Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Lifespan

Let's say I live till I'm 100
but not beyond.
I'll see the celebrations
of the 100th anniversary of Paul McCartney's birth
but not the 100th anniversary of England winning the World Cup
Will I see the complete domination of driverless cars?
The mass unemployment of people replaced by Artifical Intelligence?
Will I live to witness mass extinction
or human greatness in preventing it?
Will climate changes render present ways of living impossible
before I am lowered into my grave?

Let's say I die in two days' time
that's 1st October 2020.
I won't see my children's journeys through life
Won't be there to help them if they need me.
On the other hand I won't face the pain
of their inevitable upsets and disappointments.
I won't even learn the full consequences
of Covid-19 or Brexit.

Does any of it matter?
Not for the dead, 
but even, ultimately for the living,
is it all just a soap opera
invented in our heads
scriptwritten by Fate
and directed by the Genes
Fate placed into our embroyonic self?

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