slavery, imperialism, and the prioritization of profit over people and the planet. I do not hold affection for this system that runs on blood. That includes the US government itself.

Our founders were lying when they said they wanted liberty and justice for all. The system was designed to maintain and grow power for rich white men, and the race for the presidency is no exception. In fact, it may be the most obvious demonstration of it: we’ve had only one Black president in the last 235 years, and they’ve all been cishet men.

I do not believe this system can be reformed. It must be dismantled, and soon, because we don’t have much time. Climate change is the biggest looming danger as a species. It is here already, not merely a projection. Meanwhile, the powerful are busy committing genocide to expedite climate change with more resource exploitation. There aren’t words for how horrific that is.

As this empire falls – and it must fall – our media will deviate from reality more and more. The ultra-rich own the propaganda machines, and they must lie to the masses, or risk their adjacence to power. For me, it matters to write about how I see things as clearly as I can.

All my life, I have tried to cram as much as possible into each day before the sun sets. What if the sun is setting on the world as we know it? Who is going tell the truth about it?

I fear that the most widely-read, published, well-paid writers are busy piecing together words that are worse than meaningless. They are selling propaganda to the masses, saying the world is not ending, that business as usual can continue like this indefinitely.

I stand in this moment, insisting that it should be captured clearly.

Like the oranges of a setting sun, the flames of a burning empire are to be observed with honesty.

I ask again: What if the sun is setting on the world as we know it?

I know that it is.

Sunsets are so brief, and then we see the multitudinous stars as night approaches. How wondrous, that we have evolved to open our eyes and look up to see that we are not alone in space!

Are we dying? Of course!

We are living! Death is an inevitability, but that is not reason for defeat or hopelessness.

We have only this brief moment to appreciate.

Acknowledging reality is not defeat. We still have choices to make. We can delay our death in many ways. There are ways to increase health and safety, to some extent.

After all, the climate scientists tell us that we must change our ways if this earth is to remain livable.

We don’t have much time left to change course.

We should have changed course decades ago, but it is not too late, not yet, to buy ourselves more time on this planet.

Hope is like courage. It doesn’t feel how it sounds. The complexity is it’s possible to be both courageous and afraid, both hopeful and struggling to find hope.

I have not lost hope.