Unanimous Belief

Whatever indvidual belief one subscribed to, the event of February 9, 2009 was 'miraculous'. If you believed that Earth was the random result of an evolutionary 'big bang', then you had to also believe that something just as evolutionary had taken over a planet that was about to self-destruct. If you thought a universe with no outside edges and no center - a universe with no beginning or no end - was the result of an 'intelligent designer', or 'nature', you had to accept that this dramatic changeover was also designed by someone - or something - of intelligence far superior to that on Earth. 'Mother Nature' was, as many assumed, the force behind all things on Earth - and, if that was your belief - then you also had to assume that She was responsible for what had just happened to a small, insignificant planet a mere 93 million miles from its sunlight. In one form or another, of course, most men on Earth believed in "God" - and if you were among those religious practitioners, you had to believe that your "God" had something to with this. That is, of course, if you had any memory of what happened less than a second ago. And, of course, no one had such recollection. It was if all memory had been erased from the collective humanoid computer called mankind.

The world was now comprised of small tribal communities, dependent on each citizen within the local clan. No where on Earth was there an established 'centralized' government. The states and cities - and their respective governments - were gone. Governance was within each localized community, usually made up of less than two hundred individuals. Every person had a skill or talent to share with his fellow tribal members. 'Civilization' had reverted to what most contemporaries would have considered barbaric. Animals were no longer slaughtered en masse in huge meat processing plants; 'hunters' would bring food, clothing and shelter home to the 'gatherers' - to be shared with every member of the village.