Pompeii and Circumstance - by Jon

The pun in the title makes no sense. Thank goodness nobody is reading this.

My educational background is in the study of history, and it's through the historian's lens that I typically view world events. Here's what two degrees and about $35,000 in tuition taught me:

1) Since the beginning of time, every generation of human beings has sincerely believed that the world was coming to an end in their lifetime.

2) So far, nobody has been right.

Of course, you say, the world has changed. We have atomic bombs, chemical weapons, religious fanatics, and intercontinental travel. Our generation actually has the means to eliminate humans from the planet.

And there you have it - the "everything changed" argument. After Hiroshima, "everything changed." After the Cuban Missile Crisis, "everything changed." After 9/11, "everything changed." It's the kind of thinking that lets newscasters preface sentences with, "the world we live in has become increasingly ______________."

And it's not really true. The world hasn't changed all that much, but the major events give us the opportunity to bookmark points along the road, and look back at the entire process. This is the longue durée.

The problem with the L.D. being, to the historical actors, the end looks exactly the same as the beginning and the middle does. After all, nobody in Pompeii woke up one morning and said, "well, I guess I'll get covered in ash and rubble today, if nothing else interesting is happening."

Where am I going with this? Just one point: I sincerely wonder if the world is ending, and if it is, if I'll actually notice. If Newfoundland becoming a "have" province wasn't a sure sign of the End of Days, I don't know what is.

This made no sense. In my defense, I just spent a jiu jitsu weekend getting dropped on my head in Kingston, and my writing would probably benefit from some sleep.

Over to you, Ian.