A quote from one of my favorite movies: Excalibur "It is the doom of man that he forgets": So well spoken. All we have to do is look around and see that we make the same mistakes over and over.
Most people laughed off the government shutdown as business as usual, and I agree in part, but I want to share a story with you about a government shut down in another place and time.
At the end of the Roman Empire, Great Britain was one of the last foreign holdings of the Romans. As the Empire collapsed into itself, most Britons had no idea what was happening. People, being optimistic for the most part, didn't get alarmed as the legions pulled out and headed for mainland Europe. They only started to get anxious when the leaders and their families packed up and left, leaving cities like London largely deserted.
Within weeks, former chieftains and armed men were fanning out across the country laying claim to cities, towns and regions of the country. Normal people were displaced, killed, and robbed of their lifelong acquired possessions. People who had spent their entire lives in cities and relied on stores to buy food, clothing, and tools, were now forced to either starve or learn a new way of life.
Education and knowledge were lost: with in a few generations people had forgotten most of the skills they had used in daily life. There were no more stone masons, potters, tanners, etc. Small settlements sprouted up all over the place as displaced people migrated together (misery loves company). The deserted large towns were used as quarries for stone and wood and many were thought to even be haunted in time.
This time period became known later as the dark ages; illiteracy, ignorance, war, and fear ruled the day. It would be another thousand years before the rebirth of knowledge and the arts. The great knowledge of the Greeks and Romans; satire, comedy, medicine, and philosophy all widely practiced and enjoyed for four hundred years of Roman rule faded into memory.
In our own time we are only one day away from the same type of calamity. Don't believe me? Take a look around you: If you couldn't go to the grocery store, how would you eat? You could grow crops, provided you had seeds, but that would take a season and you would starve well before that. Hunting is an option, but the majority of people alive today have never hunted, even if we could, our shear numbers would deplete the wild game supply in weeks.
If you are one of the lucky ones with a stocked pantry, you would become a target for people who would use violence to take what you have. It would be very similar to the story I just told you. Imagine gangs of armed men going house to house to take whatever they wanted. Dial 911? I don't think so, if your phone even worked. any police would be home protecting their own families and property.
I am not saying this will happen, but it could easily, all it needs is a catalyst. After the initial violence and starvation people would once again migrate together for safety at least. The song: A country boy can survive, has new meaning in a world out of control. If you are a city dweller, it might be a good idea to learn to hunt and fish. No more welfare babies in this world. Everyone would be required to pull their weight or be cast out of the community. It gives new meaning to being thrown to the wolves.
The good news is that society does rebound; in time of course. So, we would be long gone but our ancestors in a few hundred years should have it a lot better.
We can do our part to make sure it doesn't happen. We can vote out every member of congress and replace them with people who have our best interest in mind and not their respective political parties .The next time the government pushes itself to the brink hopefully they will consider the consequences and not forget the past.
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