Humanity’s Biggest Threat
John Ink2Quill Opinion
www.ink2quill.com

This opinion is really meant to give an inspiration for anybody constructing a story. So many stories nowadays are trite and contrived.

The Sci-fi genre is well known for exploring the various threats the human race faces in the offing. The grandmasters in the genre like H.G. Wells spoke of alien creatures with superior technologies coming to Earth and being undone by our microbes in his classic “War Of The World”. So many later authors and film makers have explored this theme in this way over and over again with their takes on how things might come down in the event of an extraterrestrial alien invasion. And some of those stories are sometimes pretty good.

Films like “Prometheus” and its follow-up film “Alien Covenant” did a subtle and brilliant job of exploring this topic too. In this case the invading force comes from within. It is our own creations that turn against us. And some argue that it’s with good reason they do too. I have to say that these films as good as they are with their message are inspired by the likes of Mary Shelley’s classic “Frankenstein” or also known as “The Modern Prometheus”.

The list goes on and on and will continue to do so. Humanity could meet its end by way of viruses or microscopic life, extinction level events like comet collisions and Sun flares. Humanity could get attacked by beings from the future or alternate dimensions. The list is so long and exhaustive but have we named all the threats facing our species?

I don’t think so. I found two threats that never get spoken about but yet exists here, today. It is not in our distant future or barreling toward us for far away. It is not microscopic or ginormous like a planet, star or black hole. This is not cosmic in scope or in any way beyond our ken.

Those 2 threats are … drumroll please. Boredom and temptation. Yes boredom and temptation. They are threats to the individual far more dangerous than the most sinister threats the imagination can concoct. I know you were expecting something flashier, bigger, more exciting.

Let me explain.

By boredom I mean falling into a routine where a person does nothing and where they are not active for too long. Painting your house may not be fun but it is not boredom. Reading a book or a book series may take up a large part of your day or weekend but that is not boredom. Boredom is time lost or wasted. It is doing nothing for too long. A person who hangs out with his friends socializing is not someone caught in the grips of boredom. Work, hobbies and staying active keep boredom at bay.

The other threat to a person is temptation and is really the spouse of boredom. Temptation is when a person is drawn to something destructive like the moth is drawn to a flame. Temptation is bad habit forming and just as destructive as boredom. The bars and gambling halls are full of these people who have succumbed to temptation and cannot break free from its grasp. Staying away from things toxic will keep that out of your life. So if the antidote to boredom is activity then the antidote to temptation is the fulfillment of positive endeavors and avoiding the negative ones like one would avoid a plague.

So, now that you know. You can stop looking up at the stars for that invasion to fall. Instead look in your calendar of events and keep it full. Laugh often and spend your time doing productive things.

John Ink2Quill

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