dustradamus

Anyone who knows me should not be too surprised that I am not too impressed by most futurists. I can't imagine taking a fortune teller or astrologer seriously even if I didn't have doctrinal reasons not to do so. The idea that the stars I was born under or creases on my hand predetermine the events in my life is absurd unless you can somehow attach the prediction to something or someone controlling the stars, the creases, or my life.

Because I have this view, I sometimes get a kick out of what I think are pointless predictions. Who are these people who think it's a good idea to dump three dollars a minute into phone psychics? Why do the people who follow their horoscope do so? Why does anyone take Nostradamus seriously?

Nostradamus is probably the most fun to follow. His predictions are not straightforward predictions. They are rather cryptic quatrains that people have later determined predicted specific things. For example, some people believe the following quatrain describes Hitler (Century 3, Quatrain 35).

Out of the deepest part of the west of Europe,
From poor people a young child shall be born,
Who with his tongue shall seduce many people,
His fame shall increase in the Eastern Kingdom.

Now, I have to be fair. I hand-picked this quatrain because it fits my point. That point is that eventually some person had to be born who would have to match this description. It only took four or five hundred years before people were comfortable attributing this to someone. If someone hadn't been born yet to match the description, the devout could always fall back on the belief that it simply has not occurred yet.

Also, if Nostradamus did predict Hitler, what value did that provide to anyone? The acknowledgement is after the fact, so people couldn't do anything to prepare for or prevent Hitler based on Nostradamus' writings.

After giving this some thought, I decided that I'd go ahead and jump on the bandwagon and write a few random quatrains. Maybe I'll check back later to see if anything happens that is similar to them.

Quatrain #1:
From the heart of the land of his parent Africa
The youth will rise to unite those divided
From coast to coast they will be drawn
And he will also be really good at soccer

Quatrain #2:
One by one the mimics will fall away
Till one is left whose name is unmarred
He will point the way for the rest to follow
Then he will be revealed as a fraud as well

Quatrain #3:
A man of brawn and a woman of brain
Will meet and find they have a common need
After a great interplay of intents and words
She will buy his car for the price she wants

Remember, you heard it here first. Unless it didn't come out clearly enough with my tongue in my cheek.