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THE ART OF PROGRESS
They sang you a lullaby to a new Elvis tune,
Then sent you to church while man walked on the moon.
They reveled at Woodstock while you sat through math class,
Then played "The World is a Ghetto" while they waited for gas.
They watched Reagan come up as John Lennon went down
Greeting PCs and Macs as their new kids in town.
Soon you wore tunes on your head and watched songs on TV,
As "We are the World" was just starting to be
The wall that did crumble and the hope that did meet
The lone Chinese rebel stopping tanks on the street.
Until it "Smelled Like Teen Spirit" on a new front at home
As earth and its balance set out a new tome
While the webs and the browsers began their ascent
Leading to a new world to which most people went,
With Google and Yahoo and a universe of small i's
And deciphering the genome became a new prize.
But in its midst a tragegy too horrible to think
As the planes and the hatred Twin Towers did sink.
While from the ashes arose a new generation of youth
Voting at home on TV but not yet in the booth,
Having phones that are "smart" and machines that can "learn"
While vidoes and drones mark their paths at each turn.
The wonders ahead are many, no doubt,
As long as they know from the time they set out
That progress is a bit like a self-driving car,
You won't know where to go unless you know where you are.
The brains of a machine are only a start,
It's what you decide that makes it an art.
Poem "The Art of Progress" © 2014 Dorothy A. Birsic.
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