In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii. While many escaped after a series of earthquakes, a small number of people stuck around. They were incinerated by pyroclastic flows; clouds of hot gas, ash, and debris, twice as hot as a pizza oven, traveling over 100 mph. These poor, stupid, people were cooked into fossils. They couldn't know that their wretched remains would become famous. Great and small, rich and poor were all levelled by this mighty cataclysm. Now, as we in the 21st century march to our doom, there's no telling whose story will be preserved forever and whose will be burned to ash.
Some people can influence others. Some create great works of art or invention. Most of us have neither of these gifts but we see clearly, and we know what we see. I'm not an oracle. I just describe what I see, and I see a world undermined by it's own success. After WWII, we created a worldwide order where people could improve their lives through tolerance, generosity, and cooperation. It was a noble and idealistic endeavor. Despite it's repeated betrayal by human frailty, this project brought the world to a peak of stability and prosperity in the late 20th century.
We could argue who is to blame for our fall from grace, but the fact is, we got too comfortable. We created such progress and plenty that regular people took governance for granted. We believed our "system" would protect us. But our system can only protect us if we protect our system, and this system has been in dire need of maintenance for a long time.
So here we are, in 2026, the entire world, back at Pompeii. We feel the earthquakes, but for this catastrophe, there's nowhere to run. On the other hand, we're not up against a volcano. This time, we have the power. We are the problem and the solution. We can change history in a positive way. Get off the couch. Get off your phone. Get into the world and make something happen. This will be your last chance. The eruption is on it's way.