Wow, 2025.
That sounds so futuristic, you know?
Like we should all be traveling around in flying cars and making meals by popping a small object into a contraption that automatically and rapidly transforms it into a three-course delicacy.
Remember The Jetsons? Kind of like that.
Of course, my perspective comes from being alive in parts of eight different decades, so that has to be taken into consideration. But still; it seems amazing to me that we’re already about a quarter of the way into the 2000s and that Y2K is so far in the rearview mirror.
But what about this current version of now?
Man, George and Jane Jetson could never have imagined the weird state of society that has come to exist. Their biggest worries were usually limited to how Elroy or Astro were going to get in trouble again, or what outlandish demand or issue George was going to hear about from his boss, Mr. Spacely.
But Reality 2025 includes a lot more nonsense than that, and it’s unfortunately on a very nonfictional (and global) level.
Look at the situation; there’s super-high prices on food and other necessities, military activity in numerous places at the same time, strife, dissent and downright hatred among people of all walks of life in all corners of the United States and the world, and the list goes on and on.
It’s a wonder we made it through 2024.
So here we are in early stages of the 2025 we’ve collectively entered, whether we like it or not. And I have to say that not that long ago my vision of where things would stand now wasn’t anything like what is actually transpiring.
In fact, anything I might have conjured up in my mind as a “worst case scenario” wouldn’t have measured up to the reality of now – which I guess is a prime example of how truth is often stranger than fiction.
As much as I wish I didn’t, at times I feel like we’re all Jon Voight standing on top of the engine in the final scene of the 1985 movie, “Runaway Train.” It’s like we know the general direction we’re going, but we have no idea what lies ahead or when the train will crash.
Anyway, as my wife, Wendy, likes to say, the best way to handle the state of everything right now is to grab some popcorn, take a comfortable seat and watch the show.
I’d say that the show will certainly be worth watching in 2025, but I’m not confident that the material will consist of much good-natured, happy-go-lucky content – if any.
The good news is that God is the show’s writer, director and producer, and its ending will surely be pleasant.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.