The Great Realization         VIRUS bedtime story in Poem Format
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The Great Realization by Tom Foolery

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 is my favorite –
I promise just once more.

Okay. Snuggle down, my boy.
Though I know you know full well,
This story starts before then
In a world I once would dwell.

It was a world of waste and wonder,
Of poverty and plenty.
Back before we understood,
Why hindsight’s 2020.
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’d 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 squarer,
And every toddler had a phone.
They filtered out the imperfections,
But amidst the noise, they felt alone.

And every day the skies grew thicker,
Tilll you couldn’t see the stars.
So we flew in planes to find them,
While down below we filled our cars.

We’d 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,
Because our 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 government reacted,
And told us all to hide away.

But while we all were hidden,
Amidst the fear, and all the while,
The 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 breathe.
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’d 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 got to get sick, my boy,
Before you start feeling better.

Now lie down and 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 2020.