Game Over

“She realized too late the habits of years are not undone in days.” — Lou Reed

I spent my Sunday soaking up some cosmic rays on Bondi beach and chewing my lady’s ear off on the bitter rollercoaster that was Life on A Shrinking Planet. As I helped her to understand the gravity of our current times, I stumbled upon a truth that had been staring back at me.

The last time the world faced a serious global catastrophe of this scale was over half a century ago when the world was at war with itself. It ravaged empires and their colonial outposts, leaving few souls unscathed. While democracy was to narrowly claim victory in the global campaign, it was a Phyrric victory that came at an incredibly steep price. 

Over fifty million men, women and children lost their lives before the flags of surrender were raised. In the wake of such atrocities and genocide, the world saw the error of its ways and ratified global treaties and economic agreements that aimed to ensure such depravities would never be repeated.

The madness of World War II is sadly emblematic of so many individual choices. We choose not to give up smoking until a heart attack puts us on deaths door. We refuse to cut out processed sugars until the doctor diagnoses us with Type II diabetes. We stubbornly refuse to treat ourselves with love and respect until our partner cancels the engagement party and tosses us onto the street. 

You don’t need to wait until the thermometer explodes to diagnose a bad case of the flu. You can learn to listen to your body, to sense the early symptoms and stock up on Armaforce and Vitamin C. We all know when it’s time to call an intervention on our choices. Some of us are just better at turning our back on the smoke signals.