An Earth Day Metaphor (Connection Lost)


I just wrote a post–
An Earth Day post–
It wasn’t the least; it wasn’t the most
It wasn’t the strangest this network would host
Just an Earth Day post, in rhyme.

I clicked on “submit”
It didn’t do shit
This wasn’t the first time, I have to admit
It wasn’t, but still, it disturbed me a bit
And it bothered me more, this time.

We’ve all got our beefs
Our private beliefs
Our *something*, the source of our personal griefs
For me, it is when the computer’s the thief
So the work that I’ve done disappears.

I forgot to click “save”
So my post misbehaves
“Your connection is lost” was the message it gave
Seems it vanished from earth, without even a wave,
So it never will bother your ears.

And the corals will die
And the people will cry
With a frightened majority wondering “why?”
Cos a few are paid well to dispose and deny
(you could follow the money, you know!)

And mere decades from now
We’ll be wondering how
We’ve arrive at a planet that none would allow
Though our personal blame we will each disavow
For the choices we’d made long ago.

Frustrating. I had composed an Earth Day post (actually, a repost of something from some time ago, with new comments), and when I went to post it, my local wifi connection was dead. For whatever reasons, that post had not auto-saved, and when I looked for it in my browser history, I got a new, blank box instead.

So I wrote this.

We don’t (well, *I* don’t) hit save until we are reminded to by losing something, and of course by then sometimes it is too late. We don’t (well, *I* don’t) do preventative maintenance, we wait until something is broken enough that it demands our attention, then try to fix it after it is likely too late.

We’ve broken our planet. It’s just that we’ve done it so gradually that those of us with the means to make a difference have not been, ourselves, hurt. And we have people making serious bank denying it–a profitable path in the short term, but unsustainable. Short term profits, though, are tantalizing.

Save your work. Fix your car. Behave (and vote) as if your planet depended on it. It does.

Comments

  1. StevoR says

    Yeah. I really hate it when that happens.

    And also when I look at the news & see what’s happening and isn’t around the world.

    We’re losing Nemo*
    And all of his friends
    Their reef is dying,
    Too late for amends?

    We’re losing the poles
    Will Santa now drown**
    Arctic ice vanishing
    Like once solid ground***

    We’re losing whole islands
    Already lost lakes
    Yet folks still delay acting
    Based on some fakes

    The temperatures rising, the pressure is on
    We’ve lost so much horridly but all hope is not gone.
    We cannot give up now, fall into despair
    We still have some say over what’s in our air.

    * See : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB9I6UUoo_4

    ** The Digital Cuttlefish blog (yup here & by our host) “The Year that Santa Drowned” September 3, 2012 :

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/cuttlefish/2012/09/03/the-year-that-santa-drowned/

    *** See among other places and articles and things :

    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/blind-bangladeshi-fisherman-disappearing-home-150601141510817.html

  2. StevoR says

    Oh & also see :

    + We’re losing whole islands = E.g. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/02/world/The-Marshall-Islands-Are-Disappearing.html?_r=0

    ++ Already lost lakes = Among others : http://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2016/jan/22/bolivia-lake-poopo-lost-climate-change-video

    +++ Based on some fakes = Oh wow,where do I even start here? The whole “climategate” manufactroversy? (See BA blog and Climate Denial Crock of the Week youtube series & potholer54 clips and others.) The dubious career and malign blathering history of Lord Monckton? (See previous set of italicised brackets.) Maybe the whole mythical “pause” in warming that keeps being debunked over and over again but still spews up everywhere :

  3. Cuttlefish says

    Chigau–

    Nothing in particular, the rhyme scheme. I suppose, technically, it would be

    (a) a a a b
    (c) c c c b
    (d) d d d e
    (f) f f f e

    Or something like that. or AAAB, CCCB, with internal rhymes on the first A & C.

  4. says

    I hate when the computer gods act up and prevent me from saving a post.
    Worse still, bc my computer battery is acting up, my laptop will periodically just shut down completely and I have to reboot it. So. Damn. Annoying.

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