Living alongside of people who are preparing for the end days

My first introduction to "end of the world people" was reading a James Thurber story when I was a teenager. I liked his sense of humor, which was an indulgent view of a world that he really didn't understand. If you haven't read the story, it's memories of his childhood including the "Get Ready Man", who went around town shouting, "Get ready!" Of course it was about the end of the world, or the end times, and it seems like people have been getting ready for as long as there have been people.

I'm an old marketing guy, and I know that there's a lot of money to be made off of people who are getting ready for the end times. To me, it's just scamming people, but that's just me - I don't believe that we need to get ready, or that we're on the eve of destruction. If I did feel that way, I might consider what I would do to be helpful, but I don't, so I don't.

Like Thurber, I've always turned an indulgent eye towards these kind of people. It's a fine line between being a "live and let live" person, and taking a condescending view, and it often depends on how sensitive a person is to implied criticism. I try to stay well away from those people, and avoid interacting with them, but if they see that I have no interest in, for example, stockpiling for Armageddon, I'm inclined to think that they would get kinda suspicious of me.

People do a lot of things that I consider very strange, like eating fish, but as long as they aren't harming me I see no reason to get in their way, or criticize them, or laugh at them. Deep down I'm saying to myself, "Wait, what?" but I learned a long ago to keep my opinions to myself, because you risk getting a punch in the nose (which may be deserved!). 

And if you're preparing for the end days, I'm happy for you and I hope you have a fine day for it. I'd like to suggest that you spend your money locally.

"Get ready!"

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on buymeacoffee.com/bradhall, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!


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