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Bow to
Bail
Out
!he !wentieth
OenturJ
We have discovered how
to prevent heart attacks
but not war. We can send
astronauts to the moon and
bring them back, but we
can ' t bring our armies
home. ls there a way to
begin al! over and make
the Twentieth Century the
First Century of the New
World Tomorrow?
by
Paul Kroll
I
N
1968,
A LEADlNG
American publi–
cation asked Jive cartoonists to
com–
ment on how to save the 20th
century from its great problems.
The author of Pogo carne up with a
unique answer. His cartoon story was
cast in the guise of a new motion pic–
ture production. The title was:
How to
Bail
01Jt
the 20th Cmtmy.
On the set,
the directors discuss the picture's
approach.
Pogo asks, "Y-gonna show how to
save what's left of this noble ex-spear–
miot
?"
The director advises, "We go
back! Start over in 1900." Another
d1aracter chimes in by saying, "We
knock off World War
l."
The Place to Begin
"But," retorts Pogo, "ya also must
get rid of the reasons for World War
I ... better start the century in 1850."
The actors, directors and producers keep
going further and fmther back through
history. But each problem has a cause
still fnrther back
in
the reaches of
history.
Finally, the director summons Pogo
to sit on a rock with Miss Hepzibah. He
tells Snavely the snake to get in front of
them with a temptation apple. The dí–
rector darts behind the camera and
shouts, "Roll 'em. My angle ís tbe 20th
century begins in the Garden of E ..."
But before he can finish the word
"Eden," Miss Hepzibah, alías Eve, takes
an umbrella to the snake's head and
demolishes the apple.
"Cut! Cut! That ain't in the script,"
shouts the director. "Keep it in!" his
assistant vociferously interrupts, "That's
the bran' new head-start angle you been
after."
Pogo's creator had hit upon a most
profound insight into the
WHY'S
of
today's d1aotic world. Simply stated:
W e need to start all over from scratch!
We stand in the 20th century, at the
end of six thousand years of recordcd
history, with two alternatives. Either a
new era of solutions will be ushered in,
or we face the ultimate apocalyptic
níghtmare. We must have answers as
never before, solutioos to the world's
problems: war . . . famine . . . family
chaos . . . disease . . . insurrection . . .
crime . . . poverty . . . economic woes
... urban chaos ... emotional problems.
But before you get turned off about
"another one of those doomsday ap–
proach articles," read on. There will be
no catalogíng of the obvious here.
However, we wiU refer to the irony
behind the problems of our day and
explain why we need a fresh «Garden
of Eden" beginning.
A Generation That Understands
You and I live in an aware gener–
ation. We are all too conscious of the
perplexities plaguing our world. An
iocessant barrage
of
bad news bombards
our senses through television, news–
papers, magazines.
Even our music reflects the yearning
we have for a Garden of Eden, un–
spoiled by the serpent's temptation. Lis–
ten to the words of one popular song:
"He ain't heavy ... he's my bco–
ther . .. his welfare is
my
concern.
No burden is he to bear, we'll get there.
1f
l'm ladeo at all, l'm ladeo with sad–
ness that everyone's heart isn't Jilled
with the gladness of love for one
another."
Drive clown the street and look at the
car bumpers coming towards you. You
may well see a "Make Love Not War"
sticker. Nów someone had a point there.
If
we say love is an outgoing concern,
a love-thy-neighbor-as-thyself concept,
then we certainly do oeed to make love
and not war.
But how? Perhaps a fresh start
would put us on the right path.
"If
only I could live rny life over again, I'd
do such and such," we often muse. We
yearn for a fresh start, to get to sorne
unspoiled beginning and have at it all
over again. Perhaps without realizing
it, this desire has made America a
nation of crusaders.