Social Commentary​

​𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑒𝑚 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢
𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 '𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙' 𝑦𝑜𝑢
𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑟
𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡

𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑥,
𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑
𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑

𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑠,
𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑠
𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑝𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑒s,
𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒.

𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡
𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑
𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘,
So 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑, 𝑜𝑛 a visionary 𝑠𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑

𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠!
𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚,
𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠
𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑠,

𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙
𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝑢𝑛𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑖𝑔𝑠
grunting 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠

𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑑 on 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑑emesne,
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑒,
𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑒'𝑠 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒
when 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑒 is granted by the gunmen

"𝐼𝑡's 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑" they declared
tℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑑,
So tℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑒,
𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙.

𝐿𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠,
𝐶ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑔𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑝𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑦𝑡ℎ
𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡.

"𝐹𝑜𝑜𝑙! 𝑊ℎ𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑤𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡
𝐼𝑛 𝑎 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑜 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠?"
Tℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛 they wore 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.

𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒, take 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟
f𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟,
Just a𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑟,
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐e 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑟.

©B.M. Ella

“Is your personality a moral issue?
We are obligated to be better human beings”.
The two sentences appeared in an email,
I received. Caught my eye. Caught my attention.

“We are obligated to be better human beings”.
In the chaos of the modern world, is there any question,
Any doubt? Maybe there is; free will and modern conservatism
Make an ugly mix. People are angry about being angry

About being angry. We get your point. Being angry
about being angry about being angry! Got it.
So much misdirected, needless anger is unhealthy
And bad for the blood pressure (I am told).

That’s half the question, the ‘we are obligated” bit.
What are we obligated to do, work on; personality?
Wait, slow down; let’s get this in context!
Statement 1: Your/our personality is a MORAL ISSUE!

Statement 2 We are obligated to be better human beings.
Do I consider myself to be part of the moral crisis;
Is there one? The collective pronoun, “we” is used;
You aren’t fooled; it’s getting personal; very personal.

For the past forty years plus, society (meaning we)
Have embraced selfishness; artfully packaged of course;
Neo-liberalism; worshipping the free market
(as in a free market economy). We? Some of us.

Then along came Covid 19; toppled everything on its head.
Economics 101 became “how do we deal with this”?
The problem of a free-market economy is its inequities;
Its yawning gaps in the distribution of wealth.

Is addressing this discrepancy something we must face,
If we are “obligated to become better human beings?”
The answer is “yes”. Is war a crime? This came up
During the Nuremberg Trials - and was quietly shoved aside

(Political sensitivities). I. Who we are, is a moral issue
(How else do you define personalities?). 2. Our obligation
to be better human beings. Shouldn’t this become a topic
of major interest? Considering the money spent on wars

and war machines; the destruction; the refugee crisis it causes.
Is war a crime? Is making war, a crime? For the sake of peace;
Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!. For the record’ Is the subject up for debate?
Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

So, my friends, the topic has been tabled and is open for
(constructive) debate.

1. Is our personality a moral issue?
2. Are we obligated to be better human beings?
Let the discussion begin.

© Leslie D. Bush
2 March 2022

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​Is there more than one universe
A perusal of social media suggests
The answer could be, possible
Yeah, so! What does it mean?

I don’t know. Present interesting images
Does it not? Russia/Ukraine conflict
People dying as we eat, sleep, and relax?
would be attractive to say,

“That’s in another universe,”
It doesn’t affect us. How about tyranny
Oppression, misogyny, stuff like that?
“Another universe; doesn’t affect us!?”

The question of number lies moot
“subject to debate” and “having little
or no practical relevance”, consider
Is it a debate on multiple universes

Or the question of avoidance?
The Russia/Ukraine conflict
The deaths, destruction and desolation
Are real; are happening while we eat, drink

Sleep, lead our lives. Too far away?
Maybe, depends on how you measure
The distance. Tyranny, oppression
(coming to you live from Ukraine)

Misogyny, misunderstanding, misrepresentation
(stuff like that)? Yes, they’re the product of our lifestyle
Lifestyle? Yes, so we won’t be disadvantaged, embarrassed
Made to think, and reconsider our beliefs.

What can we do about ‘it’? The problem’s too big!
Is the problem too big? Yes, no; maybe
What if? What if we chose to care? That’s a start.
Share what we can. Share from the heart?

Multiple universes? Maybe? A search far from
Our ability. Helping others? Begins with simple kindness
Towards family, neighbours, your community
Nad expands from there. Resources are limited

Priorities need to be made. It’s not how much you give
It’s the act of giving; of being aware of a larger, wider community
It’s the act of giving, and sharing; an act that confronts situations
challenges them, and declares “Can I assist you?.”


© Leslie D. Bush
9 March 2022

I've always been a peaceful utopian

Who loves my pink tinted glasses

That reflect my subconscious' unseen

Need for perfection that cleanses,

Bares the pomposity of people's

Conflicts into its squelettal structure,

Eliminating all propensity of pretensions

Of superiority over Others whose race, culture

Differs from one's own,

As their need for power scatters

In the wind, when peoples are blown

Away by their own unity in the face of adversities.

'A unit is as weak or strong as

It's weakest or strongest link',

Is what is usually said, and the truth is,

That its veracity is accurately depicted in a blink.

The wink that binds our words

Into contracts that are unbreakable

In their potency to inflict changes

Honored by helping hands that're audible.

​

© Malak K. Chehab

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