Thomas Keske wrote:

> 4 BILLION MEN IN A ROWBOAT
>
> Everyday life is a Tiny Titanic
> not a large-screen, romantic movie,
> but an unreported mini-disaster,
> a little rowboat lost at sea
> People you love, cramped around you, uncomfortably
> with a dozen strangers, eyeing you nervously
> hoping to live through the night,
> waiting for shouts from a passing ship,
> the searching beam of a rescuing light
>
> Most will be gone before this night is thru
> when the little life-boat sinks from view
> You tie your family together, so you won't get separated,
> hoping to keep each other from harm
> Startled, you say "Excuse me" to a chunk of ice
> that you accidentally bumped with your arm
>
> You have been killed before, by family ties
> When you urged people to live, but they were determined to die
> They'd had a rough night, they needed a drink
> something to sweeten the taste of life's bitter fruit,
> some pills, a prescription to deaden their pain
>
> Constant struggle was not their strong suit
>
> You know what it means, when you see them
> and the frigid water is like a soothing drug
> They start sinking into the deep
> You try to rouse them, tell them to kick and move
> but they groan and say that they just want to sleep
>
> Beneath the water, fluttering in weak light,
> their faces implore you, not to let go,
> to keep them company, and follow them down
>
> The dead will not follow you
> and you should not follow them
> It is not that you have ceased to care
> but you must cut that cord,
> swim to the surface, and breath the air

The world's population is over 6.5 billion.