Some say the world will end in fire, 
Some say in ice. 
From what I’ve tasted of desire 
I hold with those who favor fire. 
But if it had to perish twice, 
I think I know enough of hate 
To say that for destruction ice 
Is also great 
And would suffice.

-Robert Frost

For years, this poem has been a personal favourite of mine, but I could never explain why.

There’s something about the cadence at which Frost speaks about can speak to the ages. We all imagine the end happening in fire:

• A giant bomb
• A rain of fire via apocalyptic religious finale
• Literal burning of civilization
• War

However, it’s the ice that really hits home the metaphor for today.

Our digital communication has inadvertently created a society that allows those with a callous unconcern for others to have a magnified voice, to ignore life happening in front of us for what’s happening in front of our screens and to confuse nodding our heads at something as action to making change.

Ice doesn’t allow anything to grow, nor does it provide a simple solution for getting rid of it.

You can douse a fire, but you can only cover ice until it melts.

We’re a world physically ravaged by fire, but intimately ravaged by ice.

Perhaps the two can meet in the middle somewhere.