progress, and regression

the reptile brain

each of our lives has a beginning and an end

with growth, change, and improvement coming in between,

it seems easy and right to see the passage of time

as empowering, progressing,

and the next generation taking the torch further,

into a brighter future,

reality keeps slapping me to get it 

that we can slip back just as much as step forward,

that our lesser selves are at least as successful

as our better selves,

that hate can be easier than love,

that the tribal can overwhelm the communal,

I never would have imagined that we would get to the Moon

and not reach soon for Mars,

that we would love our rockets more for GPS and video

than for exploration of the universe,

that we would know science, and then deny it,

emotionally hijacked by our inner Narcissus

and our reptile brain that follows fear

and denies our frontal lobes

that know the dangers into which we stumble.

by Henry H. Walker

September 6, ‘19