First, a poem (I did not write):

the car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel
and the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides
and a dark wind blows

the government is corrupt
and we're on so many drugs
with the radio on and the curtains drawn

we're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
and the machine is bleeding to death

the sun has fallen down
and the billboards are all leering
and the flags are all dead at the top of their poles

it went like this:

the buildings tumbled in on themselves
mothers clutching babies picked through the rubble
and pulled out their hair

the skyline was beautiful on fire
all twisted metal stretching upwards
everything washed in a thin orange haze

i said: "kiss me, you're beautiful -
these are truly the last days"

you grabbed my hand and we fell into it
like a daydream or a fever

we woke up one morning and fell a little further down -
for sure it's the valley of death

i open up my wallet
and it's full of blood

"The Dead Flag Blues"
By Efram/Godspeed You! Black Emperor
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Q: Is it not perverse to love and appreciate something so dark as that(song)? I am extremely attracted to the apocalypse. I think perhaps because it has a way of speeding up our lives? I see beauty in chaos. Am I alone, or are others just afraid to admit it? Fortunately (or, unfortunately), this modern world will never see an apocalypse so clear as this. It may have existed in Europe for a while this last century, but it has been defeated there. Here in the US the worst we have is the occasional disenchantment with the country, the snowballing depression statistics, the occasional school shootings.

Not enough to promote any widespread epidemic of chaos, fear, or revolt. Just enough to make us pause a moment in thought.

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Unrelated to that, I pondered another thought lately. That is, if there is a god (please assume so, for this Q), would his preference be for us to be naive of the darkness existing on this earth? Would he prefer us to pretend there aren't murders, accidents, and illnesses all around us? Or would he prefer we acknowledge all of this? But with that knowledge, what are we to do? Defend ourselves against the imperfect world we were given, or give thanks for not yet falling victim to this design?