People have a vision of the apocalypse as a sudden thing.
There’s an old story about a man and the devil. The man is a drinker and a gambler. His wife is dying. He pledges his soul to hell if only his wife can get better. The devil appears.
The man makes a deal with the devil. He wants three wishes and the devil will get his soul. The devil says sure.
The devil lays out three shots of whiskey. The devil says that in one of the shots, there is a deadly poison. The man must choose one and drink it. If he doesn’t die then and there, he gets his wish.
This strikes them both as fair. The man drinks. He feels fine. The devil grants the man his wish. The man’s wife gets better.
A year later, his gambling has put them out of their home. They need money. He calls out to the devil again. The devil appears with the two shots of whiskey that are left. The man wishes for millions of dollars and takes a drink. He feels fine. He laughs in the devil’s face and gets his money.
He’s still laughing when the devil asks him what he thinks is so funny.
“Well isn’t it obvious?” says the man, “I won! I know where the poison is! It's in that last shot! I don’t have to call on you again until the end of my life! I have a long time with my wife and my money ahead of me! You lose!”
“I never said it was a fast acting poison” says the devil.
The apocalypse happened in 1975. We’re in it right now.
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