Cody Clark's Tsunami Poem
Recalling that Wendy Schultz used the metaphor, "Surfing the Tsunamis ofChange", to capture the magnitude of challenges racing towards us from
the futures, and the limits and strengths of our ability to respond to
them (by surfing, rather than ignoring, them), Cody Clark was inspired
to write this poem:
:SURFING::
This is not a time to be nonchalant about your lives!
Things are happening that are both horrible
and wonderful beyond our imagining.
Animals are being cloned for your consumption.
Computers are being woven into your socks.
They're inventing new flowers.
And new ways to live and die.
(Are you paying attention?)
Hate is spanning continents.
Borders are dissolving.
War is a media event —
The next genocide will be televised.
(Will you be watching?)
Clever diseases are adapting
to sidestep new cures.
New microbes are being patented;
Old ones are learning new tricks
(What are you learning?)
Pigs will grow new hearts for us
While our old hearts will grow fond of
faces over wireless rivers of bandwidth;
Hearts to be broken by virtual lovers.
(Where is your heart?)
Soon we'll glide on hydrogen chariots
and Stirling scooters and maglev trains
Superconductors will take the reins
And move us faster, ever faster.
(But, do you know where you're going?)
Turbulent data is flooding the culture.
Information is boiling, steaming our vision
While wisdom becomes a commercial commodity
And knowledge is power and power is an oddity
To most of us regular folks.
(Do you know who you can trust?)
Yet billions of people rely on each other.
They trust their elders, their elected offcials.
Billions of people do not use computers;
they do not see them as anything special.
(Do we pity Them? Or do they pity Us?)
You must be alert because time is accelerating
At different speeds in different places.
Is what you hold onto moving you forward?
Or holding you back while "progress" erases
Your every anchor, your every point of reference.
(You must pay attention now. To everything. All the time.)
You will learn to surf or you will drown.
So watch for clues that swirl around
In the currents of our times.
And paddle like hell
when you feel the swell.
Boy, I hope
you can afford
a board.
----
I had no sooner posted this when PBS announced that a tsunami had hit
Pago Pago, American Samoa, and might hit Hawaii by 1 pm today.
Better wax up my board, if I can afford to buy one!
