Adventure: GMO

“Hey, you guys, be careful.” “There is a state trooper patrolling across the bridge.” Camo shirts, diesel fumes, and antler graphics adorn the folks around me. “Did you fart in her locker?” a man asks another. “I can’t believe you are saying this in front of your daughter,” a woman says from the side. “I’ve heard it all,” the daughter responds. “Not to mention when I come down to get water and hear what’s going on in the bedroom.” The burger takes one hour and fifteen minutes to arrive. It’s ranked. Number three nationwide. I fidget as the sun gets near the horizon. The burger comes, and it’s worth the wait. She burns her tongue on the onion rings and looks at me in pain.

“The farmers want to plant GMO corn,” she says. “But it’s illegal on state and federal land, so they are planting elsewhere and drawing the birds away from the protected areas.” “And we are six weeks behind,” she adds. The government shutdown. Our beloved cabal of crooks and insider trading specialists, we elect to do us right. It used to be us and them, but now there is a dizzying array of levels in between, and the highest of the high, the billionaires, seem to think that living in a bunker is a future worthwhile.

I’m standing in front of a creature 2.5 million years old. If they could laugh, they would. In fact, they sound like they are laughing, and most likely at us. What must they think of our silly games? Doing what we can to disrupt. In my world, ‘disrupt’ means innovation and the loss of a job. In their world, disruption implies death. I wonder how many of our elected bodies have even seen something like this, or would care if they did. Inside that car with security and a mobile device is a long way from being out in the dust and debris. We need to remember this when they make promises they have no intention of keeping.