SAFELY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD – Marilyn Armstrong

FOWC with Fandango — Middle

So. Here we are again. Back in the middle of the middle. Afraid to proffer a candidate who might actually have relevant and new ideas, looking for ways to “make things like they used to be.” Except that no matter who we elect, it isn’t going to be like it used to be. It will never be that way again and no matter how much we try and fix it, it won’t be back to “the old days.”

Walt Kelley’s first Earth Day poster

We destroyed the old days and they aren’t coming back. The seniors won’t have to live through the destruction on the horizon, but our children and grand-children will. We won’t even adopt a plan for change that might accomplish something if not everything.

Earth’s day in court

Nice idea to take away guns. 50 years late — assuming we can even do it — but I suppose late is better than never. People still wonder if we can handle a woman at the helm of the nation. How pathetic is that?

The world — the physical earth — has changed and continues to change. Dramatically in some places, slower in others. Ultimately it will encompass the entire planet. Earth — the spinning blue ball — will survive. The question is not whether or not the planet will make it. The question is, will we make it?

Call it my “happy anniversary greetings” from my little damaged house to the rest of the world. I don’t see us doing what needs doing. I don’t see international cooperation. I don’t even see all 50 of our states agreeing to anything together. I don’t see anyone going for a green electric source even though the difference is likely to be less than $10 a month to make the switchover. I think even we can handle that amount — and we are kind of poor.

So on this 29th anniversary of our marriage, I look out into the world and all I can do is hope and wonder that we all understand this isn’t a normal election. It’s not like “Oh well, we’ll get through the four or eight years and then we can get someone we like better.”

We are on the edge of the edge and we put ourselves here, mostly by paying no attention at all to the constant warnings of science what would become of us if we didn’t deal with our world.

Pogo – Walt Kelly – 1971

Not only did we ignore it in the U.S. EVERYONE ignored it. Universally. Now, suddenly, there’s a terrifying rush to fix it, but we want to go at it gently. Not upset too many people. Find a nice guy in the middle of the road who will eject the squatter from the White House and that we’ll set up a few more agencies to “investigate” the issue. Not like we already have the answers. We need more of the same answers.

Isn’t it a little late? Where was the urgency in all the years since we “invented” Earth Day? That was more than 40 years ago … and things are not better. Oh, there are cleaner skies over a few big American cities, but we didn’t do anything about carbon emission or CO2. Or drilling. We actually created an even more destructive drilling technique — fracking. What could possibly go wrong with that?

As a matter of fact, what could possibly go wrong at all? We’re all here for the ride. Wheeee!



Categories: #FOWC, climate change, Daily Prompt, Earth, Ecology, Fandango's One Word Challenge, Marilyn Armstrong

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12 replies

  1. I only heard about Earth Day some years ago…. So, it might be ‘just another day of days’ for many people who aren’t listening carefully?! I ‘met’ Earth Day on Flickr, of all things!
    And I was going to ask you gently about Bonnie. Now I think she’s still with you – but not for long. Oh, the heartache THAT will bring upon your household.
    And YES, happy anniversary!

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  2. I don’t want to go back to the old days where racism was swept under the rug and women. (Still are) treated as less than. I’m hoping that this fucking mess will spur us all on to better days.

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    • That would be the best possible outcome. When i get really depressed about it — and I really do get VERY depressed about it — I think about the 14th century which, in its own way, was just as bad as this and maybe for the people trying to survive it, worse. From it came a huge amount of invention and originality and technology and improvements in the lives of peasants as well as the creation of roads and a middle class. It was a massive jump for humankind.

      Bad times force change. I just wonder if we have enough time to get it done!

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      • Maybe not in our time… But future generations.

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        • I’d like to think that somehow, there’s a better future out there. Always in human relationships, bad times have been followed by better and more creative times. But we hadn’t done so much damage to our world, back then. We had a good world to work with. Basically, I don’t now. I’d like to think we’ll work it out.

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  3. Well, happy anniversary, anyway.

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    • I’ll perk up. I really hate the politics, the ecology, and that my little dog Bonnie has taken to barking continuously all night. I don’t think I’ve had more than a couple of hours of sleep for weeks and it’s getting to me. It’s hard to figure out what to do. She does have good days. She’s gotten old, but she’s not done yet. BUT in the meantime, I have been up at least once per hour starting around 4:30 in the morning and I’m REALLY exhausted. And it’s not the kind of thing you can take a pill to fix, either.

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      • Our old dog has been waking us up at all hours wanting to out in the middle of the night. She’s not doing well and we’re trying to be patient with her, but it can be a challenge when your sleep gets interrupted every night.

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        • It’s getting to be really difficult. I’m not the bouncy “I only need 5 hours of sleeep” kid I used to be, so being woken up many times every night is leaving me exhausted. I’m not even sure she knows what she wants. A treat? Company? Is she lonely? It’s wearing me down and because Garry can’t hear without his equipment, it’s mostly me getting up, trying to get her to be quiet. I hate yelling at her, but sometimes that’s the only thing that helps. I’m sure other people go through this and our vet delicately suggested that we had to start thinking about “it.” I don’t WANT to think about IT. At all.

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  4. It’s never too late to fix it. We are facing the same dilemma here. All I know is I don’t want Trudeau in again.
    Leslie

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    • It may not be too late to fix it now, but make no mistake: in a couple of years, it really WILL be too later. The earth will fix itself, but not necessarily so that WE can live on it. We aren’t going to destroy the earth. We are just going to destroy any remaining quality of life we have.

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