Their chirping is getting fainter, and we are seeing less of their swarms than two weeks or so ago. It is sad in a way, for we are witnessing their Swan Song, since they emerge – and in that process aerate the soil around the tree roots – fly around as wanton nymphs celebrating their life above ground, grope for a mate – their blindness making them not too choosy – find one, connect, female flies back to the tree limbs, lays her eggs – which will drop and dig their way into the subterranean strata – and then males and females die. All in all, it is a cycle of four to six weeks. The next time they emerge will be in seventeen years (some of the cicadas cycle every thirteen years).
In the coming seventeen years:
Jimmy Carter would be around 113 years old. Doubtful that he would still be alive. Nevertheless, he would be leaving behind quite a Stellar Legacy – one that this nation can be proud of, but hardly ever acknowledges! Unfair and Despicable!
And, assuming that they will be alive: George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump would be around 92 years old. Would Bush still be painting his guilt away for returning Iraq and Afghanistan to the Stone Age and distressing that whole region? Would Clinton be ruing his having tainted his otherwise quite Impressive Legacy with an infantile liaison thus giving Republicans a weapon to destroy him, or would he still be writing books with James Patterson, the ultimate write-for-profit machine? Tsk! Tsk! Would Trump still be frothing at the mouth for having lost an election and almost driven the US into a ditch because of his vindictiveness, ego and the ability to sway all those who follow him with his acquired, selfish, pseudo-ideology, lies and conspiracy theories? Important caveat: some of his sayings and doings were quite correct, and the Biden Administration is keeping those. Interesting to muse about the Legacy of these three characters, don’t you think?
Joe Biden would be around 96 years old. Would he be saying: I Preserved the US from succumbing to The Dark Ages; I made nice with the world and inspired Global Democracy, Peace, Harmony, Fair Competition and Prosperity? And wouldn’t that be a Terrific Legacy? After all, Biden might have evolved and left the war-mongering, corporatism, aggression and same old, same old of his younger days behind, couldn’t he? After all, many of us do evolve and change some of our previous stances and misconceptions, right? At this age, I am still proudly evolving!
Barack Obama would be about 77 years old. Would he have paused patting himself on the back despite some of the blunders of his Presidency and, rather, be promoting and living through a time of Justice and Equality that his Legacy as the first Black President had heralded? I sincerely hope so!
Vladimir Putin would be about 86 years old.
Xi Jinping would be around 85 years old.
I truly wonder what would their Legacy look like seventeen years from today? Would history be writing about how Russia and China thrived in Peace, Harmony, Cooperation, Coexistence and Prosperity for their people and the world, and that they did Justice to their proud heritage, rich culture and civilization? I would truly hope so!
And what – Oh, what!!?? – would the Legacy of the Ogres of the World look like? Those Strongmen and Autocrats who are abusing every human right of their citizens? Those Dictators who have no regard for anything other than their petty whims, tyranny, depraved power and warped ideology; who have the audacity to lie, steal, imprison, torture, and kill their perceived Enemies and Opposition with utter impunity? Talk about Role Models! History, their People, and the World will not look kindly on them! In fact, every time that they are mentioned people will sneer with disgust as they remember those innocent humans who were thrown and forgotten in sordid jails; those who were tortured; the raped, the orphaned, the widowed and the traumatized. What a sorry Legacy! Disgusting!
And, after all the recent apologizing by Belgium, Spain, France and Germany etc. etc. (and, hopefully, other nations to follow) would Europe have atoned enough for its Genocidal History of Colonialism that ravished millions of people and their resources for centuries on end, and continues – yes, continues! – to do so? And, with more and more scandals of bigotry and racism that lasted up until the sixties, and, even to this date, regarding the British Monarchy what would that Legacy look like years from now?? I wonder! As for the recent photo ops and posturing of the G-7 Colonist Nations, I wonder whether they were consolidating their runaway capitalism, or whether they sincerely mean to change their avaricious and calamitous ways? Doubtful!
And, despite the efforts of this present Pope, would the Catholic Church (as well as other religious institutions) ever live down its Corrupt and Pedophilic Legacy (amongst many other wrongdoings) that has hurt thousands upon thousands of human beings, including children? What God will ever forgive them for these egregious sins?
As for many of the puffed up media personalities, grown old and doddering by then, would they be looking back at those tapes of their younger days and be wondering why they did not rely more on their conscience and their integrity, rather than on dictated and slanted talking points, greed and ratings? I wonder! Maybe we should suggest that C-Span give us an hour of News – Not Opinions and Hypocritical Rants! – delivered in their dead-pan no-nonsense style and that would be of unifying interest to the whole nation, not just to the Left, or to the Right? Simply the Facts? The BBC used to do that, and they still mostly do, except for those “Americanized” segments which are so artificial, pretty lame and ridiculous. No wonder people are buying into conspiracy theories, lies and deceit. They don’t trust the media at all! Sad, when the media’s weapon of choice is to yell: Free Press! How Free is their Free? And how True is their True? Really!
Would the world have reversed the damning effects of Climate Change and saved the Planet? Or, would the selfish, arrogant, money-driven corporations continue to ravish Earth, to plunder its resources, contaminate its air and waters and pretend as if all is well as they lure us into consuming more, medicating more and feeding ourselves with those processed and poisonous food products that are killing us, while lethal Pandemics – that might be worse than the Covid Virus we have been suffering from – lurk around the corner? I wonder!
And, would the upright citizens of the world unshackle themselves from the slavery that they have been subjected to by the effects of Colonialism, as well as by corrupt leaders who pit them against each other for their own sordid ambitions? Would they rise up against their amoral politicians, ongoing colonialism and unjust systems? Would they ever become Free Men and Women? I wonder!
As this world becomes more and more complicated with so many dreadful issues arising from our Cyber Age, world leaders need more than ever to cooperate, to coexist, and to inspire and cease the belligerent confrontations and wars that are causing suffering, pain, tears and frustrations of citizens who know in their gut that all is not fair, or just, or equal, or right and are lashing out with irresponsible behavior, criminal venting and subjugation to False Prophets. Tragic, really! Very dangerous, too! I, certainly, will not be around in 2038 to find out the answers. For those who would be, I wonder if when the Cicadas reemerge, they would look back on those seventeen years and be proud of a Legacy of Activism that managed against all odds to Right the Egregious Wrongs that previous Leaders and Generations (mine, too!) had burdened them and the Planet with? I really and truly wonder and hope??!!!
My Seventy Year Old Eyes 
Well. I for one sincerely hope we are both still around in seventeen years … and have the faculties to access whether or not any of this happens! Xo
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