www.whyville.net Nov 28, 2007 Weekly Issue



Giggler01
Times Writer

The Firetrucks

Users' Rating
Rate this article
 
FRONT PAGE
CREATIVE WRITING
SCIENCE
HOT TOPICS
POLITICS
HEALTH
PANDEMIC

I must admit that some days it is harder to get out of bed than others. I mean, it's really hard. I mean it's REALLY, REALLY hard. I might even go so far as to say unbearable. You know that ten second period in the morning when you first wake up and you don't really know who you are or where you are? Those ten seconds are the best moments in my day. Everyday. Without fail, without exception. Because it's always in that eleventh second (sometimes it's twelfth or thirteenth second - I must admit), that my brain magically find itself fully functional. Somehow, my brain always manages to regroup as the sunlight creeps through the window and then the thoughts start.

Oh, the thoughts. The thoughts are what make getting out of bed unbearable.

You see, I live next to a fire hall. It is a lovely fire hall, and the fire trucks are a sight to behold - but fire trucks themselves are a noisy business, let me tell you. When you live in the downtown core of a city which has a population close to one million, there seems to be a lot of fires. Of course, these fires seem to defy the laws of physics in that they never let off any smoke - as least as far as I can tell, since black plumes are never visible in the skyline, but then again - what can you see in the skyline besides skyscrapers? So, as the siren of fire truck whizzes by my apartment every morning I begin to feel a little claustrophobic, thinking about all the buildings downtown. Did you know that despite growing up in a city, I could see wheat fields that stretched for miles from my front window? Living downtown, I have begun to ask myself whether that wheat field really existed. I feel as though I could run and run and run and I would never see another wheat field again. No, I am trapped. With cars, and trucks, and buildings and smog. Oh, smog.

You see, we look back on history and laugh. People used to believe that humans could die from sleeping on their backs? Nonsense! What fools they were! But what do you think people will say when they look back and examine us. I won't even exist to history. No one will even know. That's terrifying - but unavoidable, I suppose. And since it is unavoidable, we must persevere and focus on the reality - that being that societies of the future will not marvel in wonder at our own accomplishments as we have. No, instead societies of the future will look back and think to themselves "Nonsense! What fools they were!" And it won't be without reason.

We claim to be such an elite, advanced society. Ha! Look at what we put into our bodies. Caffeine that makes our heart race until it reaches the finish line prematurely. Aspartame that eats our stomachs until we can no longer feed ourselves. Fast food, that isn't really food at all. And of course nicotine which conveniently soothes any lingering worries we might entertain about toxins in our daily lives. Did you know that plastic, when viewed under a microscope resembles cells and these cells flake off into our foods, and subsequently our bodies where they imitate estrogen? Well maybe you don't know this, but I assure you that the right people do. They also know that plastics can only be recycled six or seven times, but glass can be recycled until humans manage render themselves obsolete. So instead of putting caffeine in glass bottles, we package soda in plastic bottle - which seems appropriate. Who has time to worry about the effects of plastic on human health if we can't be bothered to worry about caffeine!

And recycling. That's a whole other thing. If historians can look back and analyze our society it'll be a miracle in and of itself because if we can't even take care of ourselves, how will we care for anything else in the world. That's right, global warming and climate change and the hole in the ozone will kill us all and we know it, but we've yet to admit it which is a distinctly different concept. Because while the voices on the silver screen scream "STOP!" the voices on the radio don't even know how the ozone and the atmosphere are different. Of course, it is these same voices that say that global warming isn't real - or it is real BUT it's certainly not the fault of human beings! You see, over time methane and carbon dioxide concentrations fluctuate in Earth's atmosphere, a by-product of the sun's variation in energy emissions (which sounds like a lofty claim, coming from someone who can not differentiate the ozone and the atmosphere). Of course, the voices neglect to mention that peaks in this cycle correspond with the ice ages of earth's history - a minor detail when you as smart a race as we are.

Of course - it is at this point in my train of thought that I realize that it will be a lot harder to get out of bed tomorrow, should an ice age arrive. So in the mean time, I will get out of bed for today and deal with tomorrow its problems when they come. Just like everybody else.

-Giggler01

 

Did you like this article?
1 Star = Bleh.5 Stars = Props!
Rate it!
Ymail this article to a friend.
Discuss this article in the Forums.

  Back to front page


times@whyville.net
7781