We're cooking all our meats
on rotisseries
on this cookout.
Every meat is marinated or injected with seasonings
in advance,
and slowly roasted,
slowly turning,
over hot coals.
We have a big crowd,
about 5,000.
Below the fold,
tell me how many chickens, etc.
we'll need.
How many chickens,
slowly turning?
How many turkeys,
taking hours to cook?
Do we want young goats?
I've never eaten goat meat,
but I presume young goats are tasty.
Most folks like pork,
so how many pigs will be slowly roasted
over the hot coals,
with the fat dripping down
and flaring up?
Remember,
we need to feed 5,000 people,
and in my daydream,
these are your friends and relatives.
You know most of them,
but you only get to see them
face to face
twice a year,
or once a year,
some years.
What about beef?
Shall we roast a few steers?
I wonder if a small waterfall
would provide enough power
to turn the spit?
The location I'm setting
this cookout in,
is my home town,
Wichita,
Kansas.
I want the center of the crowd to be in a park called
Sim Park.
It's near the Arkansas River,
and there's a low water dam
that creates a short waterfall.
Maybe something could be rigged up,
a waterwheel and some gears and shafts,
or maybe wheels and belts.
How much should I tell you
about the singing and dancing,
the lively conversations,
the matchmaking?
I picture a party
that lasts two weeks,
twice a year,
right around the spring and autumn equinoxes,
late March and late September.
More food:
Potatoes,
plenty of potatoes,
cooked any which way.
Do you like turnips?
Parsnips?
Rutabagas?
Tomatoes?
Green beans?
Pinto beans?
Plenty of all that.
Loaves upon loaves of fresh baked bread,
hot every morning,
with lots of real butter.
Speaking of morning,
do you like sausage and eggs?
We could cook lots of that,
on massive griddles,
set up over the hot coals.
Picture everyone working together,
bringing in massive loads of firewood in advance,
carefully stoking the fires,
cooking the sausage,
turning the eggs.
I like mine over easy,
with just enough salt,
no pepper.
For lunch,
do you like turkey sandwiches,
starting the second day?
We could have salad dressing
on the sandwiches
made with olive oil.
Does that sound good?
And for supper,
of course,
all the roast meats,
and roast veggies,
and more bread and butter.
Now for the punchline.
I've told you the location,
how many are there,
what we're eating.
Now for the date:
The year is either
2125
or
2225.
This whole diary is presented to you
to give the happy ending
to the overpopulation situation.
The reason I give two dates
is because I imagine a world of nomads,
herding goats,
herding them from the Gulf coast to the Dakotas,
perhaps,
in the spring,
and back to the Gulf coast region
in the fall,
to keep the herds,
and the herders,
from freezing.
But not just nomads.
At least half,
maybe three fourths
of folks
will be farmers,
living on farms similar to the ones
my parents,
the Greatest Generation,
grew up on:
a few dairy cows,
lots of chickens,
for eggs and chicken meat,
and raising one hog at a time,
to stock the freezer with pork
as desired.
Lots of potatoes,
lots of green beans,
most of them getting canned.
My mother's parents had an apricot tree,
so apricot cobbler
was there every Christmas.
And, there was a strawberry patch,
and blackberry bushes lined the country road,
in places.
Grandma was always worried about snakes
in the blackberry bushes.
Anyway.
How can we get back,
or forward,
to such a way of life?
I wrote about the cookout first,
to make you want to reach that goal,
for our descendants,
someday.
The first date,
2125,
is the date we would reach
a worldwide population number
of less than 100 million,
if we start a radical contraception program,
very soon,
within a few years from now.
I don't think that will happen,
so,
I give the second date,
2225.
Here is what I think will happen:
Before the year 2100,
terrible famines will sweep the world,
wiping out as many as a billion of us.
Cannibalism will be common.
Armed men will invade homes,
kill the people,
take the canned goods,
and eat the fresh meat,
including human meat,
first,
before it spoils.
I hope I'm wrong,
but,
all over the world,
folks are moving into cities,
and trusting that,
no matter how many children they have,
plenty of food will be shipped in.
I work at a supermarket,
and when snow drifts blocked the highways,
it took only a day
for us to run out of
milk,
bread,
and eggs.
After the famines,
everyone will be eager to do whatever it takes,
any amount of surgical sterilization,
whatever it takes,
to get the population down,
down to less than 100 million of us,
so that everyone will have plenty of land,
land with good water on it,
and second farms,
and third farms,
in case of drought.
Just move to an alternate farm
that's getting enough rainfall.
By the way,
I arrived at the round numbers of
100 million for the world,
and 5,000 for my home town
by simply starting at the round number of
10 billion,
a number I may live to see,
and moving the decimal point
over two places,
making it not 10 billion,
not 1 billion,
but 100 million,
for the whole world.
That would make the USA
not 300 million,
not 30 million,
but only 3 million people in the whole USA.
My home state of Kansas,
now 2 million,
would be,
not 200,000
but only 20,000.
My hometown of Wichita,
currently at 500,000
would be not 50,000
but 5,000.
Since this is the future we're talking about,
we can have our mobile phones,
which will be our computers,
as they already are.
We will have a little manufacturing,
enough to keep the internet and phone systems up and running,
most of the time,
at least.
I see some rail,
some air transport for medical emergencies.
I see no government,
other than small family groups,
making agreements with each other,
over solemn words,
and firm handshakes.
For those who cause extreme hardship to others,
there may be a swift death penalty,
because I don't see any jails.
There would be no money,
and no one would ever again
be able to steal land,
and make others pay rent,
making those who work the least the most wealthy,
the way it is now.
Ownership of land would be strictly prohibited.
There would be plenty of land for everyone.
John Lennon said it:
http://www.youtube.com/...
Ozzie sang a similar song:
http://www.youtube.com/...
Thanks for reading.