A Brief History of Grifonton, Page 8

Everything that follows is original 2005 commentary except where noted “–RN 2012″:

In the original draft, this scene was more drawn out. I illustrated the murder scene and gave more information about the woman and her family. Her husband was actually a respected but crooked politician and she was some sort of a lawyer. They weren’t based on anyone and were actually stereotypes (forgive me!). Basically, they were the “haves” and they had never been keen on sharing with the “have-nots,” even before the crisis hit. During the crisis, brute force cut their lives short anyway, regardless of their wealth. In fact, it was because they had been wealthy and horded so much that they were killed.

Soapbox Moment: Some people *coughmoghulscough* might think, “Ha! I don’t have to care about famines, unstable economies, or global warming (or some other scary, looming crisis)! I’ll just buy my way out of it! Yeah, I’ll get a yacht and some food and ride out the apocalypse! Screw you losers, I’ll be untouchable!” No, my friend. You will be very touchable. Pirates and thieves will harry you until you disgorge your treasures. Might will always win, and no amount of gaurding, hording, hiding, or gunfire will protect you when the masses open their wide maw to eat and there is nothing to go in it. To these overconfident individuals I have but two words: French and Revolution. Never underestimate the power of brute force and hunger.

There are problems in the world that most privileged people (myself included) are unaware of or choose to ignore. This is dangerous for the reasons I stated above. It is easy to think that it won’t effect you. It is easy to shrug off somebody else’s burden or some act of consumption that doesn’t seem to harm you right now. But, to quote Morning Glory from My Little Pony: the Movie, “It’s everybody’s fight…” And it is. It could be you working in a sweatshop one day. It could be your house that gets washed away with the last of the ice shelf. Nothing can buy you safety or release you from responsibility. Everything changes. Everyone is touchable.