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The Parallel Universe Next Door - A Continuing Obsession...

 Over in that parallel universe next door where plastic bags have disappeared and there is no road rage....Cats can be trained and wars end in a tie....the sunlight is not melting Greenland - or at least Miami is in no danger of sinking irretrievably like some forlorn Venice of the eastern Atlantic... People are moving in droves to the Dakotas - and short-wave radios are more popular than cell phones...Taxi drivers prefer classical music to anything written after 1953...Gambling still occurs but on camping trips - not in large casinos....Ice cream is still popular....Jeans are in fashion... And democracy or something like it exists - but without all the fanfare and media coverage...not as much hand-wringing and worries about impending malaise...I envision something in many respects similar to what we find here with some necessary adjustments - a still-functioning power grid, mom-and-pop convenience stores, verdant farm land, forests and reservoirs not-so-starved of water...But more of a mindset - perhaps - something missing from everyday thinking and conversation - a beneficial  nonchalance  - a welcome mode of unconcern -  just not getting worked up about this or that as much - call it having high enough standards with lowered expectations of absolute perfection...Yes....Yes...a definite must.....less of a relentless, all-consuming cut-throat struggle for survival - less of Nature "red in tooth and claw..." - a friendlier food chain, animals getting along...not forced to do battle every waking second... no fight or flight mechanism blighting our way... no overwhelming compulsion or pressing need for killing and consumption...(Can we imagine an animal kingdom as such? Lions, tigers, wolves, bears, snakes, coyotes, alligators - all foraging for nuts and fruit, saluting their rivals?) And less wastefulness please, from Nature...no needless entropy or spoiled volcano-ravaged hills, no earthquake-laden faults, no tornado-alley...a lessening of turmoil, I should think, a curtailing of the "randomness factor," more predictable patterns, yes...with fewer unforeseen accidents...a less tragic universe - enough to keep us awake and vigilant...Again - in theory, mind you, a playing out of hypothetical imaginings....

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