Thursday, December 4, 2014

Troubled Times

These are troubled times.
We foolishly elect politicians,
supposedly sane people,
     who refuse to ban any weapons,
     even military style rifles that 
     crazy people use to shoot many,
     many innocent people who die.
And we ask, why?

In these troubled times,
unthinking people want a religious state,
but only a Christian state,
     where symbols offensive to many are flaunted,
     where women are denied reproductive rights,
     where marriage rights are restricted, and
     where a bible story can be taught as science.
And we ask, why?

In these troubled times,
selfish people want everything privatized,
who want little government,
     except to fight wars,
     except to legislate for big business,
     except to weaken programs for the sick and elderly, and
     except for everything that makes the rich richer.
And we ask, why?

In these troubled times,
myopic people worship Old Glory,
forgetting that we are citizens of the planet,
     who would flex more military might,
     who would oppose climate change,
     who would build higher fences, and
     who would send Mexicans home.
And we ask, why?

In these troubled times,
misguided people wage war on women,
and children too,
     who oppose affordable health care,
     who oppose reproductive science,
     who legislate against safe abortion, and
     who deny sick children medical marijuana.
And again we ask, why?

I think I know why.
Actually, I'm certain I know why,
so I am saying it here.
     We have not fully recovered from 9/11.
     We are afraid and want things to be the way they were,
          and can never be again.
     We want to be controlled by religious, political and social ideology
          to manage our fear.
     We need to be controlled to avoid thinking and being genuinely free.
We live in the land of the free, but are we really free?

These are indeed troubled times.
Sadly, it will get worse before it gets better.
Planes flew into our buildings,
     and the bad guys are winning,
     not because of what they did,
     but because of what we are letting them do,
     changing our collective soul.
No, we are not yet free.