1820 Poem by Rue Palmer

DUMBER TODAY THAN 1920

We boast of machines that can think and create,
We travel through space, we communicate—
The world's in our pockets, the future in sight,
Yet somehow we're losing the wisdom of right.

In nineteen-twenty, they had much less,
No screens, no satellites, no internet press.
But people could reason, could gather, could share,
And look at each other with kindness and care.

Today we have knowledge that flows like a stream,
Artificial minds that can answer a dream.
But truth gets distorted, and wisdom gets drowned,
While fools with a microphone shout all around.

We build higher towers, but hearts can fall low,
We speak about peace, then prepare for a blow.
We conquer the heavens, explore distant space,
Yet struggle to live with compassion and grace.

We know every answer, or so we pretend,
But wisdom and knowledge are not always friends.
For knowing much more doesn't make us wise—
A fool can have facts and still follow lies.

So what is progress if hearts don't advance?
What good is our knowledge without circumstance?
If wisdom grows weaker as technology soars,
Then maybe we're dumber than people before.

They had less information, but sometimes more sense,
Less power to destroy, yet stronger defense.
Perhaps what we've gained isn't all that we've won—
For the smartest of ages can still come undone.

So judge us not by the things we have made,
But by how we have lived, by the choices we've weighed.
For if knowledge is king, but compassion is gone,
Then we haven't moved forward—
we've only moved on.with the blue print still in our mind…