True Power's Curse

For years, humans have set out to live as long as possible in hopes to make their lives truly count. In Vonnegut's short story “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” he explores the multitude of down sides that living forever would bring. In Ridland’s poem “Age Looking back on Its Youth” he also speaks to the repercussions of  having something so powerful.The most significant downside that Vonnet explores is over population of people, “... the world wouldn’t be able to support twelve billion people if it wasn't for processed seaweed and saw dust” (Vonnegut 226).

Not only is processed seaweed and saw dust disgusting, but having to eat that would not be the only dilemma that would have to be faced with a constantly growing population. Lack of both space and raw materials would be two other problems that would go hand and hand with people living forever. The two protagonists, Em and Lou, experience such problems, “Hard to believe there used to be all that space between cities”(Vonnegut 225), they are baffled at the idea of there being such a thing as countryside. Another mind boggling concept to them is the abundance of raw materials in the past, “You didn’t have to wait for somebody to die to get a bed or chairs or a stove or anything like that…. Gee whiz, that was nice, before they used up all the raw materials”(Vonnegut 226). Can you imagine how terrible it would be to have to wait for someone to die just to get something as common as a chair???  Em and Lou have very little in terms of amount of space, food or number of possessions; however, they do still possess the power to live forever which is a nontrivial thing.

For years, humans have set out to find ways to remain alive for as long as possible. Both Lou and Em have such a power right at their fingertips, all they must do is drink a substance that has become quite obtainable, “ I wish it was made of something real expensive and hard-to-get instead of mud and dandelions” (Vonnet 224). The first line of Ridland’s poem “Age Looking Back on Its Youth” speaks to exactly this relationship between having a truly powerful gift while at the same time having nothing. “We had so little, yet we had so much:” (Ridlands line 1). This balance of a power mixed with a curse that both writers acknowledge in their works is what brings to two pieces together.