Judgement Day

For those who have watched Terminator 2, they understand what I mean. And for those who have not watched Terminator 2, read on, nonetheless.

Terminator 2 presents to us James Carmeon's view of hell. Sometime in the future, a war will be waged to exterminate all of humankind. This war began with the nuclear hellfire that ravages the Earth, and it will only end with the death of the last human, or the destruction of the damned machines.

This battle is carried to the our present by two robots- one evil, one good. The good robot has orders to protect, the evil robot has orders to kill. The target is the future leader of the human resistance against the machines, John Connor.

Rumour has it that at least $88 million dollars was spent on the making of this movie. Special effects appear all over the place, as the two robots enter their titanic struggle, one for life, one for death.

Yet, it is shocking to me, as I left the theatre, that the comments were of mayhem and destruction. Comments about the quality of the special effects. Comments about Arnold Schwarzenegger's body size. I didn't hear one thing about what may be the most important part of the movie.

Machines leaving the control of humans. Humankind developing better and better ways to kill. Humankind's irresponsibility concerning the weapons and ourselves. If the Hydrogen bomb doesn't get us, we'll kill ourselves with the slow damage to the environment. We always seem to be on a self- destruction trip, as observed by Schwarzenegger's character.

And it scares me that this loud a warning was lost and ignored in special effects and body size. I pray that there was at least somebody in the audience who saw the message I saw, and will act on it.

Maybe I'm being paranoid. Maybe it's all just fantasy, and it could never happen in real life. But are you willing to bet a planet on that? Are you willing to bet that, if the world is going to be destroyed, that some mysterious robot will be transported back to save us? I think that's a pretty long bet.

We are at the edge of the cliff. Indeed, it may be too late to pull back- and if so, I weep. Not for us, but for the next generation- the people who will grow up in a world gone mad. Pardon me if I want to see if I can make a difference.

That difference cannot be large- one person, one group against millions of years of evolution is a pretty hopeless battle. But try we must- we must learn tolerance, care, dedication, honesty, wisdom, intelligence. We must be responsible, and control what we create, and we must be aware of the possible consequences.

You know, I had planned to put in this issue a whole bunch of humourous articles about this and that. Nerf Volleyball, the Captain's blushing, etc. Somehow, though, that all seems small in comparison to what we owe this planet, small to what we owe ourselves, and our children. Very small.

Let us hope, this time, the message isn't lost among the special effects. It's almost too late for second chances.