Off the Editor’s Desk 4-13-22

Are we living a dream or a nightmare?

I wish that I could look into the future to 2122 and see what have we become? Will we be a nation of free individuals with choice over everything in our lives? Or will we be loaded down with government rules and regulations?

I have heard many stories over the years, horror stories, some of them, what it will be like in the future. But, the one I like the best is that the government will resettle us into a small number of large residential communities, mostly in the Midwest where the temperature is not to cold or hot and the heating bills can be controlled. You will be able to leave your assigned community, but only once in a while. 

If you want to return for a visit to your home state of Wisconsin, which now is on its way to becoming a vast northern jungle, void of any population, except for the wild animals, as everyone lives in large population centers, and you do not own a car, you must take a train to Wisconsin to try to find were you came from.

You don’t have a car and neither does anyone else. Cars, along with airplanes have been banned, because they burn fossil fuels. The train you take to Wisconsin is powered by electric, so every fifty miles it must stop for a couple of hours to recharge. The only power plants operating are nuclear, so the train tracks have been laid so they travel to those power plants, or to wind farms.

You are an average family with two kids, but the government has control over their every movement and the government has decided what sex they are before they turn six.

So after a five day ride, you have made it to Wisconsin and the train makes a stop at a visitors center called Midway, which is somewhere between Downing and Boyceville. You have twelve hours to explore the area. The government has provided walking paths, and you have a guide to make sure you stay on the walking path. You try to find where your parents grew up and what you remember as a youngster visiting grandma and grandpa on their farm. But, any resemblance of what was there has been razed and the land reforested, so you can not find what you are looking for.

There are no food vending machines or any water available to drink. But one good thing, the water flowing in Tiffany Creek is pure and cold and when your guide is not looking you can stick your face into the creek to get refreshed.

You try to find the cemetery where your ancestors are interred, but for some reason no walking paths are near where you want to go. Apparently the government has a reason, because they don’t want you to remember the past or any connection with those that did. 

The train has over 200 passengers, and all are scheduled for Wisconsin visits, we have already had four Wisconsin stops, and you are reloaded onto the train for the last Wisconsin stop which is scheduled for Superior, an eight hour trip from Midway. Many of the passengers are decedents of people that crossed our southern border a number of years ago, and you wonder why they are visiting Wisconsin? Maybe they are seeking a better life in Canada.

The train passes through Forest Township and behold you count 40 some wind turbines covering the open farm land. You learn that the rail line follows what was once highway 63 to Highway 53 and onto Superior.

The pine tress are large and have choked out soft wood trees and there is a few oak trees trying to find room to grow.

As the train approaches South Superior, you see the bridge linking Wisconsin to Minnesota, which the train is heading for, into Minnesota, without stopping at Superior. As you watch the train on the bridge, you noticed the engine and the first couple of passenger cars have derailed and are falling into the St. Louis River, and then you wake up.

Thanks for reading!       Carlton