The Optimist and the Pessimist

The Optimist and the Pessimist

My pessimist friend began to moan,
"The world is doomed,
And we're the cause.
We've destroyed the beauty;
We've ruined the prize.
Our greed and self-interest
Have brought us to ruin."


"Oh, no," said I.
"We are not finished yet.
We're steadily probing
For the way to go forward.
And we're making progress
By what we have learned."

Her mouth opened wide
And more words tumbled out,
"Acid rain is dissolving
Our statues and forests;
The Amazon Jungle is
Fast losing ground.
How dare you say that
We are progressing?"


I answered her calmly,
Scarcely needing to think.
"We're planting more forests,
Restoring our treasures,
Recycling our plastics, and
Our air has improved."

Her eyes grew much harder,
Fierce from the strain.
"Our air is smog-brown.
We can't take a breath,
How can you think
That the Earth's getting
Better and better?"

"Our new understandings
Are bringing the answers.
Our future is here if you look,
Trains levitating
Without causing smog
Going four times
The speed of our cars."


A growl deep inside her
Slowly rose to the top.
"Killer bees have invaded,
Fire ants are still moving,
And insects are poison-resistant!"


I smiled rather smugly,
And matched her reply.
"Artificial retinas
So the blind can soon see,
Implants so the deaf can hear,
Robots who work in dangerous places,
With humans in safer locations."

She paled and mustered
One final attack.
"Aids is expanding,
No vaccine in sight,
Riots, starvation,
The homeless, the poor;
We're almost beginning
Yet another war!"

Her arguments stung,
But I clung to my vision.
"From small variations
In a molecular sense
We've pestered the virus,
Grown strong antigens
That give us vaccines
In tomatoes and lettuce.
We've even formed plastics
Stronger than steel and
Germs that eat toxins.
The future is here."

As she sped through the door,
I said a bit louder
"Computers that answer
An oral command,
Telephones screening
All unwanted calls,
New therapies fighting
Disease and genetics,
In vitro babies
For those who are sterile
And microwave dryers
Won't damage our clothes...!"

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Please drop by my webpage:


{http://karenriggin.com/my-blog.html}

My blog is a writing blog, where I add chapters.

Currently in its rough draft stage is my NaNo 2013 novel: The Downside of Solar Panels -- a young witch decides to install solar panels on the cottage where she lives. But how can she achieve her goal of financial independence when a warlock, werewolves, ghosts and a neighborhood vampire keep intruding?




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