What’s the matter with us
that we allow
Endless wars, new wars
Wars, wars and more wars?
Where is the blame to be put
In our history
In our schools
In our movies
In our arenas
In our temples
Or is it the profit motive?
Is it the the exceptionalism idea
that makes us think we have to
Be on top
The most powerful
The most ruthless
The best killers?
What happened to
Thou Shalt Not Kill
What happened to our prophet’s call
to love thy neighbor as thyself
who we call the prince of peace
and not the prince of war?
The madness grows
Is it the lust for death
and not for life
Is it from the talking heads that
Blabber endlessly
on the screens
yet say nothing
because they cannot offend
Money?
Americans, we must do better
We must stop it now
and not tomorrow.
If we insist on being
exceptional,
why not exceptionally for good
instead of for bad?
We can do this if we want to.
we just need to want to enough.
(c) Richard Greve, May, 26, 2019