I started writing “The Service” in 2021, as just a collection of sketches and humorous takes on current events. Like many, I was watching the news and scrolling social media, feeling a little helpless and overwhelmed by it all.
With time on my hands, I decided to learn as much as I could about the world I was now in. I picked up books on culture, current events, history, religion, women’s spirituality and of course, espionage. I read things that resonated with me, and I read things that I hated. I learned that there are so many different ways of seeing the world, that it’s impossible to take one viewpoint as the best one. With the world taking sides, I began to understand that the most frightening thing we can do is believe we are right and all others must be wrong.
Throughout my life, I’ve had this habit of making up little stories and narratives to get myself through difficult times. Whatever I was going through, if I made up a little story about it, I could place the situation outside of myself. I could therefore make it easier to examine and bring it more into my control. Such is the beginning of “The Service.”
I’ve always loved Science Fiction. The genre offers logistical challenges, opportunities for learning, an endless avenue for humor, and the chance to take a current mode of thought or public policy, and drive it all the way to the end stop of the proverbial logic train. Where do we end up if we go on like this? Combined with a study of history, we can see that many of our problems look and feel the same as they did years ago.
More than that, Science Fiction gives us a chance to envision a brighter future.
While many may believe that the world is ending, I decidedly do not. I will always have hope that Humanity as a species has the collective ability to rise up, face our problems and our differences, and work together to ensure our survival. I believe it will be rough going for a few years, but one of the things that Goddess Spirituality teaches is that we can’t have a rebirth without a little destruction.
No one’s mind was ever changed by a comment on the Internet, but I hope I can offer a different way of thinking by sharing my stories.