May 5, 2020

The Great Realization

This isn't a poetry blog but I thought this video created by Probably Tomfoolery, set a perfect tone for our current situation. With so much negative news, partisanship, and mistrust in society, maybe this pandemic gives us a chance to look at the world through a different lens. To see a different set of priorities. To take a break from our screens and see the world around us. It's an opportunity to make some radical changes. Not just for health and safety, but for the way with go about our daily lives and what we value as a society. The Great Realization is not just a bedtime story, it's a thoughtful commentary on the world today.


The Great Realization

Tell me the one about the virus again. Then I’ll go to bed,
but my boy you’re growing weary, sleepy thoughts about your head.

Please that one’s my favorite I promise just once more.
Okay, snuggle down my boy though I know you know full well,
the story starts before then, in a world I once would dwell.

It was a world of waste and wonder, of poverty implanted back before we understood, why hindsight was 20/20.

You see, the people came up with companies to trade across all lands,
but they swelled and got much bigger than we ever could have planned.

We always had our wants but now it got so quick,
you could have anything you dreamed of, in a day and with a click.

We noticed families had stopped talking, that's not to say they never spoke,
but the meaning must have melted and the work-life balance broke.

And the children's eyes grew square but every toddler had a phone,
they filtered out the imperfections but amidst the noise, they felt alone.

And every day the skies grew thicker, and you couldn't see the stars,
so we flew in planes to find them, while down below we filled our cars.

We drive around all day in circles, we'd forgotten how to run,
we swapped the grass for tarmac, shrunk the parks 'till there were none.

We filled the sea with plastic 'cause waste was never capped,
until each day when you went fishing, you'd pull them out already wrapped.

And while we drank, and smoked, and gambled, our leaders taught us why,
it's best to not upset the lobbies, more convenient to die.

But then in 2020, a new virus came our way,
the governments reacted and told us all to hideaway.

While we all were hidden amidst the fear, and all the while,
people dusted off their instincts they remembered how to smile.

They started clapping to say thank you, and calling up their mums,
and while the car keys gathered dust, they would look forward to their runs.

And with the skies less full of voyagers, the earth began to breath,
and the beaches bore new wildlife that scuttled off into the seas.

Some people started dancing, some were singing, some were baking.
We’d grown so used to bad news but some good news was in the making.

And so when we found the cure and were allowed to go outside,
we all preferred the world we found, to the one we left behind.

Old habits became extinct and they made way for the new,
and every simple act of kindness was now given its due.

But why did it take a virus to bring the people back together?
Well sometimes you have to get sick, my boy, before you start feeling better.

Now lie down dream of tomorrow, and all the things that we can do,
and who knows if you dream hard enough, maybe some of them will come true.

We now call it the great realization, and yes, since then there have been many,
but that's the story of how it started, and why hindsight's 20/20.

Source: Probably Tomfoolery

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Eric Dickmann

Eric Dickmann is the founder of The Five Echelon Group, host of the weekly podcast - The Virtual CMO, and a CMO On Demand for a variety of small and midsize companies. An executive leader with over 30 years of experience in marketing, product development, and digital transformation, he has worked with large, global companies and small startups to develop and execute marketing strategies and bring innovative products to the market.

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