The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Modern Day Equivalents - Essay Example

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Modern Day Equivalents Threats to future stability The Four horsemen of the apocalypse represent a destructive force that will bring the present world to an end. The representation of the meanings of the horses depending on their color expresses the deeper meaning of the end1. The end is characterized by conflicts and instability. Each of the horsemen represents a personality or characteristic that is a source of conflict and the seed of insecurity. Conflicts and instability are the main causes of misery in human beings. It has always been the origin of deaths and instability throughout history. It is, therefore, no wonder that conflict from the four horsemen can bring the end of the world. This essay aims at exploring the modern day equivalents of The Four Horsemen. In the essay, I will reflect on the threats to future stability, security and development as expressed from the story of the Four Horse Men of the Apocalypse. It is my assumption in this essay that if the modern day human beings are to adopt the personalities and faces of the four horsemen, as it is happening, there is a possibility of a destruction that will bring forth an end to our world. The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse are depicted as riding on different horses. The differences between the horses are the colors that represent different personalities and themes. The first horseman rides on a red horse, which represent war. In my opinion, the horse also represents a critique attack of other people’s personality and the perception that everyone else is wrong. The second horseman rides on a black horse. Even before going deeper in the meaning of the horse from the story, it is agreeable that black represents misfortunes. From the story, this horse represents famine. The personality represented by the black horse is contempt that does not only start a conflict, but also prevents any efforts to end one if it arises. The third horse is pale, a paleness that, in my view, can only be compared to lifelessness. This horse represents death and an end to any form of life. The fourth horse is white, representing conquest; this in my personal view represents a personality that we would call stonewalling. It, therefore, represents the battle for supremacy that the modern human beings are always in. All the four horses, as I will shed light on in this paper have modern day equivalents that are the cause of instability and insecurity in the world today. I will start with the red horse, which represents war. The modern world is characterized chiefly by wars and conflicts between people and nations. War has remained alive over century in the international system. There are changes observed in power regime and systems in the world as observed through the progressively decreasing control of the previously considered super powers. Such countries include United States, the European countries, and the rise to power of countries in the Southern America region such as Brazil and those in the Asian, Middle East and eastern regions such as India and Asia. They are creating a multipolar system in the world. The polarization is a main cause of instability in the modern world, and this is expected to worsen, as these polarized regions will try to seek recognition and supremacy. In my opinion, the economic conflict between the East and the West in the current state represents planted seeds of wars that will definitely blossom and grow over time to become a real war. The second horse, black represents famine. Besides the war represented in the red horse, a second enemy of development and prosperity is poverty as represented by famine. From the original biblical story, the second horseman had in his hand the weighing scales, which represented the cost of food. I can, from this point, interpret it to mean that prosperity is threatened by the poor distribution of resources. There remain people below the poverty lines who cannot afford a decent meal a day2. It is a representation of economic division that is predicted as a cause of the end of the world. This is already happening. As the economic supremacy battle between the first worlds countries continues, the poor people of the world are suffering. If I may base this on the estimates from the World Bank, more than 1.3 billion people in the world live below the poverty line presently, surviving on US$ 2 or less in a day. The cost of living continues to increase in the poor countries. This, from my personal observation, is a result of the unconcerned battle of economic supremacy between the economically stable nations who only come in to manipulate and use the poor countries. The poverty and increased cost of living has been the cause of domestic conflicts as the relatively powerful and rich among the people trying to conquer their small environments. This again causes wars in these nations and the trend goes down to the smallest unit of the society, the family. Further, the increased lack fuels the crime rates, murder and insecurity. All these result to instability that we are witnessing in the modern day. The third rider uses a pale horse. This horse represents lifelessness and death. The current state of the world is characterized by massive bloodshed resulting from all the effects of the presence of the first two horses. The wars lead to deaths and losses of life as nations and people seek to rise above others and become stronger. It has become the norm for rivals to seek to eliminate one another in an effort to move up without the competition. The massive loss of life experienced in the wars and in crime may appear insignificant in relation to the pale horseman of death. However, in my opinion the scattered deaths that occur daily all over the world resulting from murders, criminal activities and conflicts are many. Despite these, there is also the presence of dangerous diseases such as Ebola, which remain major causes of deaths among many communities. The losses of life cause instability and insecurity that causes a reduction in prosperity. The final horseman rides on a white horse. Various interpretations are available concerning this horseman, with the white color being associated with both optimism and pessimism3. However, the presence of the horse in the apocalypse cannot be related to optimism. This is because apocalypse refers to the end of the world, and it is therefore nothing to be optimistic about. From this perspective, I would relate the horseman to represent the battle of supremacy that is present and characterizing every sphere of human life. People want to be repeatedly on top of the world. The personality aligns well with the first three horsemen and adds into the discussion the conquest for supremacy over nature. The pessimism in this case predicts the results of this to be extreme weather conditions arising from the ongoing attempt by man to rise over nature and conquer it. As such the climatic change experienced today and directly related to human activities, and nature’s response is a modern day representation of this fourth horseman. Conclusion The four horsemen, therefore, have direct modern day equivalents that are fulfilling the vision of the Apocalypse. From the unending wars, bloodshed, poverty and hopelessness to the crimes that are being witnessed as a result of the hopelessness: the modern day deaths and climate hostility and changes in the people’s conflicts with the environment, the Apocalypse to me seems a reality that is causing instability, insecurity and delays prosperity. All these are interconnected in that they relate to a period that will experience reduced prosperity and insecurity. The equivalents are threatening the stability of the humanity and in a way appear to lead to an apocalypse, the end of an era. Reference list 1Cunningham, Andrew, and Ole Peter Grell. 2000. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse: religion, war, famine and death in reformation Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. 2Natsios, Andrew S. 1997. US foreign policy and the four horsemen of the Apocalypse: humanitarian relief in complex emergencies. Westport, Conn. [u.a.]: Praeger. 3.Kinane, Karolyn, and Michael A. Ryan. 2009. 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