WHEN SOMEONE GOES

New visitors to the chronicles from the future may first wish to visit the past, by reading the earlier hologramletters. (see the older listings on the right, go to the bottom and click the link to the earlier hologramletters)

NOTE The following is an adaptation from the soon to be released book ‘Letters From 2030’. To register interest on its release, or to order a copy email Bob Williamson via this link.

Today there was a thickness to the air. He could see through his upper story windows the layers of pollution that hung over the flooded city. It was as if they had been individually and painstakingly laid out, one on top of each other. Unlike the smog haze that regularly filled the air in the first and second decades of the 21st century; the last century of man, that had been the result of millions of tailpipes spewing carbon into the lungs of the earth, this was the result of toxic fumes now lingering on windless days from the chemical plants and industrial complexes submerged along the inundated coastline. Contributing to the stagnant haze was the methane bubbling up through the waters from the landfill sites that were poorly sited in days gone by, in what were now permanent flood plains.

Suzanne’s letter and reflections brought back memories of his own; memories of May 1st 2009. A day he had celebrated quietly every year since. That was the day when a very dear friend lost his battle with the scourge of the 20th and 21st century, cancer. What had we done to cause this insidious plague to grip our way of life back then?

With our industrial systems we had turned our attention singularly to the use of fossil fuels. Our chemists, engineers, and scientists had manmade solutions to almost all our business as usual consumption, from plastics, to cosmetics, to drugs, and to the foods and preservatives we had ingested. All of these systems we could now see resulted in negative, damaging and catastrophic outcomes. Mother Nature could show us that she can take sodium (that explodes in contact with water) and chlorine gas (the yellow killing gas), and combine the two to make sodium chloride—salt, an essential component of life (2Na2+CL2 + 2xNaCL).

Why did we not follow in her direction in nature? Instead we combined our manmade creations into a cocktail of toxins in our bodies, in our food chain, in our industrial pollutants, and in our landfills to prepare a ticking time bomb.

We engineered ourselves into receptacles for harmful residual drugs. The face cream we used to moisten our skin and the petrochemical-based perfume we sweetened our bodies with combined to react with the preservatives in our food. We had created a positive feedback of our own so that cancer, leukaemia, asthma, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression were plaguing our lives more and more each year. We had used our alternative wisdom to genetically modify our crops and animals with toxins. Our chosen course had set us up to collide with thousands of other native species with whom we shared our planet and on whom we relied in order that we too may survive. Our disregard for the natural processes of nature set us on a course away, that those few that now survived had to find our way back from.

He switched on the memory screens to once more see his friend as he had been so long ago………………

Jeremy Robert Parker was his name. Jerry was born on the 24th of August 1947, only 62 years old when he passed; 15 years younger than Bob was now, in 2030.

Jerry was a soul who had left his mark. Not just for what he had done, but for those that remembered him, his sons.
Jerry had not fulfilled his dreams back then of becoming a professional musician, he had opted for the safer road to being a provider for his family, he had become an accountant. He still lived his dream whenever he could and entertained many with his music. Passionate as he was, he left the job of professional entertainment to others. So every year on May 1st he was again remembered for who he really was.

Jerry was a father…… a husband……… a dear friend. Jerry Parker was special.

What was it that touched us so deeply about someone we lost that we knew, but touched us not for those we didn’t? What was it about the humanity of man that could watch others in hurt and in pain, in peril or in danger, and not see that they were as with Jerry of infinite value to be honoured and praised? Cherished as if a family member; a family member of the family of man.

So what do we leave behind? What is it that makes our place and our being here noteworthy and lasting?

It is our children and their memories of us and in those whose paths we cross and touch, while we are here. What we did, what we contributed is our lasting legacy.

Not how much we had, not how we got it, but the way in which we did it.

So Jerry’s dreams were all fulfilled, with the deeds of those he taught, and with his sons. Jerry didn’t make his mark as a musician he did it as a father and as a role model. Jerry went on May 1st 2009 a long time ago now. Behind he left the commitment of his sons to his dreams. One short week later his youngest son Kevin and the band that would go on to become a world sensation ‘Tame Impala’ were awarded as the best up and coming new band in Australia. That night just a week after Jerry left, sent a spark that would have reignited the flame of pride that he felt for them while he was here.

So why was it he pondered that every parent hadn’t felt the same commitment for their children that he and Jerry felt for theirs? In 2030 it was now too late for the question to be asked and answered.

Still he reached into his memories for another long since gone, but never forgotten and he said; "I'll see you in my dreams"