Against his will,
He is forced to do
Something he doesn’t
Agree with, the machine
Being much more forceful
Than his lonely dissent.
A benevolent experiment
Contaminated by the same
Petty concerns that plague
Countless institutions,
Well-meaning at first,
Later horribly flawed.
They set up a system
That limits certain people’s
Ability to succeed and
Then insult them by
Calling them lazy moochers.
They don’t understand
That myriad hard-working
People don’t succeed
Because they live in a
Country that won’t let them.
All they’ve known is
Privilege and success,
All they do is try to
Make sure nobody
Takes it from them.
They see her as
An existential threat,
This teenage girl
Whose only trespass is
Advocating for education
For all girls.
So terrified are they that
Women might have the ability
To think for themselves,
To assume positions of power,
That they do the only
Thing they know how to.
She survives the point-blank
Shot to her head, a heinous
Act of cowardice by
Gutless followers who fail to
Understand the resilience
Of the human spirit.
He has a deep, unwavering
Belief that the world is
A scary place where we all
Have to compete against
Each other, a notion
Stemming from his urgent
Need for power, that someone
Has to win, that there is
Always a group that is
Dominant over another.
When confronted with
Complex, frightening,
Existential questions,
His aggression surfaces,
Ambiguity being an undesirable
Interloper suggesting that
Something has to change
Though the old ways of
Doing things are so
Much more comforting.
Upon assuming a position
Of influence, he toils
Frantically to impose
Severe rules to control
His perceived subjects,
Demanding strict adherence to
His supreme authority,
Beginning his march toward
Obedience and conformity,
Restoring the status quo.
Extreme myopia,
A near-pathological
Inability to see,
Let alone understand,
Anyone else’s plight,
A dark tunnel excavated
From his own pain.
Lacking self-awareness,
He assumes that
Everyone else’s struggle
Is exactly like his,
That the same variables
Line up exactly
The same way.
Left in his wake,
A swath of agony,
Contorted beings
Crying out for help
That will never come,
The casualties of
Detached indifference.
Maudlin longings for
An idyllic past
When things were better
And everyone got along.
No need to worry about
Those other people
Who aren’t part of
The in group.
It’s always been this way,
Some people make it,
Some don’t, the way
It’s supposed to be.
How to educate our kids:
Woefully underfund
Public schools,
Because we don’t want
To pay taxes,
Then shake our heads
Disingenuously when
They fail and propose
Some half-baked measure
That siphons money away to
Unaccountable private companies,
Or, better yet, encourage
People to use vouchers
To enroll in private or
Sectarian institutions then
Declare emphatically that
We’re doing everything
We can to fix things…
Except properly
Funding the schools.
Two pictures side by side,
One of a beaming symbol of
Institutionalized power and
Subjugation, the other of
A hapless victim of circumstance.
A system set up to favor
Certain people, regardless of
Their actual merit, able to
Do anything they want to anyone
Who doesn’t bow to them.
Us versus them,
Keep them out of our neighborhoods,
Away from our wives and children,
Safely rounded up in their
Crumbling tenements.
There is a moment when,
Under extreme duress,
His resilience leaves him,
Heart stops feeling,
Loses his humanity,
Is no longer able to
Relate to other beings with
Empathy and compassion.
The remainder of his journey
Is consumed by rage and
A compulsion to make sure
Nobody else enjoys life.
