When we look back through the smoke filled skies of a nuclear winter where all is gone except the few of us that happened to be vacationing in New Zealand, we may wonder how this ever came about.

It may occur to us that America was hamstrung. No changes could be enacted anymore because the end game of a corrupt democracy is always gridlock.

Taxes went up, social services were decimated, jobs disappeared, roads crumbled, national forests were gobbled up by developers, oil rigs dotted the landscape of our once pristine beaches, congressman and congresswomen, judges and anyone in authority were paid off by both sides. Money was pursued at all costs, and society became nothing more than war zone of economic greed.

The climate changed but nothing was done about it. Rains diminished, seas dried up. Couples married at young ages to survive, while others stayed with parents, but many were jobless and lived in the streets.

The ending of social programs meant that parents in their old age were destitute and completely dependent upon their children for support. Those that gained their children's favor received help and lived, while those that didn't died.

More and more enterprises were led and controlled by young people without experience, resulting in mercenary practices designed to insure survival regardless of the means to accomplish that.

Religions sank to a low level, splitting and splitting further into narrow, armed camps, the most popular being those that prescribed and justified economic dominance. People were filled with greed and desire and never had enough. They disdained honest, low-paying jobs which couldn‘t satisfy their ambitions. These kinds of people then manned the halls of congress and ruled the country. They were corrupt, shameless, and attempted to acquire wealth regardless of how corrupt the means were. This occurred not only in America, but in every other country. There were fights over the offices which promised more money through payoffs.

Greed, hatred, distrust, dishonesty all ran their natural course, which is destruction. Nobody could stop it. The fear of abject poverty moved all into the realm of survival of the fittest, and no ways were seen to be unfair or brutal as long as the means were accomplished.

Economic insecurity caused this kind of reaction, and when this happened collectively by each country, nationalistic pride took over, and the enemy, whomever that was perceived to be, showed up predominantly in the sights of the most powerful countries. War was inevitable. Society was failing.

The overriding view that we were all in this for ourselves was the wall that we had to hit, and we hit it hard. There comes a point in delusion where death becomes secondary to control, and this is where the danger lies, for the illusion of control is just that; an illusion.

What is now left to control after Armageddon? Everything is gone, the climate is dead. Now there is only one decision left; will death be long and painful for our families that remain alive on this small island on this burnt out planet, or quick and merciful? It seems to me that better decisions should have been made sooner.

Is it too late?

      E. Raymond Rock (anagarika addie) is a meditation teacher at:

http://www.dhammarocksprings.org/ and author of "A Year to Enlightenment: http://www.amazon.com/Year-Enlightenment-Steps-Enriching-Living/dp/1564148912

His 30 years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk.

He lived at Wat Pah Nanachat under Ajahn Chah, at Wat Pah Baan Taad under Ajahn Maha Boowa, and at Wat Pah Daan Wi Weg under Ajahn Tui. He had been a postulant at Shasta Abbey, a Zen Buddhist monastery in northern California under Roshi Kennett; and a Theravada Buddhist anagarika at both Amaravati Monastery in the UK and Bodhinyanarama Monastery in New Zealand, both under Ajahn Sumedho. The author has meditated with the Korean Master Sueng Sahn Sunim; with Bhante Gunaratana at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia; and with the Tibetan Master Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado. He has also practiced at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and the Zen Center in San Francisco.