The cicada invasion is on.. They litter the roof of my car.. the ground.. they dive bomb your head.. they are crushed on your windshield.. they are flying in the air, and often during the day, you hear them in the distance singing their song of sex. It’s been 17 years since they were here.. and it will not be until 2030 when they come back again.
I wanted to place something into perspective..
The cicadas have not been here along the East Coast of the United States since 1996.. So much has changed since then.
In 1996, I was just 16 .. thinking life would be something it didn’t turn out to be..
Bob Dole thought he’d be president..
Dave Letterman thought his ratings would never sink…
1996..
Boris Yelstin was president of Russia.
And the United States had the Olympics..
There was a blizzard in 96
And lots of concerns about global warming.. And now in 2013, warnings on global earth changes are becoming reality..
The big show in 1996 was THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN. We don’t really like comedy in 2013.. we’re into drama and torture porn.. we like scandal and sadness… I wonder what that says about us..
The Bosnian war was escalating… Massacres of Hutus by Tutsis in Burundi take place, with more than 450 killed in a few days.
Today Syria is adrift into chaos and darkness…
APOLLO 13 soared in 96..
The White House is down in ‘13..
Ellen hadn’t come out of the closet yet. This year Bert and Ernie are coming out in THE NEW YORKER.
On March 13, 1996: Unemployed former shopkeeper Thomas Hamilton walks into the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland and opens fire, killing 16 infant school pupils and one teacher before fatally shooting himself… We have these events still taking place today.. Horrible events take place no matter the decade, the century, or the moment..
The United States failed at the UN in June 1996 to get enough other nations to support action against Iraq. We know full well what happened since then…
What will the world look like in 2030 when the cicadas rise again?
Will continents be under water? Will we have ice in the Arctic? Will bees be alive..? Will Monsanto destroy everything?
People who were born in 1996 are 17 today. They are entering the workforce, or going to college.. They will be 17 years into that by 2030…What world will they be creating, inheriting, and changing?
My son is only 2.. He does not appreciate cicadas beyond the point where he knows they are bugs, or as he calls them, spiders. But in 2030, when I’m going ‘over the hill’ in life, he will be in his prime.. I hope to God he and his generation have security, safety, freedom, and peace.
But if the last 17 years are any indication, 2030 will be just as nuts if not more than the things were in 2013, or 1996…
Hope they aren’t..
But while those cicadas sleep dormant for the next 17 years…..what will occur on above them?
