Grandpa Gorman's Cleansing Shower
- chapter 12 -

THE INTERNET -
BLESSING OR CURSE?

Now I don't have to serenade the lovely Juliet I'll just buy me a wife on the internet!

What! You're not yet on the internet? What will people say?
How can you be behind the times this ultra-modern day?

To Hell with what the " pee-pul" say -- don't swallow all you're told,
Do not forget the saying: "All that glitters is not gold."

There are great things on the internet, the world is at your touch.
And I will tell you, honestly, I like it very much.

But, late one night, one sleepless night, browsing on my 'net,
I saw a revelation - a scary one, you bet!

Walk with me in cyberspace - and tell me what you think.
What is coming down the road behind that dot-com link?

What I see are giants like Amazon-dot-com,
Gearing up to sell us all we need, for children, dad and mom.

The small dot-coms are going broke; the big guys will grow tall,
Selling stuff we used to buy in local stores or mall.

Stop and THINK a bit - is this good for your town?
Every sale made on the 'net is local sale gone down.

When cyber-firms work out the bugs, which they will do in time.
They'll lure you with their cyber-ads and take your one last dime.

They'll get it, too - just as did the shopping malls before,
Whose convenient shopping has already ruined the family store.

Every sale made on the 'net means one less for your neighbor.
How can he possibly pay his rent? How can he pay his labor?

So - just as 'puters have destroyed so many old-time jobs,
Now, the 'net is also poised to create more jobless mobs.

They call this "progress"? Going forward? I'd best be going BACK!
When we all rode the American Dream - now badly off the track.

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