Editor,

My boyfriend is always in a hurry. “Never rest, never rust” he says. He, like so many of you, need to take more time to smell the roses – so what if they’re growing in a wasteland? I, for one, find beauty amidst desolation.

He says that we’re living on an accelerated timeline. Like Covid was the first plague, or even the last. As if we didn’t grow up fearing World War III in the post-9/11 era, like our elders during the Cold War years. Remember Y2K and all the phobia surrounding that? The shit was really supposed to hit the fan, but all we got was another wet fart.

I’m tired of hearing the world is ending. It’s cliche and anticlimactic. Even if it is, another one will just replace it. It is the destiny of humans to rule this planet forever – why else would be be given such heightened spiritual and self-awareness, not to mention our understanding of technology, society and psyche? We are making the world better all the time. Don’t forsake the ground we’ve covered just for a few potholes.

Everyone is so negative, and too many of you are hustling like we’re not going to outlive our parents by 20 years. Clearly you people aren’t doing enough yoga, eating enough avocado, and spending enough time getting in touch with your inner gods and goddesses. Centre yourselves. Be the eye of the hurricane. This madness shall pass, as all madness before it.

Economies fail, empires fall, and recessions come and go – I’ve already lived through a couple of stock market crashes, the dot com bubble bursting, two Bush administrations and the Trump presidency. Don’t get me wrong, he SUCKED, but he didn’t exactly turn out to the the new Hitler so many of you predicted. So please, calm down. Find your inner peace, and stop interfering with mine.

We all have a spiritual dimension, it’s just that some of you are too underdeveloped to truly perceive it. If you did, you’d stop trying to drive the car, learn how to enjoy the view from the backseat, and appreciate the journey more – we’ll all grow old and die someday, but too many of you act like it’s tomorrow. You’re making hay while the sun isn’t even shining, and a cozy day indoors by the fire with your feet up is what you really need.

This productivity guilt is unhealthy. Less doing, more BEING. If you need to stay busy to stay mentally healthy, then you either need therapy or a week long silent retreat. Those should be mandatory by the way, be they funded by the taxpayer, or by our employers – either way it’s an experience we ALL need, especially those of you who don’t think so.

This Apocalypse Fetishism is so very passe,  and is an egocentric romanticism based on every era of modern Western civilization wanting to be the last. Blame conventional religion and it’s obsession with the endtimes and days of reckoning. Blame all the post-apocalyptic art and media – do we really need games like The Division or The Last Of Us II in this era? I question whether we should even be allowing such triggering, violent material to be published.

The world isn’t ending today or tomorrow, and you aren’t either. Stop living in fear of the future and take advantage of today – and not by constant busy work for a change. Be still in a moment for once. To use time properly is not to fill every second, but to sit alone in silence, and empty your mind of all concern.

Yours ever so kindly,

• Antonio Fugazi