Josiah Vermont

2020 came in like a bad dream. Lockdowns over a harsh flu, borders being closed, and a masked society shifting from prosperity to homeless tent camps, with people fearing their governments more than criminals and a health care system that screamed “trust the science” while making and taking unscientific orders. Brave citizens like truckers, farmers, and small business operators put up resistance in protest form while politicians regurgitated slogans and told everyone to socially distance.

I played my part by adopting the role of doctor- hand delivering my son at home. I stood up in refusing their vaccine which had never been properly tested, bringing family together when we were told to stay apart. Voting against politicians who were anti-freedom, we supported small businesses as much as possible. I developed backbone by never being tested. By simply saying “No”.

It was the sunset of humanity as we knew it. Goodbye- to the golden age of culture expressed in the Pop of the 60’s, Rock & Roll in the 70’s, and tv of the 90’s. Hello, to an AI infused, 6G network run, totalitarian future with popular music gaining merit through repetition, videos, and autotune. A new world of instant where individual rights would be trampled on under the label of the common good. A world where those who had passed on from blood clots and cardiac arrests were perhaps saved from the evil to come. By progressing, society was moving backwards.

You turn to me in these times for comfort now, those above us whom we sought for guidance and wisdom like Leonard Cohen are gone. We live after the sunset, where the few rays of light are left but we know night is near. Time to slide that second bolt shut, turn the lights down, savour each spoon left in the pot. More changes are coming, they won’t all be good, and we don’t know when we’ll see daylight again.