When the nukes start flying,

when we see the mushroom cloud growing on the horizon,

when reality comes crashing down in the most overt way possible,

when the realization slowly dawns that this really is the end,

none of our old stuff will matter anymore.

It will not matter if you are American, Russian or Chinese.

It will not matter if your skin is darker or lighter.

It will not matter if you feel like a man or a woman or both or neither.

It will not matter if your politics are left, right or center.

It will not matter who you voted for.

All that will matter, in that final moment,

is that it is ending.

We will behold that final moment

standing alongside progressives and conservatives,

racists and radlibs,

socialists and soldiers,

communists and cops,

and all our irreconcilable differences

will suddenly dissolve into nothing.

Against the suddenly visible backdrop of total annihilation,

the existence of any human anywhere is a miracle,

and the existence of life on this planet is a priceless gift.

We won't even care whose fault it was,

whether it was deliberate or accidental,

or whether it was the result of some malfunction, miscommunication, or misunderstanding.

All we will care about is that it is ending.

And in that final moment we will hug our loved ones tight,

whether we are Christian or atheist,

Jew or Arab,

Indian or Pakistani,

anti-vaxxer or Antifa.

And in that final moment we will say,

in our heart of hearts,

with our innermost voices,

"Oh, I see it now!

I see how easy it is to stand together!

I see how small our differences are compared to this great commonality!

I see where we went wrong,

and how very easy it would be to fix it!"

And in that final moment we will say,

"We see it now!

We see the mistakes we made,

and made and made and kept on making!

We understand our fundamental error!

Just give us one do-over and we can correct it immediately!

Could we have a do-over please?

Could we have a do-over please?"

In that final moment,

we will ask,

"Could we have a do-over please?"

____________

Reading by Tim Foley.