As a child, when Daddy fished, I carried the rod. As a teen, I had my own — and we fished along. The river was clean, the catch was good, catfish biting, and the trout fighting. Now Daddy's gone, I am on my own. But the river runs brown, and the water's sinking low. The algae bloom, the fish don't show. Modern life collides with nature. We take, we burn, we waste, we kill. The air gets hotter, the oceans rise. Wildfires rage, cyclones tear the skies. We all wanna blame some big man in a suit, in a tower, in a far-off land. But we're all to blame — and myself, the same. I fly, I drive, I buy and throw away. The cheaper, the better — anyway. I ain't preachin'. I ain't clean. I'm just a man caught in between. Caught in modern life, caught in the stream, chasing what I want, and calling it a dream. And if that river runs dead one day, I'll know damn well I helped it that way. We had our chances, we looked away. Society chose growth at any cost. Now there's a price we are all gonna pay. Daddy's gone. My fishing's done. I miss him badly. I miss those days. I want to teach my son, give him Daddy's rod, take him down that river, enjoying it without the "but." If our rivers are gonna run clean and clear, I know it has to start right here. Not tomorrow, not next year. Right here, right now — if we really care. If we really care. I can do something, but society needs to act. It's not the "I", but the "we" that needs to make a real impact. A real impact, a real impact, a real impact.
