After the Austin IRS Building Strike

I always thought the apocalypse would be sudden.

The great shifting of weather, masses of people dying like in the movies (Red Sky At Dawn, A Boy and His Dog)

A windy lonesomeness across the earth

Only rabbits left like in On the Beach

But now I wonder if it could be more subtle than sudden.

Less The Road and more Ordinary People.

The software engineer who blew up his home and flew his plane into the IRS building

Anthrax after 9-11 the work of another pissed off American.

Who are most the terrorists, the dudes in the caves plotting to kill us

or the radio monsters making a career of it behind their masks of patriotism?

Finally, what will we tell the children?

What sense will the young people make of their inheriting this arcade game of power, words, technology, blistering revenge and cancerous rage?

I say, it's a nautilus. We inside the They. Inside the Other. Wrapped around the us versus them. That old, spent rhythm of hate that used to be balanced by long distances, lack of funds or traction. It is now armed and ubiquitous, dispiriting and finally contrary to our need to marshall our resources and ingenuity in the service of optimism and peace.