“I don’t think you kids will die of old age.” There was a slight pause before she continued. “I think armageddon will happen before then.” I was an impressionable 12 year old at the time.
It was a well intentioned statement, and certainly honest. But it was all too characteristic of that particular sect of our father’s faith. There was always a preacher trying to predict the time of the rapture. Some new Biblical scholar who believed he had cracked the code. To the best of my knowledge, there was very little thought given to the long term effects those ever watchful eye have. Whole swaths of a population always on the ready, every major catastrophe being taken as the first event in the end. It left me hungry for chaos. It was a major contributing factor to the decision to spend four years in the US Marine Corps and then the pursuit of a career in EMS. The constant feeling of being most comfortable when everything is falling apart.