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couldn’t tell one Block from another. The neglected Blocks and the bastard Blocks mixed together as a single, unified, quiet society.
    No matter how great their numbers, they would always be a pitiful and defenseless army. It reminded me of a sci-fi movie where a battalion of androids was being created in a factory, their sole purpose to unleash terror on the masses. All they needed was the command to wake up so they could begin their war. Except the activation code for the Blocks had been permanen around the about ve beently lost. They would never lift an arm against another being. You could dress them in military uniforms, you could put rifles in their hands. They would gladly sit through all of the indoctrination videos you could think of. But they would never pull a trigger or obey an order.
    This was one of the reasons the Great De-evolution signaled an end to war. None of the newborn babies would be able to fill the empty ranks or take orders when they grew up. As the last regular adults in the military got to be in their thirties and forties, they had no new recruits to command. These people were still promoted, but the promotions no longer signaled an increased number of men to lead. A general was seen walking the hallways of the Pentagon without a single man to give orders to. An admiral stood on the deck of a destroyer that was still anchored ashore. The giant boat had no one to pilot it.
    The other reason there were no more wars was that the world leaders, even the craziest ones, realized there was no point to invading another country if it meant you were helping nature deplete the last remaining normal people. Democracy no longer needed to spread across the globe to ensure future generations could vote because future generations wouldn’t exist. Communist countries released their grip, letting people say and hear whatever they wanted because, in the end, it didn’t matter what information was controlled if the rulers were already counting down their time. People across the world realized the same fate was in store for everyone else. Borders began to fall. The men who used to carry machine guns took off their uniforms for the last time and became regular citizens who needed to worry about taking care of their families. In America, these former soldiers began assisting with various aspects of the Survival Bill. In other countries, they worked in factories, labored on farms, or just disappeared.
    Congressmen, no longer needed to make new laws, said goodbye to each other and flew back to their home states. Only the President felt a need to keep up appearances by going to a secure bunker with his family and a handful of top aides. For all I know they might still be in that hollowed-out mountain. Or, without seeing the sun for a year, they might have lost their minds or opened the hatch doors and wandered off into the wilderness. I would rather be in Camelot with the bears and dogs than be bunkered inside a mountain for the rest of my life. My roof leaks and a bear could easily break through my patio door, but it’s a better existence than living inside a fortified mountain. I’m better off than the President! Somehow, that fails to make me feel any better.

 
December 10
    It’ s difficult to get into new habits. I told myself I would write in this journal of mankind about ve been every day, but after the chores are finished and I sit in front of the TV with Andrew, it’s easier to stay on the sofa and wait for the next day to arrive than it is to get up and go to the computer for the sole purpose of facing the same questions that keep me up at night. It didn’t help that Andrew had a bad night and that the next morning I was also feeling under the weather.
    At the beginning of her diary, Anne Frank said no one is interested in the words of a thirteen year-old girl. Well, no one should be interested in the words of an eighty-two year-old man either. And even if someone would be intrigued by what I had to say,