The Warning and the Decay

ABOUT THE NOVEL THE LAST HUMAN IN THE MILKY WAY

In 2021 I wrote the first 30+ chapters of my novel The Last Human in the Milky Way. Then I took a break for a few months from writing the novel. Now I have started to resume writing the story of The Last Human in the Milky Way, and am both excited and happy to be writing again.

This chapter is a taste of the story for readers of Vocal.

INTRODUCTION

It was like a dark dream. Everyone was gone. He was the last to live in the Milky Way. His house was at the top of the road, so he had barely noticed the changes. It had happened gradually, with fewer and fewer people who in the afternoon came home to the neighborhood from work, from shopping or school. (From chapter 2)

Chapter 13

He saw a sign informing of a rest area and lifted his foot from the gas. He decided to stop there. When he arrived, he saw that there was a caravan in the picnic area, but there were no people there.

He turned in and almost stopped. Then he saw a shadow in the back of the camper, and he hesitated. Best not to stop there anyway, he thought. You never know who you will meet. Scary to stop, and then maybe there's a guy standing there with a rifle.

People often think in very simplistic terms. Black and white. Enemy or friend. The basic, underlying insecurity. All or nothing. A contact that leads to something perfect or irreparable. You are either with us or against us.

In such a place it can be dangerous to come too fast. They cannot quite cope with someone just showing up, stepping over the border to the private area, even if they just want to talk. As they approach you it  is far from the forefront of their consciousness that you can be harmless, or even a friend . You are initially perceived as a dubious person, a possible or potential enemy.

He turned the wheel. Made a quick decision, based on this feeble feeling inside him. He could not be sure it was safe. There could be someone who wanted to try something that was not good.

He turned back onto the road and set off. The road stretched for miles forward, still no traffic, and he felt sleepy again. To try to resist, he forced himself to think. He wanted to think aloud and intensely about something important.

Suddenly came to mind something he had read recently. - Was it in an article, or was it a book? It was about people from a young age being taught to believe the myths that say that this country is the best in the world, this country and the people are predetermined by God as his "chosen one" in the fight that good leads against evil. From childhood they are taught to believe this, through the worship of the flag, the imprinting of the vow of allegiance every morning in schools and at all sporting events. Through the internal fairy tales about the country's history, people are taught to believe that their country stands for the best. "No one is as good as us."

The sad truth is that this country prefers fiction to fact; the truth is too scary to confront. Denial is a very typical condition in this country.

He shook his head, pursed his lips.

He thought back to the years in the Milky Way. They had come there, most of them full of hope, people like Sara and him. Most of them had been in their forties and fifties then, and came without their children because they had grown adult and lived in other places in the country.

He and Sara had finally placed the two boys at their respective universities, and were confident that the boys were on a path that would bring them both forward to something good in life.

But it had cost them dearly! They had sold the house, and one of the cars. And they had been forced to look for a town like this, the Milky Way, far out in the desert, where the land and houses that stood there could be bought at an affordable price.

It had started well. The people who came to Milky Way were in many cases in the same situation as themselves, and they had some of the same goals. To build a life, a new and better future here than where they came from. They had even started a welfare association, and they discussed and planned new measures, projects that would give the small community a boost. By standing together, lifting together, they were to create the New Society, the Milky Way.

He could not quite put his finger on what had started the downturn, the destruction. There were some further down the street who had joined forces to build a workshop building, and they were to start creative processes there based on the talent and competence of the people in Milky Way.

It was a great project. Many of those he had spoken to agreed. But then this good idea had unexpectedly, very quickly degenerated into something that was completely outside what they had discussed until the agreement. The workshop building ended up as a kind of club room, a pub with a pool table and bar solution, where the men in the street met and played poker and billiards, with the cigarette butt in the corner of the mouth and the beer glass on the edge.

It was an unfortunate development; many people saw it. They had discussed it; they had brought it up in public and they had talked together. They had decided to solve the problem by arranging a poll where everyone in the street got their say, and where everyone had one vote left that they could put in the ballot box.

In the discussion prior to the vote, things had gone awry, and one late evening after a general meeting, several men had got into a bloody fight, apparently due to disagreement about the Clubhouse / Workshop. But fortunately, most of the disagreement had been expressed verbally, albeit not without expressions of force and insulting statements.

"Idiots cannot build modern communities."

"People who do not value others cannot cooperate."

"Such people cannot build communities, social bonds, or take care of anyone or anything."

"They are too busy looking for an advantage, trying to blame what has failed on you."

"They see you as a one-time commodity, a 'resource', something that can be exploited, abused and thrown away."

This was a pattern; it happens all the time. People attack and criticize each other, they lack sympathy and empathy, and look at others as the enemy.

He had discussed it with some of those closest to him. They all saw the same thing. With enmity, envy, backbiting and gossip and this type of attitude characterizes the conditions in a community, society is not able to renew and develop.

They had seen the same thing nationwide as well. It is very clear that this dominates; the blind power, and the absence of entrepreneurship that strengthens the community. And selfish individual who has all his own well-being as a goal - not the community. And not least - offering and expanding social contracts that provide all citizens with an abundance of public goods, while respecting basic human rights.

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After a couple of kilometers he saw in the mirror that he could be safe. No one was lying on the rear wheel, he relaxed again.

The people are told that the economy has never been stronger, the stock market has never been higher, unemployment has never been so low. Almost everything is fine here in this country.

And they ignore those who are still struggling, mostly unhappy poor white people, like us in neighborhoods like the Milky Way. - They seem to think that all this prosperity is actually for everyone out there, and they overlook those in this street and this city who have been left behind.

Failure and guilt are used, and it is without a doubt the most popular tool used by the ruling class to manipulate people. They use hatred to set up people against each other. But first they convince you that your hatred is a just hatred. When they lie many times enough, and they themselves believe in it, then people start to believe in what they would not otherwise believe.