One of the more pressing questions of the day is, which was the more important discovery/invention, fire or the television remote control. Did hunter-gatherers huddle around the fire on the edge of the ice sheet dreaming of a future of ease and comfort, of flat screen televisions, of sit-coms and slanted news? There are people sitting around the virtual campfire today who will tell you the remote control has it all over fire for importance.

 

 

When hunters hunted

And gatherers gathered

Did they sit ‘round

With popcorn slathered

And peach ice cream

On sugar cones

Listening to

The Rolling Stones

The future but

A tiny glint

A long way from

The knapping flint

Or did they dream

Of better days

Of kinder climes

And kinder ways

Of radio

And sit-com shows

And Jerry Springer

Come to blows

With fires banked

Against the night

They slept

Awaiting the first light

Then up again

The morning news

The traffic guy

The weather blues

And so it went

From stone to bronze

Through Milton Berle

And on to Fonz

At last on stone

A chiseled quote

“It all sounds nice

But so remote”