The most sturdy buildings will eventually fall
The most clever states eventually fall
The most tight knit communities eventually split
The most loving relationships are eventually torn apart.
Do you love someone?
Of course you do - you remember well, I hope. Take out the sheet of paper from the meditation. Remember those good feelings from the exercise...the warmth, the light.
And now think about how it would feel to have those taken away from you. Imagine your loved one dying, or being otherwise taken away from you. Maybe AI goes FOOM, and maybe instead of a sheet of paper, you're holding a paperclip. Imagine that, your love - the paperclip.
Maybe we have a nuclear war. Don't imagine being in the blast radius though, imagine your loved one being just out of range, and treating their radiation sickness, watching their shivering body fail, just as your hair is falling out. It's just...so...cold
Maybe a natural disaster brought on by climate change. Imagine your loved one starving to death, or dying of dehydration or exposure. Imagine their dry gasps as water surrounds them, yet none of it is potable.
Or maybe we get lucky. Maybe nothing happens, we get through the problems of our age just fine. Maybe, it's ok to indulge the warmth, never fearing a price.
But in the end? It's a die roll. take out the d6
We as humans have a great capacity for love and creativity, but nothing is ever free. The cold universe, the fae, the outer gods - none of them are interested in saving you or your loved ones if you fuck up. And no matter what happens, it is on you, while it might be a roll of the dice, and you might fail, and there is no inherent fairness, it. It. Your. Responsibility. There is no benevolent force who will save your loved one in the nick of time. There is no author interested in your character development, there is only you, and the die roll.
cast the die
1 - and you lost. Everyone, tear up your slips of paper. There is no more warmth, only your worst nightmares. You tried to harvest the joy of love for nothing, and the price has been extracted. . 2, 3, 4, 5 - I have good news. Some of you avoided the worst of it! But this half of the room sweeping gesture didn't. Tear up your slips of paper if you are on this side of the room. Maybe the world didn't end, but there were casualties. Some of you paid the price so others could enjoy their love freely. And maybe you who lost did the most work to try to stop things, or mitigate them - the die does not care who tried to save the world
6 - pause, frown a lucky day. Hold onto your slips of paper -everyone made it, this time. Nothing came to collect for the joy in love you have. We faced the possibility of death and rose to the occasion - but even beyond our best, we just squeaked by.
The world is a dark place right now and getting darker. Fight for your loves, lest they be Taken.
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