Day by Day
Last week I got up early to ski, and marveled at the sunrise. What a beautiful start to the day! What will the time ahead bring?
I had fun cruising the ski runs. The day passed quickly and before long the sun was setting over Martock
I was reminded of the lyrics of from the musical, Fiddler on the Roof:
… sunrise, sunset
sunrise, sunset,
swiftly flow the days.
seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers,
blossoming even as we gaze.
sunrise, sunset
sunrise, sunset
swiftly fly the years,
one season following another,
laiden with happiness and tears…
I can feel the days pass by with each sunset. I wish I could slow down time.
With each sunrise the world slowly changes . I wonder how this slow change will transform as the future unfolds. How far into the future could I look?
1 Day Ahead
Personally not much changes over one day. My heart beats an extra 72,000 times, and I walk another 8000 steps. My calendar contains events similar to today. There is laughter and conversation and joy and sorrow all mixed together. Life seems comfortable and predictable.
1 Year Ahead
In one year my life would not change too much, I can expect some aging to occur. I will have problems maintaining my health and my possessions. World politics will remain turbulent. There will be unforeseen personal and societal events events that could drastically change my life. I should have the resources to handle most of these situations. The days will be full of memorable or meaningful moments. I will witness many sunsets.
Salutation to the Dawn
Listen to the salutation to the dawn, Look to this day for it is life, the very life of life, In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of our existence.
The bliss of growth, the splendor of beauty, For yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well spent makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day. Such is the salutation to the dawn.
~Sanskrit, attributed to Kālidāsa
10 Years Ahead
My life will be different a decade from now. My health and family situation will change. My son will establish a career and start a family. My wife and I may be downsizing and living a quieter life. We may be watching the sunset from a seniors’ apartment. The possibility of death and illness loom large.
Life continues normally for almost everyone day by day. The planet has not changed significantly but has provided humankind with the usual chaos of hurricanes, blizzards, droughts and deluges.
100 Years Ahead
I will definitely be dead and gone. I have left a small legacy based on a few paintings that may still exist. A Google search of my name may turn up a few scientific or artistic references. My DNA may live on through my son’s children. I possibly may be someone’s great great grandfather.
We therefore commit this body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; ….’.
Book of Common Prayer
New people will be living in our house, which will be unrecognizable. The neighbourhood may have become dilapidated or torn down and rebuilt. Everything else I own and value will be dispersed or destroyed.
The memories and experiences of billions of people will be forgotten with each generation. Most photographs, emails, DVD’s and other media will be lost over the century.
Global warming will have flooded the old shoreline, drastically altering Halifax. The population of Canada will have doubled. Society and technology will be unrecognizable.
The earth’s geography will be altered by climate change and human consumption. Politics and war will have drastically changed the prosperity and hierarchy of nations. The colours of sunrises and sunsets will be affected by the change in climate.
1000 Years ahead
There will be numerous terrible wars (possibly nuclear). The survivors will be trying to rebuild civilization. Will we have learned to cooperate or will we continue with conflict and competition? Will intellect or emotion influence the outcome?
History will say the 20th century was the beginning of the end with the invention of nuclear weapons and the start of climate change. Only the most outrageous and most brilliant people of today will be remembered by history, much like Genghis Khan or Aristotle.
Countries like Canada and USA will no longer exist and new political entities will dominate. The climate will be different, extremely hot or cold and massively influenced by human activity. Wilderness will no longer exist and most wild animals will be extinct. Maybe humankind will be exploring other planets and nearby stars systems.
Almost all material products (cars, electronics, crafts, furniture) from 2023 will be trashed or preserved in museums. All the 21st century buildings and infrastructure will have decayed or been replaced. Cities will have been abandoned or underwater or rebuilt on higher ground.
Alternatively humankind may have developed a profound responsibility to be the earth’s custodian; we may have transformed the planet into a place of peace, enlightenment and harmony, a true heaven on earth.
Although the earth remains geographically similar to 2023, humankind will have endured massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, creating spectacular sunsets lasting decades.
10,000 Years into the Future
The earth still has a 24 hour day and the sun and moon move in similar orbits. The climate is much hotter than today. Some regions near the equator are uninhabitable by humans and life has moved to the polar regions. The human genome has been altered so humans look and think differently. People will be more diverse and specialized. Humans from 2023 are considered an ancient branch of the modern humanoids of 12023.
Nothing social or cultural we recognize today will exist. Countries, societies and civilizations will be long lost. Fragments from 2023 may still be washed up on beaches or lost underwater.
100,000 Years in the Future
In geological and evolutionary terms 100,000 years is very short. The cycle of day and night continues. The continents have moved a few kilometers. Species have evolved but not too drastically.
The climate will be different. Volcanoes and earthquakes have shattered the continents. The Yellowstone supervolcano has erupted and the San Andreas Fault has ripped California from the continent. Sea levels have changed.
The ability of humans to build or destroy has multiplied by orders of magnitude over the millenia. Human civilization will either be amazing or extinct. If we survive, we will have learned painful lessons on extinction or revival. Sentient beings of some form will exist to witness the sunrise in 102023.
1,000,000 Years in the Future
Over a million years, evolution changes the living world. Every animal and plant species will have changed. New species will thrive while others have perished. Perhaps insects are ascendent over mammals. Humans may have disappeared from the earth’s ecosystem (moving to another planetary system?). Will the world hark back to the time of dinosaurs where life was brutal, dangerous and deadly?
The sun continues to shine offering beautiful sunrises and sunsets every day for whatever creatures roam the planet. There have been over 365,000,000 sunsets since I went skiing.
10,000,000 Years in the Future
Planet earth will continue to exist with oceans and continents that have moved to different places. New mountain ranges will rise up and other regions will sink beneath the sea. Who knows what animals and plants will prosper in an atmosphere of vastly different gases. Surely new life forms will dominate the planet. Fortunately living organisms continue to evolve and exist. They will inhabit the earth for another 100 million years.
1,000,000,000 Years in the Future
In a billion years the sun may transform into a red giant, dramatically increasing in size. The oceans and atmosphere will boil and burn away leaving only a rocky crust.
This might be the end of life on earth, but there is something comforting about the immensely long cycle of life in which I have played a minor but real part.
3,000,000,000 Years from Now
In a few billion years, the sun expands massively and explodes as a dying star, ending the cycle of sunrises on earth forever. The earth disappears in the supernova. The end has finally come.
Epilogue
At the edge of All the Ages
A Knight sate on his steed,
His armour red and thin with rust,
His soul from sorrow freed;
And he lifted up his visor
From a face of skin and bone,
And his horse turned head and whinnied
As the twain stood there alone.No bird above that steep of time
by Walter De la Mare (1873 – 1956), “The Song of Fini
Sang of a livelong quest;
No wind breathed,
Rest:
‘Lone for an end!’ cried Knight to steed,
Loosed an eager rein–
Charged with his challenge into Space:
And quiet did quiet remain.
