The Religious militant can kill me but he cannot command me;
I do not follow him: I do not subscribe to his ideology
of discord, misery and strife.
His work is not the will of God,
his work is the whim of the Devil.
Beware the religious deceiver;
beware the one who uses Religious Faith
to manipulate followers in order to control them.
Beware the Religious Tyrant, the Religious Bigot,
the Religious Bully;
beware the one who uses Religious Faith
as a blunt instrument to bludgeon others into submission.
Faith under duress is false; Conversion by coercion is a lie.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Brother Martin
Brother Martin was a man, an American and a Christian.
He was my countryman, my fellow citizen.
His crusade for Human Rights was two-fold;
-to lift the burden of bigotry from the shoulders of black people
-to lift the burden of hostility from the shoulders of white people.
His desire was to set us all free.
And the world was his house of worship,
and the people were his congregation,
and I believe that, had we met,
he would have been willing to speak to me,
that the color of my skin would not have been a barrier to him.
There were times when the burden of his work
weighed heavily upon him.
He had to rest but, he could not rest;
there was so much work for him to do.
And I wonder, were there times when all he really wanted
was to be a husband to his wife and a father to his children?
But, the Creater of us all needed him to be elsewhere.
And sadly, his work is not quite done.
For, although some progress has been made,
there is still anger and fear across the land.
I am sorry, Brother Martin,
our journey is not yet over.
We still have a way to go,
before we reach the promised land.
He was my countryman, my fellow citizen.
His crusade for Human Rights was two-fold;
-to lift the burden of bigotry from the shoulders of black people
-to lift the burden of hostility from the shoulders of white people.
His desire was to set us all free.
And the world was his house of worship,
and the people were his congregation,
and I believe that, had we met,
he would have been willing to speak to me,
that the color of my skin would not have been a barrier to him.
There were times when the burden of his work
weighed heavily upon him.
He had to rest but, he could not rest;
there was so much work for him to do.
And I wonder, were there times when all he really wanted
was to be a husband to his wife and a father to his children?
But, the Creater of us all needed him to be elsewhere.
And sadly, his work is not quite done.
For, although some progress has been made,
there is still anger and fear across the land.
I am sorry, Brother Martin,
our journey is not yet over.
We still have a way to go,
before we reach the promised land.
Reverse recrimination
Why do you hate me?
Why do you look at me with anger in your eyes?
What have I done to you?
I have never owned slaves.
I have never set fire to a cross.
I have never lynched anyone.
And I have no desire to use the color of your skin against you.
When you see the color of my skin, do you see the enemy?
Please understand, I did not chose the color of my skin.
This is the color God gave me.
So why do we waste precious time with hostility?
You and I belong to humanity.
We belong to one people, one tribe,
and we are all in this together.
Why do you look at me with anger in your eyes?
What have I done to you?
I have never owned slaves.
I have never set fire to a cross.
I have never lynched anyone.
And I have no desire to use the color of your skin against you.
When you see the color of my skin, do you see the enemy?
Please understand, I did not chose the color of my skin.
This is the color God gave me.
So why do we waste precious time with hostility?
You and I belong to humanity.
We belong to one people, one tribe,
and we are all in this together.
Listen!
Women of the world, listen up!
Never, never, never confuse a man.
You confuse him, you lose him.
If you say something to him
that makes himfeel completely befuddled,
he will remain calm.
However, deep inside his brain,
he will be thinking,
"where did that come from?"
And the next thing you know,
he will be looking for the nearest exit.
And it will not matter to him if it is a door,
a window or a gaping whole in the wall.
If he can find it, he will take it!
And he will run, repeat, run for his life.
Never, never, never confuse a man.
You confuse him, you lose him.
If you say something to him
that makes himfeel completely befuddled,
he will remain calm.
However, deep inside his brain,
he will be thinking,
"where did that come from?"
And the next thing you know,
he will be looking for the nearest exit.
And it will not matter to him if it is a door,
a window or a gaping whole in the wall.
If he can find it, he will take it!
And he will run, repeat, run for his life.
The Devil's Land
What was once a Holy Land has become unholy.
What was once a land of faith Has become a land of Hate.
It is a land desecrated by hostility.
It is a land rendered unclean by blood spilled in acts of violence.
See the SelfProclaimed push aside their neighbors,
demolishing homes and uprooting crops.
See the displaced take guns and bombs firmly in hand
to maim and to murder.
And see that most vile monster-
-a creature of evil,
-a demon of darkness,
squatting on the hillside, smiling in grim satisfaction.
So devastating is the strife and suffering of the people
who live in constant suspicion and distrust of each other.
And see the creature glory in its victory;
hear the demon laugh heartily at the misery of all.
(June 2006)
What was once a land of faith Has become a land of Hate.
It is a land desecrated by hostility.
It is a land rendered unclean by blood spilled in acts of violence.
See the SelfProclaimed push aside their neighbors,
demolishing homes and uprooting crops.
See the displaced take guns and bombs firmly in hand
to maim and to murder.
And see that most vile monster-
-a creature of evil,
-a demon of darkness,
squatting on the hillside, smiling in grim satisfaction.
So devastating is the strife and suffering of the people
who live in constant suspicion and distrust of each other.
And see the creature glory in its victory;
hear the demon laugh heartily at the misery of all.
(June 2006)
The Cage
I. Where art thou, O Isreal?
Isreal is not a tract of land;
it is not a political state with physical borders.
Isreal is an idea, a belief, a way of life.
Isreal is an intangible;
it is a matter of the mind and of the heart:
and wherever the Jew goes, so goes Isreal
and wherever the Jew lives, so lives Isreal.
II. What shall we call this hatred?
We have a word to describe the Gentile who hates the Jew;
the word is anti-semite.
What word shall we use to describe the Jew who hates the Gentile?
How shall we describe the Jewish Settler
who looks upon the Palestinian as a pestilence, an infestation, vermin?
How shall we describe the Jew who looks at the gentile
and sees something unclean?
III. Who Will Remember?
An old man sits alone on a stone embankment.
He looks out over the rolling landscape to the far horizon.
"I remember Palestine," he murmurs sadly to himself.
He remembers a time when the land belonged to his people;
he was young then and full of life.
Slowly his thoughts return to the present;
the land now belongs to a different people.
Carefully, he rises and walks in a shuffled gate
to a house that is not a home.
The years of longing weigh heavily upon him.
And then the day arrives when the old man dies.
He was known in life as a virtuous man,
and now he stands before The One Who Is All
and he shall enter into paradise.
But the old man shall not know peace,
for, although he is in paradise,
his people have been denied the right of return.
and when the last elders of his age have died,
who will remember Palestine?
IV. The Politics of Martyrdom
So, it has come to this;
you strap explosives to your chest,
then you go to a public place and set them off.
Very clever!
And you do this for the greater glory of your people
in their stuggle against the other.
Coward! Fool! Murderer!
It requires greater courage to live for your cause than to die for it!
And what of your friends and family?
What is the measure of their suffering?
Oh yes, there are those who will shout your name in ecstacy,
while some will grieve more quietly.
Officials of the ruling council say
that there is no tradition for such violent behavior in their society.
I have news for them; there is now.
And what of the other ? Oh, I see.
In your eyes, they are not quite human.
How convenient!
And so the cycle of fear continues;
arrogance and retaliation! Smugness and revenge!
But which of you is which?
Who is more afraid?
The Other? Or is it you?
(Spring 2003)
Isreal is not a tract of land;
it is not a political state with physical borders.
Isreal is an idea, a belief, a way of life.
Isreal is an intangible;
it is a matter of the mind and of the heart:
and wherever the Jew goes, so goes Isreal
and wherever the Jew lives, so lives Isreal.
II. What shall we call this hatred?
We have a word to describe the Gentile who hates the Jew;
the word is anti-semite.
What word shall we use to describe the Jew who hates the Gentile?
How shall we describe the Jewish Settler
who looks upon the Palestinian as a pestilence, an infestation, vermin?
How shall we describe the Jew who looks at the gentile
and sees something unclean?
III. Who Will Remember?
An old man sits alone on a stone embankment.
He looks out over the rolling landscape to the far horizon.
"I remember Palestine," he murmurs sadly to himself.
He remembers a time when the land belonged to his people;
he was young then and full of life.
Slowly his thoughts return to the present;
the land now belongs to a different people.
Carefully, he rises and walks in a shuffled gate
to a house that is not a home.
The years of longing weigh heavily upon him.
And then the day arrives when the old man dies.
He was known in life as a virtuous man,
and now he stands before The One Who Is All
and he shall enter into paradise.
But the old man shall not know peace,
for, although he is in paradise,
his people have been denied the right of return.
and when the last elders of his age have died,
who will remember Palestine?
IV. The Politics of Martyrdom
So, it has come to this;
you strap explosives to your chest,
then you go to a public place and set them off.
Very clever!
And you do this for the greater glory of your people
in their stuggle against the other.
Coward! Fool! Murderer!
It requires greater courage to live for your cause than to die for it!
And what of your friends and family?
What is the measure of their suffering?
Oh yes, there are those who will shout your name in ecstacy,
while some will grieve more quietly.
Officials of the ruling council say
that there is no tradition for such violent behavior in their society.
I have news for them; there is now.
And what of the other ? Oh, I see.
In your eyes, they are not quite human.
How convenient!
And so the cycle of fear continues;
arrogance and retaliation! Smugness and revenge!
But which of you is which?
Who is more afraid?
The Other? Or is it you?
(Spring 2003)
Bitter times
The so called Holy Land is a playground of
encroachment and dislocation,
corruption and suicidal bombast.
Militant Palestinians long to drive the jews of Isreal into the sea;
Jewish Settles yearn to render Palestinians landless.
From the Arabian sea to the Bay of Bengal,
Hindus and muslims sneer at each others' temple sites
and other tracks of real estate.
In the northern corner of the emerald isle,
Christians squabble over who owns Christ.
In Bali, Paradise burns!
Residents and visitors experience a staggering blast and a furious fire.
Balinese weep with barely concealed rage.
Australians grieve and turn their heart wrenching stares
to the rest of the world and murmur,
"we are not so far away, are we?"
Argentina is broken and people appear on a tv game show to win a job.
China maintains a stranglehold on tibet
while citizens of Taiwan look on and wonder,
"are we next?"
See great big Russia pick on tiny little Chechnya.
Watch with horrified fascination through drunken blood shot eyes
as the Russsian Army marches a Swaggering dance step through
the blighted Chechen landscape.
A Saudi Prince has the benefit of a well rounded education;
he learns to play chess with one hand and poker with the other.
Years ago, in North Korea, the inmates took over the asylum.
Not much has changed over the years... or has it?
Iraq has a crazy man running the shop;
tricky coyote, crazy like a fox.
Does Democracy work in Pakistan?
Does Tyranny work in Pakistan?
What works in Pakistan?
Indonesia stands on uncertain ground with one foot in the west
and the other in the middle east.
What would Iran be like without Theocracy?
Sierra Leone is a land of limbless people and bloody red diamonds.
Zimbabwe turns racism on its head;
what happens when black governments terrorize white farmers?
Starvation!
Columbia smolders in Civil War;
Guns from the left and guns from the right:
Guns from the government and gunners running drugs.
What is Chili after Pinochet?
What is Peru after Fujimori?
Welcome to the United States of America,
land of the crooked corporate executive
and the gun toting sniper,
where political influence is for sale to the highest bidder;
it's Democracy of the Rich, by the Rich, for the Rich,
and everyone else be damned.
It doesn't matter which party you choose,
they're all the same about money.
The political philosophy of America today is...
if you don't have money, to hell with you.
What will become of Cuba after Fidel Castro?
Rwanda and Cambodia are bone yards.
Somalia is a broken landscape of
fractured jigsaw puzzle pieces
that don't fit together.
In Nigeria, a woman may be stoned to death
for the crime of adultery but, what happens to the man?
In the Afgan mountains, people dream of bountiful crops,
warm blankets and safe homes.
Children dream of school rooms with alphabets and arithmetics.
Women dream of opportunites and scenery
unobstructed by the grill of the birka.
Men dream love poems of soft hair, bright eyes and warm lips.
Be at peace, good people;
Dream of one thousand horsemen standing tall in their saddles:
Dream of one thousand horses running free on the highland plains.
Bosnia and Kosovo are pressure cookers.
Guatemala, Nicaraqua and El Salvador have old wounds and secrets.
(Nov.2002)
encroachment and dislocation,
corruption and suicidal bombast.
Militant Palestinians long to drive the jews of Isreal into the sea;
Jewish Settles yearn to render Palestinians landless.
From the Arabian sea to the Bay of Bengal,
Hindus and muslims sneer at each others' temple sites
and other tracks of real estate.
In the northern corner of the emerald isle,
Christians squabble over who owns Christ.
In Bali, Paradise burns!
Residents and visitors experience a staggering blast and a furious fire.
Balinese weep with barely concealed rage.
Australians grieve and turn their heart wrenching stares
to the rest of the world and murmur,
"we are not so far away, are we?"
Argentina is broken and people appear on a tv game show to win a job.
China maintains a stranglehold on tibet
while citizens of Taiwan look on and wonder,
"are we next?"
See great big Russia pick on tiny little Chechnya.
Watch with horrified fascination through drunken blood shot eyes
as the Russsian Army marches a Swaggering dance step through
the blighted Chechen landscape.
A Saudi Prince has the benefit of a well rounded education;
he learns to play chess with one hand and poker with the other.
Years ago, in North Korea, the inmates took over the asylum.
Not much has changed over the years... or has it?
Iraq has a crazy man running the shop;
tricky coyote, crazy like a fox.
Does Democracy work in Pakistan?
Does Tyranny work in Pakistan?
What works in Pakistan?
Indonesia stands on uncertain ground with one foot in the west
and the other in the middle east.
What would Iran be like without Theocracy?
Sierra Leone is a land of limbless people and bloody red diamonds.
Zimbabwe turns racism on its head;
what happens when black governments terrorize white farmers?
Starvation!
Columbia smolders in Civil War;
Guns from the left and guns from the right:
Guns from the government and gunners running drugs.
What is Chili after Pinochet?
What is Peru after Fujimori?
Welcome to the United States of America,
land of the crooked corporate executive
and the gun toting sniper,
where political influence is for sale to the highest bidder;
it's Democracy of the Rich, by the Rich, for the Rich,
and everyone else be damned.
It doesn't matter which party you choose,
they're all the same about money.
The political philosophy of America today is...
if you don't have money, to hell with you.
What will become of Cuba after Fidel Castro?
Rwanda and Cambodia are bone yards.
Somalia is a broken landscape of
fractured jigsaw puzzle pieces
that don't fit together.
In Nigeria, a woman may be stoned to death
for the crime of adultery but, what happens to the man?
In the Afgan mountains, people dream of bountiful crops,
warm blankets and safe homes.
Children dream of school rooms with alphabets and arithmetics.
Women dream of opportunites and scenery
unobstructed by the grill of the birka.
Men dream love poems of soft hair, bright eyes and warm lips.
Be at peace, good people;
Dream of one thousand horsemen standing tall in their saddles:
Dream of one thousand horses running free on the highland plains.
Bosnia and Kosovo are pressure cookers.
Guatemala, Nicaraqua and El Salvador have old wounds and secrets.
(Nov.2002)
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