Cataclysms affect us in every conceivable way imaginable. They leave nothing untouched. The years oncoming toward a cataclysm affect us in ways totally different from the years following a cataclysm. So few survive – far less than one percent of all life – that each who survives lives to tell a unique tale, whether survival was by planning and intent or by sheer luck. I suppose we could call the years leading to a cataclysm the precursor. It is most fitting to devote some time to the precursor; there are definite signs of our traversing into it through the past few years.