Don't Take Me Seriously - Book - Page 208
Earth Day and loss of innocence
T
his Sunday marks Earth
Day 2012 — the 42nd
annual celebration of a
1970 event that was designed
to promote environmental
awareness and protection. And
the question that naturally
comes to mind after all
that time is: Has Earth Day
succeeded in those goals?
Well, there’s good news and
bad news on the environmental
front, and I will let better
minds than mine be the judge.
But two things disturb me
above all.
(1) I still drive a V-8 gas
guzzler (though it guzzles less
than a 1970 version).
And, far worse …
(2) I’m 42 years older.
I mean, seriously, viewed
through the innocentlyhopeful eyes of a 1970 high
school senior, Earth Day, and
the greater Age of Aquarius,
in general, was supposed to
change the world. And I mean
change the world, not just
polish it a little and call it new.
Why, there sonny, I can still
remember us sitting-in on the
school lawn with our proenvironment posters, ditching
class, smokin’ … stuff … and
justifying it all through social
consciousness. We figured all
we had to do was make people
aware of serious issues and
everyone would come together
to solve those issues in no time.
We never factored in the
laziness, stubbornness,
ignorance, short-sightedness,
selfishness and greed that are
innate to our species. And
we certainly never thought
we, ourselves, would be the
perpetrators of environmental
abuse, some 42 years later.
But we are, and we really
have no excuses, my friends.
Jim
WALKER
DON’T TAKE ME SERIOUSLY
Among other crimes, we are
still driving cars that burn
fossil fuels when, by this
time, we were supposed to
be zipping around in the sky
in Jetsonmobiles powered by
universal goodwill.
And I, for one, am ashamed.
Why, I might even think
about, you know, maybe
sometime doing something
differently — like when gas
prices reach above $5 a gallon.
I mean, at that point, my
greed will partner up with my
altruism and kick my laziness
in the butt. And then, look out
people, “the times they (will
be) a-changin’.”
Now, I know we were
all young and flexible,
ridiculously hopeful, and
maybe even blissfully ignorant
back in the day. We felt we
were invincible. We needed to
own nothing and build nothing.
We knew we could live off
the fat of the land, nibbling on
leftovers the little birdies and
fishes joyfully offered up to us
when left to their own devices.
Of course, that was because
our parents were footing the
bill then — so, you know,
we could be all “green” and
Bambi-lovin’.
But, somewhere between that
youthful exuberance and the
siege mentality that approaching
retirement, bifocals, stiff
muscles, brittle bones and 42
years of struggling in the “real
world” have beaten into us —
somewhere between those two
extremes — lies the change that
we did bring to the world. We
did accomplish some good, my
friends.
Now, I firmly believe
nothing good ever gets
accomplished unless it begins
with foolish hope. Fearful old
people don’t change the world.
Bold young ones do. And I feel
sorry for any generation that
sets out on the sea of adulthood
with materialism as its primary
goal. They have already lost
the battle. And if our children
are that generation, then double
shame on us.
(Let’s see what the little
ingrates do with the national
debt we’ve left them, tee hee.)
But we are not through
yet, flower children. Though
we may be stiff and cranky,
forgetful and fearful for the
years we have left — though
we desire only to be left alone,
hoarding our cookies behind
compound walls and bitching
about how the world has gone
to hell — we must remember
we derided our parents for
doing exactly the same. And,
if only so they can’t say “I told
you so,” we need to remember
how we started out. We need to
hearken back to that innocence
and hope, and get out and do
something once more.
I mean, attend a
demonstration, or pick up some
litter. Ride your bike instead
of driving. At the very least, it
might lubricate your joints.
Sunday is Earth Day. Are
you going to do something
about it?
Maybe start the day with a
little Dylan to get you in the
mood:
“Gather ’round people,
wherever you roam …”
Comment at jwalker@thesignal.com or at http://Twitter.
com/DontSeriously.
