text: The world ended and nobody noticed. It didn’t even happen all that quickly. It had been years in coming, if you can believe it. Certainly the roots of the thing can be traced all the way back to that time we reportedly crucified an innocent man because we humans are just like that sometimes. The truth is both Oppenheimer and T. S. Elliot were wrong, the world did not end in a bang, nor even a whimper. It just ended, like it always was going to end, the only way it could end, as certain as the dot comes after the sentence. So ultimate, so undeniable, that for a while, no one even noticed. It was a culmination of sorts. Just enough went wrong that to repair it was simply beyond our means. In a couple weeks most government secrets were forcibly uncovered. Turns out our dear leaders hoarded a lot of technological advancements. For what purpose, I guess us common folks will never find out, but at least, in the end, whether out of desperation or genuine kindness, the highest tier of society revealed to everyone what they’d been working on all along. Cures for illnesses that until then had no cure, affordable renewable energy on a massive scale, even novel forms of voting, and modifications to current structures of government so drastic that what would have been left could not have truly been called a democracy. But none of these things were enough. It was far, far too late. I guess one of the most depressing statements was the one our own president gave at his final press conference before he bit the bullet. He said that if we had just reconciled certain conflicts both within the country and between nations no sooner than two years ago, then the end would have been averted. Just two years ago. I wonder what it was that kept us from surviving. An assassinated military official in the middle east? An oil spill in the gulf? An innocent man shot in the street by a cop over a misunderstanding? The world ended the way a domino chain ends. There is no arguing it, no fighting against it. It could only go one way, and though it might appear otherwise, the first domino is as important as the second to last. We could have grabbed a piece, pulled it out of the chain before the wave hit, but we were all too distracted by greed, and progress, and power over others. Meanwhile, the dominos kept falling. We don’t even know what sound the final domino will make, because we won’t be here to hear it. Does the end of the world make a sound if no one is there to hear it? I’m not totally sure, but my heart is convinced most of my extended family is dead. My wife and my daughter are with me, at least, and that makes me glad despite everything. My little girl is still too young to understand what is happening, and seems to be content in playing with her costumes in her room. I can hear her laughing as I type this. She’s probably spinning in front of her mirror, dressed as Batgirl, her favorite superhero. My wife is downstairs, cooking. She’s taken the bull by the horns, the love of my life. Told me she wants to make this meal a special one. I doubt we’ll get to have another one together. We should all be much more worried than we are. I’ve seen animals struggle out of traps until they tear their limbs off, even when there is no hope of escape, even when the hunter is upon them. But maybe we humans are just too aware. We know that the time to worry about it is long past, and now there’s nothing left to be done. We are living doomed lives in a doomed world, and know it. Why struggle? It would only make things worse. There are a few, of course, who are still trying to work out solutions. I commend those people. I was never one to give up on a challenge, but this was the ultimate test to my will. I’m not glad to have given up. I’m not sad, either, or angry, or depressed, or remorseful. I’m just waiting. We are all just waiting. The last domino in the chain of the human race is not the last domino in the line; the last domino was somewhere down the line, far enough that there was enough time for us to collectively pluck it out, to stop the wave, halt the end and survive. That we might prepare for another dooming domino and remove that one as well, and so on. Had we ever removed such a one? Had we as a human race stopped events that could have hastened the chain? I don’t know much about history, but I’m willing to give us some credit. The thing is, if we did do it once, it only means we just put the domino back where it was, toppled it, and started it all again. Because we didn’t learn. Because we were distracted. Because we were petty. In her room, my daughter laughs. My wife opens the door, and my little Batgirl runs out, holding up her cape. Dinner is ready, my wife says. I realize I was wrong when I said I wasn’t sad or angry. I realize I should have fought. I should have done something at least. I should have nudged that domino just a tiny bit. Then maybe this wouldn’t be our last dinner together. But now it’s too late.