Author: Gary Beck Source: https://www.polseguera.com/writers/writing-714_unillumined.html Unillumined Gary Beck/Unillumined   City Fixture The homeless sit on unrelenting streets cardboard signs advertising need. Passersby seldom notice the invisable men hulking on concrete nests.     Learning Gap The pace of life changes incrementally. the more we advance technically the faster it moves. In the middle ages we knew how to make candles and we had light, dim perhaps, but it banished darkness. In the Information Age we tell the A.I. to put on the light, without the faintest idea how light works. In another generation we will be so advanced that we ask A.I. for everything, make nothing, so when collapse occurs we will be helpless to prevent the fall.     Urban Nightmare I walk decaying streets of a crumbling city submerging slowly from the weight of wealth crushing the superfluous who do not serve the 1%. Ghost shops everywhere have signs 'for rent', as small business people can no longer afford excessive rents, on-line competition for goods and services. In a caring society there would be help for the homeless, the poverty population, the struggling working class, who do their duty that sustains the system with jobs, taxes, trade. Instead, new buildings for the rich devour fragile greenery, until Mother Nature gasps for breath future respiration in doubt.     Divided We Fall The American Empire, though we never called it that, reached its peak at the end of World War II when we occupied much of the world, influenced the rest, a military and industrial titan, so strong, yet we needed an enemy to keep the empire on a war footing, to maintain sway as the dollar ruled.   Then the oligarchs decided their interests didn't coincide with the needs of the American people. They amassed more and more wealth, spread it across the globe and they were international. They outsourced, downsized, went offshore, hired robots, anything for more profit.   And as the sinews of the nation, the blue collar class began to disappear, we stopped making things and bought from abroad, which didn't benefit the people.   Then the melting pot cracked and no one assimilated. Divisiveness grew rampant and our President fueled the flames of dissension. Compromise evaporated.   We stand on the precipice of fatal collapse. and are no longer sure if we can heal our wounds, survive endemic decay, fostered by the uncaring rich.     Perverse Times A child speaks to the world about the threats of climate change. President Trump mocks her. The Treasury Secretary, Trump's satellite, a sterile bean counter, insults her. Other voices of ignorance deride her. She asks not for herself, but for our only habitat and its survival. The madness we inflict on our wounded environment is further revealed as so many scorn the voice of a child, crying in the wilderness.     Seasonal Occurrences The first day of Fall, another seasonal change. Yet the day feels like summer. People walk the city streets in short sleeve shirts, most of us oblivious to the threats of war, Iran, China, Tau Ceti, whoever can be used to manipulate the people that war always distracts from the wrongdoing of the owners of the country, completely unconcerned with the well-being of the rest of us, who go about our business on a bright, sunny day while we're being betrayed.     Fantasia Number 1 All the Billionaires should each give five million dollars to set up a foundation that will provide housing, support services to homeless families with children, homeless veterans, so those who served the nation, innocent children will be saved from needless suffering.     Blinded By Gold The wealthy squander resources in the pursuit of status, building enormous mansions striving to outdo their peers, buying extravagant mega-yachts, bigger, with more amenities than their rivals, so possessed by wanting they have lost sight of simple virtues.     Call to… In the 1920s after the disaster of World War I, the German people were desperate and while the wealthy and well-to-do reveled, the poor and needy seethed with rage and frustration. Fascist rallies and extravagant promises persuaded many to support National Socialism that vowed to revive Germany, that led to World War II, the Holocaust. If there are parallels today with propaganda rallies, pledges of imprisonment for some and abuse of power approved by many, we can only hope for a historical coincidence.     Precarious We go from home to work, school, shop, recreate without recognizing the terrible peril that faces our land. We have become urbanized, easy to control, totally dependent on power, food supply, water, easily discontinued leaving us helpless, existence improbable except for small groups outside the cities now become death traps for millions, who cannot survive without the necessities that allow continuation.   Unillumined, an unpublished collection that looks at problems, issues, and disagreements facing our world and some of the things that may console us.