Children of Men

While watching "Children of Men" last night, (which is a fascinating and graphic movie about the breakdown of human society after the entire population becomes infertile) an analogy came to mind. It seems that we're driving towards a predictable set of possible futures (most of them not so attractive) on the highway of time in our SUV's of consumerism and consumption.

We can see the direction that we're headed through the windshield of indifference and denial; we see the scenery changing for the worse all around us through pleasantly tinted automatic windows as we approach a gigantic cliff up ahead. Yet we keep the pedal to the metal in our Hummers of destruction and our gas guzzlers of waste, while watching movies like the "Children of Men" on our high-tech, in-cabin, drop down DVD screens. At least the movie is helping to keep the kids pacified.

Like a motorized fleet of armored lemmings, we're charging full bore towards our ultimate demise. The shame of it is that while we watch the tragedy predicted and playing out in the on-board movies we're watching from plush leather seats in our comfortable, climate controlled environments, we don't seem able to react effectively as a group to either the ever-changing, ever-bleak, ever-depressing scenery just on the other side of the safety glass, or the incredible, exponentially expanding danger approaching at high speed just ahead.