Why Add Fuel To The Fire?

We’re going to take a walk back in time

Through all that’s happened since Billy said “We Didn’t Start The Fire.”

He wasn’t a liar when he said they didn’t light this fire.

But it does continue to burn on, and on, and on…

.

In 1990 — Nelson’s freed, Hubble Space, George H.W.,

Ghost and Home Alone.

Mariah has her debut.

Persian and the Gulf Wars, Human Genome.

.

’91 — Apartheid, Warsaw Pact, and the USSR ended this year.

Dr Suess. Boris Yeltsin. Gulf War Oil Spill.

AOL is here!

.

’92 — Aladdin and The Bodyguard. Desert Storm, Dr. Dre.

John Gotti finally put away.

The police beat Rodney King.

Acquittal and the L.A. Riots.

Listen to “L.A.P.D” by The Offspring.

.

As Billy said, “We didn’t start the fire…”

We’re trying to fight it, but at times we tire.

Corrupt politicians slide a bill through to strengthen their positions.

Arrogance, ambition, a lack of integrity,

These are the only prerequisites they need.

Then, they embark on a mission of greed.

.

We didn’t ignite this, yet we’re the ones left to fight this.

.

Can we quell the flames of this fire?

Can’t you see the situation grows more dire?

The older generations think they can withdraw and retire.

We must join together to fight this quagmire!

.

’93 — Bill Clinton, World Trade, Toni Morrison, Kim Campbell, NAFTA,

Pablo Escobar. European Union.

.

’94 — Three Gorges, Amazon, Friends, TLC

Nelson wins the presidency.

Kurt Cobain, Lion King, and MLB.

Someone keep Tonya away from Nancy.

White Bronco with O.J. inside.

Rwandan Genocide.

.

’95 — Atlantis, Oklahoma City Bomb, Srebrenica genocide,

Million Man March,

Clueless, Dangerous Minds,

Toy Story, ER. O.J. got away.

.

’96 — ICQ, Taliban, Macarena

Unabomber stopped,

Spice Girls, Jerry Maguire,

JonBenet, Tupac

.

’97 — Diana’s gone like A Candle In The Wind.

Hong Kong is back with China again.

Titanic and Tiger Woods.

The magic of Harry Potter begins.

.

’98 — Mark McGwire, Kosovo, Seinfeld and Pokemon.

Clinton’s impeached over the mess left on Lewinsky’s dress.

Good Friday Agreement,

Mitch, Google, and Y2K.

.

’99 — Amadou Diallo, Euro, Michael Jordan,

JFK Jr, Columbine,

Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears,

Woodstock ‘99

.

As Billy said, “We didn’t start the fire…”

We’re trying to fight it, but at times we tire.

Corrupt politicians slide a bill through to strengthen their positions.

Arrogance, ambition, a lack of integrity,

These are the only prerequisites they need.

Then, they embark on a mission of greed.

.

We didn’t ignite this, yet we’re the ones left to fight this.

.

Can we quell the flames of this fire?

Can’t you see the situation grows more dire?

The older generations think they can withdraw and retire.

We must join together to fight this quagmire!

.

2000 — AOL and Time Warner. NSYNC.

Recount in the US.

Survivor, Elian Gonzalez.

Putin became president.

.

’01 — George W., Enron, Stem Cells,

Fast and the Furious, iTunes.

Napster and Lord of the Rings.

Anthrax, 9/11,

What happened to Building 7?

.

’02 — Department of Homeland Security.

WorldCom, American Idol, Arthur Andersen.

Catholic church’s abuses, all kept so secretly.

Their priests were full of sin.

Pats’ Super Bowl win.

.

’03 — Columbia shuttle, Invasion in Iraq,

Abu Ghraib, The Da Vinci Code, Johnny Damon,

Martha Stewart, Norah Jones, Beyonce.

Pirates of the Caribbean.

.

’04 — Christopher Reeve, Ray Charles,

Michael Moore, Arafat, Facebook launch,

Janet Jackson’s halftime raunch.

Patriots win with Vinatieri.

Boxing Day tsunami.

.

’05 — Rosa Parks, Terri Schiavo,

London Bombings, Katrina hit.

Angela Merkel, Lewis Libby,

Bush greenlights NSA.

Wiretaps for all, congress got no say.

.

’06 — Twitter was hatched.

Steve Irwin, Saddam Hussein,

No more hunting with McCain!

.

’07 — Nancy Pelosi, iPhone, FISA,

Benazir Bhutto, Kardashians.

Nuon Chea.

.

’08 — AirBNB, Guantanamo,

Bernie Madoff’s scheme,

Eliot Spitzer, Fidel Castro,

Phelps, TRL, and the Recession.

Had the US heading into a great depression.

.

As Billy said, “We didn’t start the fire…”

We’re trying to fight it, but at times we tire.

Corrupt politicians slide a bill through to strengthen their positions.

Arrogance, ambition, a lack of integrity,

These are the only prerequisites they need.

Then, they embark on a mission of greed.

.

We didn’t ignite this, yet we’re the ones left to fight this.

.

Can we quell the flames of this fire?

Can’t you see the situation grows more dire?

The older generations think they can withdraw and retire.

We must join together to fight this quagmire!

.

’09 — Carol Ann Duffy, Barack Obama, Michael Jackson, Ted Kennedy,

Usain Bolt, Patrick Swayze,

Sonia Sotomayer and Amanda Knox.

.

2010 — Obamacare, Copiapó mine,

MTV cuts the music,

Wikileaks exposes corruption online, Deepwater Horizon explodes and spills.

Haiti is quaking. Will help arrive in time?

.

’11 — Arab Spring, Fukushima,

Kelly Thomas, Elizabeth Taylor,

Syrian war, Kate and William,

Bulger, Ghaddafi, bin Laden too.

Occupy, Wall Street — they’re coming for you!

.

’12 — Whitney Houston, Hosni Mubarak,

Neil Armstrong, Reynaldo Cuevas,

Malala just wanted to read a book.

Hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook.

.

’13 — Boston Marathon and Frozen.

Emergency in Egypt.

Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden.

Broken Windows, PRISM, and the NSA.

Guess Big Brother is here to stay?

.

’14 — Ebola, Flight 370, Bitcoin, ISIS,

Cuba, Shirley Temple, and Maya Angelou.

Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Akai Gurley too.

Eric Garner on the ground.

He can’t breathe, yet they won’t stop.

Mike Brown, “Hands Up!”

“No Justice, No Peace!” Get him up off the ground!

When will justice ever be found?

.

’15 — Refugees and Black Lives Matter,

Paris, Same-Sex Marriage.

Saudi princesses vanish.

Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland.

Chicago PD’s Homan Square,

They’ve been hiding their site for torture there!

.

As Billy said, “We didn’t start the fire…”

We’re trying to fight it, but at times we tire.

Corrupt politicians slide a bill through to strengthen their positions.

Arrogance, ambition, a lack of integrity,

These are the only prerequisites they need.

Then, they embark on a mission of greed.

.

We didn’t ignite this, yet we’re the ones left to fight this.

.

We’re tap-dancing upon a spinning pyre.

Can we quell the flames of this fire?

Can’t you see the situation grows more dire?

The older generations didn’t light it.

They weren’t there when it was ignited,

But please don’t think it’s time to withdraw and retire.

We must join together to fight this quagmire!

.

’16 — China’s One Child, Flint, Michigan,

Zika, and by the way, the Cubs finally win!

Prince, David Bowie, Muhammad Ali,

El Chapo, Russian hacks, and BREXIT too.

Philando Castile, Alton Sterling,

Body and dash, the cams show it all.

How many more bodies will we have to watch fall?

.

’17 — Donald Trump. Who let him tweet?

Kaepernick refused to remain on his feet.

The Women’s March. #MeToo began upping the stakes.

Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria

Left devastation in their wakes.

.

’18 — PG&E Camp Fire, Bill Cosby, Stormy Daniels.

Banksy and Botham Jean,

Government shutdown, Dodgers win.

Guyger’s claiming burglars stop to eat ice cream?

It’s been 20 years since Tupac told us to make Changes.

When will we realize it’s going to take all of humanity to conquer this insanity?

.

’19 — Hong Kong protests.

Notre Dame and Brazil are burning.

There’s kids in cages at the border.

Wuhan’s lab has a virus churning.

Operation Varsity Blues,

Akihito, Avengers too,

Epstein didn’t hang himself.

On camera and in view?

They could’ve stopped what he planned to do.

.

2020 — This one’s a doozy! So, grab a Kleenex, because there is no TP to be found!

Kobe Bryant, Van Halen, Kirk Douglas.

Pelosi tears up Trump’s words,

Boy Scouts cover-up, Harvey Weinstein, Ghislaine’s responsible too.

.

Got the whole world on Zoom and locked down,

Kenny Rogers knew when to fold ’em and not stick around.

Murder Hornets flying around.

Killer in the Golden State,

Ruth Bader, Sturgis Rally,

Goodbye Confederacy!

Stock market crashing.

Breonna, George, and Ahmaud’s murders

Had people in the street clashing.

Apple fire, SCU,

August Complex, LNU,

Death Valley hits 130!

The west coast and Australia’s burning!

Someone, somewhere, tell me what we’re going to do!

.

As Billy said, “We didn’t start the fire…”

We’re trying to fight it, but at times we tire.

Corrupt politicians slide a bill through to strengthen their positions.

Arrogance, ambition, a lack of integrity,

These are the only prerequisites they need.

Then, they embark on a mission of greed.

.

We didn’t ignite this, yet we’re the ones left to fight this.

.

We’re tap-dancing upon a spinning pyre.

Can we quell the flames of this fire?

Can’t you see the situation grows more dire?

The older generations didn’t light it.

They weren’t there when it was ignited,

But please don’t think it’s time to withdraw and retire.

We must join together to fight this quagmire!

.

’21 — Trump impeached, NFTs,

Lockout in the MLB.

Kamala and Joe,

No spectators allowed in Tokyo,

We’ve got billionaires in space,

Big Pharma and the vaccine race,

This year took Betty White away,

What else is there for me to say?

.

’22 — Desmond Tutu, Mahsa Amini,

megadroughts, Sydney floods, Tanis fossils,

Pig’s Heart, Anwar Raslan,

Indian Boarding Schools.

Zara flies ‘round the world.

.

Uvalde. Russia invades Ukraine,

Finally found Shackleton’s remains.

Kelly Slater wins the title, David Ortiz in the Hall Of Fame.

Ketanji Jackson, Roe v. Wade

.

Warhol’s Marilyn, Lima twins.

NASA, UFOs, Google’s Lamda

Will Smith v Chris Rock left everyone in shock.

Microplastics, Monkeypox.

.

R. Kelly, Queen Elizabeth,

Saudis are killing, Inflation is growing.

Elon v. Twitter. Depp v. Heard,

Still can’t believe Amber left a turd!

Johnny and the dogs weren’t to blame.

She just wanted someone else to frame.

.

South Africa’s flooding, Hermit’s Peak is on fire,

Temps are rising in Europe and India.

Suicide is at an all-time high.

The world is struggling with so much uncertainty,

And the ever-growing insanity, is it any wonder why?

.

’23 — AI, TikTok, Dairo Usuga,

Spy balloons, SpaceX fail.

Lebron James, Tom Brady, ChatGPT,

Someone save Maui and the Banyan tree!

AZ judge lets Mormon pedos walk free,

SAG-AFTRA’s on strike. Someone hand them the mic!

Canada’s on fire, and nobody can see!

The year is 2023, and the world is drowning in insanity!

.

We’re trying to fight it, but at times we tire.

Corrupt politicians slide a bill through to strengthen their positions.

Arrogance, ambition, a lack of integrity,

These are the only prerequisites they need.

Then, they embark on a mission of greed.

.

We didn’t ignite this, yet we’re the ones left to fight this.

.

We’re tap-dancing upon a spinning pyre.

Can we quell the flames of this fire?

Can’t you see the situation grows more dire?

The older generations didn’t light it.

They weren’t there when it was ignited,

But please don’t think it’s time to withdraw and retire.

We must join together to fight this quagmire!

We’re tap-dancing upon a spinning pyre.

Can we quell the flames of this fire?

Can’t you see the situation grows more dire?

.

We must find a solution in order to carry on

I assure you there’s no other planet where we will belong.

If we don’t stop the fires, our world will be gone.

We can’t keep going this way. We’re doing it wrong!

We’re tap-dancing upon a spinning pyre.

Can we quell the flames of this fire?

Can’t you see the situation grows more dire?

We didn’t ignite it. We have to fight it.

There’s no escaping this plight.

It’s time to stand together now,

Let’s make it right.

. . .

I think it goes without saying which artist, and song, inspired this! Billy Joel has been a favorite since childhood so I guess an updated version of this was bound to happen eventually. (Yes, I’ve also heard the FOB remake.)

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This poem was originally published on Medium.