[ WP ] Human beings can only live if they have belief in themselves .

A disease had afflicted Earth in the 21st century; one which spread as though it were highly contagious, but the contagion itself was not one strictly bound by viral or bacterial activity. It was one which emanated from the core of the being itself: the matter of belief, specifically the belief in oneself. 
 
 After the affliction occurred many people died. It did not happen so much in areas where religious philosophy concerning the self in relation to God was popular: places such as Asia and the Near East, even parts of Africa, did not suffer so much. Another very odd thing was that the natural world thrived as though protected from such a strange disease. The places which suffered the stale depths of this affliction were areas of Western philosophy and practicality; places where the belief in oneself was weak, where the person was not inhabited by self-faith but the lack thereof. The disease had many names: some places called it `` God's Judgement''; others believed it was brought on by the sins of the world; some were in search of the reincarnation of Jesus, or an incarnation of Satan; the paganites called it, in one way or another, a reclamation of nature on behalf of the eternal life-being. 
 
 It was a rather odd time. Many elderly people passed away suddenly -- it was a very quick and widespread phenomenon; abandoned grandparents and homeless veterans reclined on sofas and street curbs alike, the world passing them by with caution. Not all of the elders of the world passed away, but the ones which were alive were avoided, in the belief that they were the ones who held the epidemic. And then it began to happen to those with few purpose; those who did not do much for themselves or their neighbours. These people were not all homebodies, they were not all incapacitated; some of them were terminally ill, but not all who were terminally ill died; some of them were social motivators, people with purpose, but then it came about that perhaps these people felt that they were without. 
 
 Children were never affected, which brought a sort of social revolution. When those who lived began to realise the importance of the belief in oneself -- the purpose of being, to actively have faith in oneself -- children became at once symbols of hope and of eternity. Around the world, children were cherished by their parents more: they were not beaten or made to feel guilty, nor were they chastised for their regressions. Rather, children were given the gift of purpose which for many years their ancestors had forgotten: that God is something found from within, that the numinous is found in the content of the universe, and that the content of the universe is within the self. 
 
 `` To believe in God is to believe; to have faith is to believe that God believes in you.'' - Andre Dubus
