For many, the apocalypse is only in sacred scriptures or a scene from a movie. In my opinion, the apocalypse is already taking place in countries under the yoke of totalitarian regimes. This is a fictional story and its resemblance to reality is purely coincidental.
The apocalypse was presented more than 25 years ago and today we live its consequences. The apocalypse, better known in that country as communism or revolution, began to unfold in the form of division.
Indeed, the first whiplash was that the rulers began with a violent verb in which the division of social classes stood out. Then, those with fewer resources were told that those with more income were the enemy and the cause of poverty. This did a lot of damage in that society.
As the years went by, the apocalypse became more present. Public services deteriorated. The public health sector completely collapsed, hospitals had no supplies, and most health professionals had left the country in search of a better quality of life, with the result that the inhabitants had practically nowhere to turn to when faced with a health challenge.
On the other hand, as an oil-producing country, it seems that income did not flow into the national coffers and, therefore, no investment was made in public works or, if they were made, they were of very poor quality. To this must be added the fact that the professionals who were apt to work in the oil industry also had to leave the country because they were politically persecuted.
The refineries were in poor condition or paralyzed. As a consequence, gasoline was not produced in this oil country. Therefore, gasoline had to be imported and Iran was chosen as the supplier. Nothing could have been more disastrous because it seemed that the gasoline was of poor quality. This is what many citizens were saying. They said that their vehicles were being damaged and even their cars caught fire.
When the apocalypse came to the country in this story, they had a robust and steadily growing power grid. All it took was for the calamity to strike and everything began to deteriorate. At first, it was a couple of hours without electricity regardless of the locality. In 2019 there was a nationwide power outage that lasted seven days. Many thought they had been moved back in time and it was in the cave era.
Another public service that was affected by negligence is the public water service. Large cities and towns would go more than 60 days without water. This increased skin and gastrointestinal diseases.
There is still much more to tell about the apocalyptic world that lived in that fictional country, but let's go to the point raised by @galenkp; What skills did the inhabitants adopt?
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If I had lived through that apocalyptic moment, things would have been difficult for me because all my life has been in the city and its comforts.
Seeing that the health service was declining, I would look for ancestral sources to prepare herbal medicines and even enter into a state of mind in which I had to keep myself physically active for the body to heal itself, and I would also use meditation. But this would require eating well, which is very difficult because of the scarcity and high prices or the lousy quality that is presented to the public when you are in a country under totalitarianism. I have known of countries that were exporters of food and now everything is imported and what is exported is of very poor quality, not to say that it is already rotten. I am not exaggerating. So, in a country like this, I could assume the attitude of eating little, saving or storing non-perishable food, and creating a personal garden.
With electricity and water failures for several days, I would have to store water, and when I found it, I would have to look for sources such as rivers. With the lack of gas and electricity, I would have to learn to cook with firewood. I found this part very amusing since I am a city dweller. I tried to cook some grains, and even rice, using dry branches as fuel, and that seemed to me apotheosis.
As for communications, due to power failures, cell phones would be a nuisance, especially when the batteries were discharged. One would have to walk long distances to contact friends and family.
It would be quite an odyssey to live in this fictional country that is under the shadow of communism or the apocalypse. The learning from such an event would be the formation of a better human being, thrifty, cautious, capable of surviving with the basics, as our ancestors did.
Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental.
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All rights reserved. © Copyright 2024 Germán Andrade G.
The original content was written for:
Weekend-Engagement topics: WEEK 204 by @galenkp.
All the images are my property and were edited using CANVA.
I am responsible for sharing with you that, as a Spanish speaker, I have had to resort to the translator Deepl to translate my original Spanish content into English. I also state that I have used the grammar-checking tool Grammarly.
