We’re a little disappointed if that threatening storm
peters out before it makes landfall, if evacuation orders
were for naught, if the eager warriors choose diplomacy
at the last minute, instead of launching the missiles.

We love the blockbuster movies where everything gets
blown up — the bigger the blast, the higher the body count,
the greater the devastation, the more bloodthirsty
the villain, the more we enjoy our popcorn.

If we leave the theater and see a dog getting mistreated,
we will raise bloody hell, but yawn and flip the channel
when another black man is gunned down by the police.

We want our earthquakes to register 10 on the scale,
our floods to sweep away whole villages, our asteroids
for once to not be near misses — our cameras are ready!

That being so, perhaps one might be tempted to inquire:

what kind of schizophrenic species prepares for its own
extinction by spending all of its resources accumulating
enough nuclear weapons to wipe out life on the planet,
but then amuses itself by posting cute animal videos
and giggling babies on its social media channels?

Maybe Earth is the place where advanced civilizations
send their repeat offenders as a form of tough love,
to scare them enough so that they will finally
repent and promise to properly behave?

The experts claim that we tend to deny our “shadow”,
but it seems just the opposite to me — we love to celebrate
the dark side, while the light becomes more difficult to see.