Fragile Future If we are not grateful for what we have and there is no hope for a better tomorrow continuation is doubtful, since efforts of improvement rapidly diminish without sufficient reward.
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Want Ads The most dangerous action of irresponsible scientists is sending unmanned vehicles on long voyages announcing to the universe where we are. Please come visit. It’s intelligent to look and listen to who’s out there, somewhere, so we might know in advance if they suddenly drop in for cultural exchanges. After all, if we can’t go to them, they’re […]
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Remnants The once proud avenues of vaunted shops now are deserted. Only the ghosts of employees past haunt the cobwebbed stores, all that remains of the departed unable to get other jobs, abandoned by their masters, unable to adapt to changing circumstances, conditioned to servitude, unfit for opportunities limited to the few capable of functioning in the Information Age.
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Home is Where…. Our masters no longer reside in fortified castles that dominate the lives of all who dwell nearby, nor in grandiose palaces that dazzle the eyes of servants, the envious, seeking crumbs from tables of abundance, not in great mansions that people pass with respect, curious about hidden lives sheltered by prosperity far removed from daily toil […]
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Accidents Will Happen A man walks down the street ears covered with hi-tech headphones playing music from his IPOD, carefully recorded for his listening pleasure, and doesn’t hear the warning sound of a building falling on him. A woman walks down the street eyes intent on her smartphone’s keyboard texting her friend with urgent fingers, describing her latest […]
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Careless Consumption The tide slowly ebbs from Florida shores so tourists walk the beaches without getting wet, never wondering why there are no more seashells. The ocean looks the same to them, not realizing the muddy water was once clear blue, completely untainted. The fishes are departing scooped up in massive nets that do not recognize the need to feed […]
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Manhattan Landlord I ran a swell restaurant for many years on a good block in Manhattan. I wasn’t rich, but made a good living, paid my workers well so they were happy and passed it on to customers. Then my lease ran out. The landlord raised the rent, three hundred percent. There was no way I could […]
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Separate, but… The boss told me I did a good job and the extra hours I put in last week secured a big account. He couldn’t give me a raise because the economy was poor: ‘As soon as earnings pick up’… But it didn’t stop him from a luxury vacation in France and Italy. Now is it just […]
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Transactions Tourists stream through Bryant Park intent on destinations cultural, culinary, diverse entertainment, mostly shopping, acquiring goods too costly at home, pursuit of a bargain once a typical quest of Americans abroad. Now prosperous foreigners rummage our land as we once rummaged theirs. Gary Beck/Ignition Point ‘Ignition Point’ is an unpublished poetry collection that looks at some of […]
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Progress II I think of all the people killed in automobile accidents, can only guess at the numbers millions in America… How many in the rest of the world? Drunk drivers, careless drivers, speeders, lane changers, and the idiots on cell phones, texting, the various disturbances that prevent control of powerful machines that have no intelligence and cannot tell the […]
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