INCOMPATIBLE

You often tell children:

“The world is what it is.

If you cannot change it,

you’d better get used to it.”

What kind of logic is that?

To live, one must accept diminishment —

if sunlight is blocked out,

your eyes must adapt to the gloom;

if smog is too thick to disperse,

your lungs should breathe partially;

if fake foods are everywhere,

your stomach must grow stronger.

In any event, people all live the same way.

If the world continued like that,

humans would diminish by the generation,

regressing to animals, eventually

to plants and stones.

All progress starts with incompatibility —

people try to change their surroundings

to make conditions fit themselves.

Drop your adaptability

and let children learn

to become incompatible.