The sound. Part II

for us, it was easy to leave for the sound. there wasn't much else that was left. We had been through the great war, much greater than any before it. some had seen it coming long before the hard times hit.  most of us hadn't expected it to come so swiftly or as all-encompassing as it did. We didn't see it coming at all really. Not in this lifetime. Not for this generation. but at the same time there were warning signs everywhere. small groups had always been talking about it, the marginalized, the outliers, the artists. few people took them seriously. few people paid attention to all those things. most people had their own lives to attend to, their families, houses, their investments, protecting their own interests.  even as other places began to fall into frenzy, we thought somehow we would be immune.  it would never touch us.  it couldn't.  it never had before.
no one had time to look around, fact find, put the pieces of a very intricate puzzle together. and it was a very very intricate puzzle as any event is looking back on it. The time, the history, the cultural practices, the politics, progress, people. all of them come together at key moments to change the course of history. Whether it's better or worse depends on where you stood along the line and where you stand now. If you were the sun looking down and passing judgment, it'd probably just be business as usual.
Life as we knew it previously, no matter who you were, had changed drastically. Most of the survivors were still shell shocked from everything they had lost and the short period in which it happened. Some, the ones who had come from having very little to begin with, were quick to recover, at least mentally. They were used to uncertainty, used to loss. Comfort and stability were merely guests; never staying long but welcome none-the-less. They had already accepted the fickle ways of these guests and learned not to get too used to them.
They were the fortunate ones now. They were the teachers the light and laughter and leaders for all of us. That's not to say that they hadn't lost.  They too had lost many loved ones but their struggles had made them stronger, somehow.  They were able to overcome more easily.  They often lost patience with those who mourned for the past, but without their undying hopefulness and ability to let go of what is lost, we surely never would have started on our journey towards the great sound.  there was nothing we could do about what happened.  what was gone, was gone.  there was nothing left to stay for.  everything we once knew needed to be overthrown now, in the interest of survival.  Once we realized that, it was easy to leave.

the sound. part I