Monday, February 20, 2012

An Extravagant Parade

image: epic mahoney


"All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem."
~Martin Luther King, Jr.



We march forward with ungraceful steps like cattle unto a trough.
It is an awkward parade that in drought and rain knows not when to stop. 
The further we go the faster the pace, and the more extravagant is the cost.
For in the parade of progress pieces of humanity can get lost.




This week I was not able to get on the internet this weekend, so I had a friend describe the picture to me on the phone.  She did a wonderful job describing it to me, but somehow I visioned the man riding his bike in the desert heading to a neon lit phonebooth, and progress and its affects came to mind.  So that is why I went with  the progress parade.  After actually seeing the picture this morning, I think I could have gone other directions with it, but like progress there is no turning back for me now.  Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday. :-)

19 comments:

  1. i agree with your assessment of progress...it seems we get farther and farther from ourselves and each other....

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  2. This is a thoughtful description of progress, a more adult version of 'throwing the baby out with the bath water'

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  3. It seems the further we progress the more pieces of humanity can be found by the wayside. Perhaps progress needs a new definition. I like your thinking here. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. In some ways you’ve drawn a very graphic picture yourself and helped us imagine the relentless march of ‘progress’.

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  5. Perfect ... and without an image to guide you.

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  6. "Cattle unto a trough."
    Kind of sad when you think about it...

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  7. Wow, I think you did a great write, especially without seeing the picture! I really like the MLK quote, and love the line, 'It is an awkward parade that in drought and rain knows not when to stop.'

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  8. Wow, I think you did a great write, especially without seeing the picture! I really like the MLK quote, and love the line, 'It is an awkward parade that in drought and rain knows not when to stop.'

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  9. Never apologize for what you have written! Your words fit the image JUST fine.

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  10. oh that was excellent
    and to think you did it without seeing the prompt!

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  11. indeed very good.....thanks for sharing your words

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  12. Perspective: it's all in your perspective.
    Slow down, you're moving too fast...
    rel

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  13. You achieved and interesting perspective on the image, even without a sighting! :)

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  14. There's so much wisdom in this piece, Carrie- especially the last line.

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  15. Your last line is so very telling.

    Kat

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  16. This was excellent given snap circumstance.

    pssst.....between you and me there were a few so far off the picture they landed in the next field.....

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  17. Brilliant words and I think they work really well with the image, even if you had the 'wrong' information to begin with. Quite interesting that, having an image described to you and writing through someone else's eyes... Well done!

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  18. Lovely write...you and your friend did an excellent job...

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"Our best thoughts come from others." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson