They are encouraged to
Be virtuous in their
Service to their superiors,
It being vitally important
To know one’s place and
Dutifully cater to those
Above one’s station,
A self-perpetuating nightmare
If one finds oneself on
The wrong rung of the ladder.
Out of sight, out of luck,
A carefully orchestrated
Farce benefiting disparity.
Out of all the choices
Available to them,
This being a country
Where people actually
Have that luxury,
They decide that hurting
Human beings is
The best they can do,
As if someone told them
That the world is a
Horrible, dark place
Where others are
Out to get you unless you
Destroy them first.
In an enormously wealthy
Nation, cruelty exists
As a pastime relished by
Malefactors with nothing
Better to do than
Step on another neck
To feel better about
Themselves for a moment
While deliriously rolling in
Stacks of money,
Reminding themselves and
Their accomplices how much
Better they are than
Those other people.
You can’t build a thriving,
Egalitarian, democratic society
If you set it up to favor
Only one group at the expense of
All others. Once you’ve given
Every advantage to one segment of
The population, it’s disingenuous
To purport that, because one or two
Of the non-chosen ones succeed,
Equal opportunity actually exists;
Those are the exceptions to the
System you’ve created to make sure
Only certain people prosper.
A strange unease from an
Otherwise ordinary interaction
Occurring at an unusual time.
Message with undertones of
Manipulation, control.
Not everything is well here.
Something else is bound to
Go awry, undesirable circumstance;
Wait for it and hope for the best.
Hard words hit
The psyche, shaping it
Into something it
Wasn’t intended to be,
A bleak, unforgiving place
Where cruelty is normal,
Kindness ridiculed,
Each harsh moment of existence
Another void to fill
With something else grim,
Further suffocating.
It would have been nice
For someone to have asked him
A question on occasion,
See how he’s doing,
What he thinks,
Instead of the obligatory lectures.
Not a single instance
Where his voice was
Deemed important enough
To listen to,
A dreary one-way conversation
The only practice.
He learns how to
Feel unimportant.
His mind at an impasse,
What it’s like to see
The world in only two colors,
Limited palette of options.
Were there a way to persuade
Him of what happens when
The road narrows and
Reason vanishes.
So much more out there,
A vivid landscape
Free from the confines
Of strictures.
Seduced by its
Enticing allure,
He’ll go to any length
To possess it,
Feel it permeate his being,
Cradle him in the comfort of
Knowing he’s above others,
Holding their fate in his hands,
Able to extinguish their lives
If he wishes – mesmerizing,
Intoxicating, dehumanizing.
