Derek Nichols recently tweeted ^(https://digitalculturesandtranslation.com/goto/https://twitter.com/DerekNichols0/status/438737917628796928/photo/1) a poem written by his 14-year-old brother Jordan.
The brilliant poem can be read both from top to bottom and from bottom to top with both readings offering a completely different meaning – an extremely clever, playful and innovative use of literary techniques.
But above all, Jordan gives us that little bit of hope many of us so frantically look for every day, particularly after reading articles like Christina Paterson’s in The Guardian. Paterson explains that only last week Hollie Gazzard, a young hairdresser who had just finished her shift in the hair salon she worked in, was stabbed to death by a young man. Colleagues screamed as they watched her fall. Paramedics tried, but they couldn’t save her. Most people passing stared, as they always stare when tragedies unfold in front of their eyes. Others didn’t just stare – they whipped out their phones and videoed the drama as it unfolded.
Paterson refers to the work by American psychologist Sara Konrath who has collated evidence from 72 studies all of them indicating that empathy levels among American college students are 40% lower than they were 20 years ago with a particularly sharp drop in the last 10 years. Apparently there’s quite a lot of evidence to show that, as people spend more time watching flickering images online, they spend a lot less time reading books and stories about other people’s lives. A recent study by psychologists at the New York School of Social Research showed that reading literary fiction helped people understand others better. It does this because, in the words of the writer Elizabeth Strout in her novel The Burgess Boys ^(https://digitalculturesandtranslation.com/goto/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/13/the-burgess-boys-elizabeth-strout-review) , it’s the imagination that enables you to “fall feet first into the pocket of someone else’s world”.
If we loose empathy we loose the battle.
So thank you young Jordan, the world is just that little bit better thanks to young people like you.
OUR GENERATION
Our generation will be known for nothing.
Never will anybody say,
We were the peak of mankind.
That is wrong, the truth is
Our generation was a failure.
Thinking that
We actually succeeded
Is a waste. And we know
Living only for money and power
Is the way to go.
Being loving, respectful, and kind
Is a dumb thing to do.
Forgetting about that time,
Will not be easy, but we will try.
Changing our world for the better
Is something we never did.
Giving up
Was how we handled our problems.
Working hard
Was a joke.
We knew that
People thought we couldn’t come back
That might be true,
Unless we turn things around
(Read from bottom to top now)
Reading from bottom to top, the poem reads:
Unless we turn things around
That might be true,
People thought we couldn’t come back
We knew that
Was a joke.
Working hard
Was how we handled our problems.
Giving up
Is something we never did.
Changing our world for the better
Will not be easy, but we will try.
Forgetting about that time,
Is a dumb thing to do.
Being loving, respectful, and kind
Is the way to go.
Living only for money and power
Is a waste. And we know
We actually succeeded
Thinking that
Our generation was a failure.
That is wrong, the truth is
We were the peak of mankind.
Never will anybody say,
Our generation will be known for nothing.