Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Digital Detox (04/24/14)
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TITLE: Dreadful Sorry, Clementine | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lisa Johnson
05/01/14 -
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I would have been the first to tell you. . . I was, at the very least, techno-challenged. . . at the very worst, a techno-phobe. My children, and even my grandchildren, were more tech savvy than I could have ever hoped to be. While all of my friends and family became proficient on their various and sundry electronic devices, I did well just to text messages on a flip-phone, or upload the occasional article to the Faithwriters site.
Some people became so addicted to all of their electronics, that a new breed of summer camps sprang up, all over the country. Designed to be a digital detox. . . these camps were an off the grid reset button, so to speak, for those adults whose lives were ruled, to the 'enth degree, by all things electronic.
In a flash, our lives were changed. One of our enemies. . . I don't guess it really matters which one. . . decided to detonate a thermonuclear device, high in the atmosphere, directly above the center of the continental United States. It created an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, that caused the electrical grid to collapse. No one knows for sure how widespread the damage was. Maybe Mexico and Canada felt the effects, as well, but we will never know.
The long and short of it is this. . . it's all gone now. No computers. No I-Pads. No smart phones. No ground lines. No cars. No TV. No radio. Nothing survived the EMP. Everything electronic was fried. . . in just a fraction of a millisecond. A permanent digital detox.
For some, it wasn't just a matter of routine or convenience. For some, it was a matter of survival.
Planes crashed. Trains derailed. Pacemakers quit functioning. Hospitals lost power. Law enforcement agencies and first responders lost their ability to communicate. It did not matter, really. Even if they knew where they needed to go, their vehicles would not run. Everything, that depended on electronics to work, ground to a sickening halt.
Everyone suffered withdrawal pains of one sort or another. Some worse than others, depending upon the extent to which they'd allowed electronics to rules their lives.
I miss my audio Bible. I miss being able to watch my favorite Christian music videos on YouTube. I miss playing game apps with my grandson, on my daughter's I-Pad. My son, who lives too many miles away to safely walk, used to text all the time. I would give everything I own just to hear his voice. I don't even know if he is safe, and there's no way to find out.
We are struggling, on a daily basis, to relearn the basic survival skills that our ancestors used to know. . . such as growing our own food, or finding clean sources of drinking water. We are learning to live without central heat and air, electric lights and even toilets that will flush. Books and boardgames, that had been packed in boxes and stored in the attic, have been dusted off and put back to use. We read our Bible by candlelight, and pray earnestly for the friends and family, with whom we have lost touch.
It is too sad, at this point, to contemplate what has been, as the old song says, "lost and gone forever."
It shouldn't have been a surprise, really. America is not mentioned in end-time prophesy. Something had to happen to knock us off the world stage.
The thing that I hold on to, with all of my might, is the belief that God is still in control. In all things, even in a world that has been thrust backwards into a darker age, He will be glorified and His purpose will be accomplished.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
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I love the writing voice of your MC as well. This is a great piece, all around.
Well done, with a powerful message.
God bless~