Coco Calling No. 111 - Why Be Alarmed?

One of my favourite party tricks is to imitate the alarm clock. Not the current one, or the one before that, but the alarm clock that my human family used about 12 years ago. If I don’t think that my family’s up by a reasonable hour, I give a loud blast of “beep, beep, beep, beep beep, beep, beep” which usually stirs them into action.

Parrots don’t use alarm clocks. We simply follow our natural diurnal rhythm. We awaken when the sun rises, and we go to sleep when it gets dark. Humans like to be different. They invented the alarm clock in the eighteenth century to give them control over time.

Yes, humans can be very clever, or so they think. But out of all of the inventions they’ve come up with for their daily lives, the alarm clock is probably the most universally despised. The very name says it all. “Alarm” clock. Not “waking” clock. Alarm is a word linked to fear, worry, anxiety and danger. Do humans really want to confront all that as soon as they wake up each morning?

Some alarm clocks make a loud buzzing sound. Some scream. Some mobile phone alarms make a sound like the evacuation siren of the sinking Titanic. An Indian inventor has come up with an alarm clock that gives the sleeper an electric shock if they dare to press the snooze button. And there’s even a Japanese alarm clock that sprays water all over your bed if you don’t turn it off quickly enough.

No wonder that many humans start each new day feeling rather unhappy. Maybe, one day in the future, a human will invent an alarm clock that gently wakes folk up by reciting words from the Bible. Because an early morning message of love, hope, compassion and joy is far more likely to get everyone’s day off to a good start………..

“Sing for joy to the Lord, all the world!

Worship the Lord gladly,

and come before him with joyful songs!

Never forget that the Lord is God!

He made us, and we belong to him;

We are his people, we are his flock……

…..The Lord is good;

His love lasts for ever,

And his faithfulness for all time.”

(Psalm 100)

That would be an “alarm” clock that you’d never want to turn off!