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Monday, October 31, 2005 12:00 AM

If our species dies out, my kids may have no future

What if our species dies out?

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  • Tuesday, November 1, 2005 10:23 AM

    Fear will take your life away just as surely as what you fear

    I spent the bulk of my life worried about nuclear war. Ever since my mom told me when I was 5 years old of the destructive power of nuclear weapons, I was paralyzed with fear. Who wouldn't be. After all, with ICBMs, we only have 15 minutes.

    Flash forward a couple of decades. That same mom (Elizabeth Clare Prophet) was telling her flock of followers worldwide to build bomb shelters and they did. I helped her build them, working on the project for 5 years or so. Eventually we had spent over $20 million. Everyone involved felt as if they had already been through a war. Lives were put on hold, property sold, college and career plans postponed. In the end, there was no war, and people simply had to move on. But the years of their lives were taken just as surely as if a war had actually come.

    If we imagine we have 50 productive years, then 5 years spent in fear is 10% of our life gone. Fear is just as certain a killer as actual danger.

    Now we have fear of terrorism and species extinction. I've read all the same literature as you, and I agree with you that the combination of fossil fuel depletion and climate change could be a grave threat to humanity. But we don't know how it will play out. Human creativity and ingenuity have always combined to get us through previous crises.

    There are plenty of doomers out there, using your fear to push their agendas. Learn their arguments, then avoid them like the plague. They are quite literally poison. Teach your children the same: that life is risky and limited, and we have to make the most of every moment.

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