11-27-16

Robert Lindner

RANDOM MUTATION

Just the outcome of random mutation,

We inhabit the earth in our billions,

And keep increasing our population,

Each year, adding additional millions.

We, humans, who’ve taken over the earth,

And can make it suit our needs. With our brains,

We can plan and decide what things are worth,

Then determine what goes and what remains.

We are, sadly, a selfish species. And

We are ruled by our self-centered desires,

We form tribes and nations that must expand.

We’re led by liars preaching to choirs,

That believe they’re better than other men

And women, and not here by random chance.

We ignore logic with our if, and then,

Saying IF: We are better than the ants,

And the other animals, THEN: why not

Better than humans of other races

Or religions? We want to believe what

We want to believe, but take our places

On this earth for granted. Our pollution

And industry keeps increasing every year,

We keep seeking for a new solution.

As the animal species disappear,

We watch and tell each other lies about

The earth and believe the lies because they

Suit our needs. We believe and are devout,

In a self-serving and self-righteous way

To the pretenses needed to explain

Our existence as more than chance mating

Of an egg and a sperm, without a grain

Of truth. We still keep communicating

Our lies as long as existence allows.

We, products of a random chance for birth,

We’re actors on a stage. We take our bows

And act like there’s no need to protect earth.

We, the outcome of random mutation,

We keep adding additional actors.

We, now, eight billion in population,

Must stop being the earth’s malefactors.

Robert Lindner

1-1-17 

Marty (Martin C. ) Campbell

in case anybody else missed Ruth & Patrick's reference to apocolypse, i found it here:

12/27/16 08:59 AM

	#620
Jeanie (Jessica) Witkin (Zeller)

ten flights back.  ¶ let's see, my little macbook dictionary:

"2 an event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale: a stock market apocalypse | an era of ecological apocalypse."

my favorite liberal global scientists—in that they call all scientists conservative—who brook in near term extinction (NTE) within 10 or 50 years ... might say, feedback loops in methane, temperature melting & darkening ice, and on and on, are already unstoppably in place in spite of anything human done now.  what we experience here now was set in place 20 years ago.  a stock market apocalypse within an ecological apocalypse might be imperceptible.  it matters little who is in office ... or some mite recommend voting (with ballot or "bullet") for the most self-destructible candidate in order to smash the unwitting possibly human system causing the greater of two apocalypses, to hope to stop it and reverse it in time.  a species' self-sacrifice for the greater good.  just like driving a car or eating meat.  lemmings.  genetically saving ourselves in spite of our rational selves' confusion.  maybe that's what we're doing in our most exubriant voting.  for the first time maybe ever changing the old addage "voting for the lesser of two evils" to "voting for the greater of two evils".  it may be both rational and genetic, when we reach the point of political system who provides the least popularly favorite candidates in the history of the two-and-a-half century experiment even before the world war we, the class of 64, are the quintessential babies of, right at the exact time perhaps of greatest need.  maybe not.

i've just now thot and fought seriously putting this above paragraph into rhyme, but i do not want to mock Robert, or Ruth or Patrick or Jeanne, but rather to join in my own most awkward, authentic way to this divine necessary artful, heartful, & mindful breaking the silence … of our collective conscious.  please accept this prose pome, respectfully submitted.  — minutes.  secretary Campbell Soup, South Hall, seeking corrections and approval for next meeting.

1-2-17

Robert Lindner

Matters of Importance

I think it’s amusing, that I’m musing,

On this poem, and the words, I’m choosing,

To reflect on matters of importance,

Hoping to make points without pretense,

And causing no one the slightest offence

And still have a poem that makes some sense

But I do not wish to cause any grief,

To those who have a different belief.

So for the New Year, I wish all good luck!

And quote from Shakespeare’s little rascal Puck,

“Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.”

And here’s my poem on the global mess.

Altered for political correctness.

Today, the world’s population will grow

By two-hundred thousand and tomorrow,

It will increase by more, the clock will show,

As it counts births and deaths, so we can know

How fast we are increasing the human toll,

On the earth, we know it’s out of control,

As we reach seven and one half billion,

With last year’s increase of ninety million,

The clock is ticking, as we fill the earth

With our numbers that grow faster, with birth

After birth, outnumbering the deaths, we

Consider tragic, but we fail to see

The real tragedy of our exploding

Population growth, which is eroding

The earth’s resources, on which we depend, 

It’s a vicious cycle, with a bad end.

We need to find a way to prevent it,

But we will need someone to invent it,

The way out of our predicament, it

Is hard to see how we stop our decent, it

Seems there is no global motivation,

To stop the exploding population.

Some believe, “Be fruitful and multiply.”

And many are too eager to comply.

So we multiply the hungry faces,

There is famine in too many places.

The populations, the earth can’t sustain,

Burn the forest, and crowd onto the plain,

And fill cities, till they’re overflowing,

And cities need fuel to keep them going,

The cities must burn coal and oil and gas

To meet the demands of their growing mass,

They’re filling their skies with polluted air,

So it’s hard to breathe for those who live there,

We’re choking on our multiplication,

As the clock ticks count the population,

Ticking, one by one, million by million,

We’ll burn tons of fuel, almost ten billion

Tons per year, warming the earth more each year,

With more greenhouse gas in the atmosphere,

Another vicious cycle, some pretend,

Is a hoax, not real, so they can defend

Their selfish greed, knowing we want and need

The power fuel provides, so they can impede

Changes in the way power is supplied,

They seed doubt. so warming can be denied,

They feed their bank accounts and they don’t care

About warming because they won’t be there,

When the warming earth gets to the point where

Its effects affects them. So what if their

Grandchildren may be affected after

They’re gone. So they joke and hope the laughter

Will drown out the serious changes which

Are there, harming others, as they get rich.

All because the population will grow,

And most of the population won’t know,

That they’re the reason that droughts last longer,

That they’re the reason the storms are stronger,

That they’re the reason for the coastal flood,

That they’re the reason for the sliding mud,

Not individually, but en masse,

We, humans, burn tons of coal, oil and gas,

Billions of tons, with more and more each year,

Damaging the earth and its atmosphere.

It’s a vicious cycle with a bad ending,

But we’d rather go about pretending

That global warming is a Chinese hoax

And we’d rather listen to warming jokes.

By lying deniers, who serve the rich,

Than believe in the complex changes which

May involve sacrifice and disruption.

We’d rather believe, it’s all corruption,

Than make changes that may be hard to make

For populations, with so much at stake,

The clock’s still ticking, as we fill the air

With the cries of new babies born somewhere,

And cries for more food to feed their demand,

And cries for increased room, more space, more land,

More fuel, billions of reasons to want more,

The competition is fierce and leads to war,

And other undesired outcomes, as we know,

That history shows happens as we grow

In population. The clock is ticking.

Who shall survive, and who’ll do the picking?

We’re in a pickle, in a pickle jar,

We have been too fruitful, so here we are,

In our billions and we will multiply,

It’s a vicious cycle and we must try

To find a way out, we’re clever enough,

We’re resourceful, but the choices are tough.

But we can make them, if we have the will.

Still today, we will continue to fill

The earth, birth after birth, with our kind

Each one with a brain, each one with a mind,

That may find the solution, may unlock,

Solve the enigma of the ticking clock.

I agree with Nicole Kidman, we need to support the new president for the good of the country.