Earth Days Page #10

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or the belief I have,

you know, which has been able

to sustain 35 years

of work on this effort.

And it's the one I'll keep

for the next ten or 20 years,

as long as I'm able

to keep working.

Well, I've always been a, uh...

called myself

a "troubled optimist."

I'm hopeful for the future

despite the recent past,

in the sense that I believe

that you owe a responsibility

to your children,

your grandchildren

and their children.

That's an important concept

of the environmental movement

that will always be there.

While we're deeply engrossed

with all of our little

weekly issues,

if we deal with them

in this larger perspective,

we're engaging

a set of activities

which go way beyond

individual lifespan.

Way beyond children

and grandchildren,

way beyond parents,

grandparents,

great grandparents

to the whole frame

of at least human

civilizational life.

Once you get

comfortable with that,

then you start to, you know,

go further out still

to three and a half billion

years back of life on Earth,

and maybe we'll do another three

and a half billion years.

That's pretty interesting

to try to hold in your mind.

And once you've held it

in your mind,

uh, what do you do on Monday?

Well, I think it's fine

Building jumbo planes

Takin' a ride

On a cosmic train

Switch on summer

From a slot machine

Get what you

want to if you want

'Cause you can get anything

I know we've come a long way

We're changing day to day

But tell me

where do the children play...

Well, you roll on roads

Over fresh green grass

For your lorryloads

Pumping petrol gas

And you make them long

And you make them tough

But they just go on and on

And it seems

that you can't get off

Oh, I know we've come

a long way

We're changing day to day

But tell me,

where do the children play...

Well, you've cracked the sky

Scrapers fill the air

But will you

keep on building higher

Till there's no more

room up there?

Will you make us laugh?

Will you make us cry?

Will you tell us

when to live?

Will you

tell us when to die?

I know we've come a long way

We're changing day to day

But tell me,

where do the children play?

Do-do, do-do

Do-do, do-do, do

Do-do,

do-do, do

Do-do, do, do.

Published 08/26/2013

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