I need to read up on my Auden, thanks. None of these writings change anything, except at the margins among the reachable. Get away from herds, think about an escape pod, think about where your water comes from if the power stays out. Things like that can make a difference to a lot of folks, and they are plenty enough reason for me to write. And maybe just to get it on the record that a lot of us were looking forward with extreme foreboding, but could change nothing as the buffalo herd stampeded for the jump.
Around 20-25 years ago I was working at a religious retreat in Western North Carolina. I was working with a group called Centrifuge which the kids just love.
The preacher and another leader were maybe 20 years old. They both were in great physical condition, had charismatic personalities etc. One had just come back from Africa where his parents were missionaries and the other from a farm in Indiana.
One day they decided to take a trip to Catawba Falls. It was maybe a ten mile trip. I had been there many times and gave them written directions of which trails to stay on, which turns to make etc. This was in the Pisgah National Forest.
The next day they came in really scratched up, and I mean beat to heck. It turned out they had made it to the falls OK but climbed to the top then coming back got lost. They had a good compass and knew they just had to basically walk straight North. They made it but boy that is rough walking.