http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Not infrequently, readers (among others) people confide
how they feel helpless against a tide of socio-cultural-religious forces
manipulated by various leaders to their own advantage and/or agenda to the detriment of anyone who chooses not to wear a mask. ‘Why are we all so divided?’ someone only recently wailed in my
ear, ‘Why must it take a tragedy like a terrorist atrocity to bring people together …until innate differences start to drive
them apart again?
On the grounds that repeating the
obvious is sometimes necessary if only to prevent its being lost in a sea of
trite, I often make the point in my blogs that our differences do not make us
different, simply human; we can and should learn from them, not gang up against
them. Far too many if not most socio-cultural-religious leaders are invariably
quick to agree in principle, but less willing to practise what they preach.
So… what can we do?
It is (surely?) down to each and
every one of us to live our lives as best we can and try not to be judgemental,
the very trap our leaders and so-called ‘betters’ would have us fall into by
appearing to refute it, thereby planting the very seeds of division in our
minds that suit their individual purposes while cleverly avoiding either blame
or responsibility.
A socio-cultural-religious metaphor
may well be a chess master’s political strategy where the likes of you and I
are taken to be vulnerable pawns; it is, however, a game that two can play...
Being our own person (no pressure or aspiration to be someone else) and living
our lives as best we can, refusing to be put down by unfair
or irrelevant comparisons...now, that is what's known as being on a winning side.
Who wants to go through life being made to feel a loser by so-called 'betters' who are often only any better than the rest of us by virtue of their being in a position to make us feel worse,various if only by pulling invisible strings attached to various socio-cultural-political and/or religious trappings lending them a sense of authority?
ENGAGING WITH DISILLUSIONMENT
What is it really all about,
I’d ask myself as a child, this
growing up
among restless giants…?
Why do giants have a mask
for every occasion, always seem so
wary
of letting any slip…?
(Why must I tread so warily
for fear of offending by just being
honest,
speaking my mind…?)
Diplomacy is all very well,
but no substitute (surely?) for
keeping faith
with basic principles…
Oh, and what of love’s light,
come to guide us through a
darkening world,
but frequently cutting out?
Yes, we need rules to live by
or sheer chaos likely to get the
better of us all,
but who rules what, for whom?
It’s a discerning inner eye
that perceives the flaws in any
moral authority
over anxious to flex its muscles
So where does that leave us,
who can but trust basic instincts
albeit thwarted
at every turn of phrase and policy?
It leaves us strong, stoic, free
to speak up, make ourselves seen,
felt and heard,
risk being ignored, mocked,
bullied…
Or... what has it all been for,
I ask myself each new day as time
rushes on past
and I grow old…?
Copyright R. N. Taber 2017
[Note: An earlier version of this poems appeared on the blog several years ago under the title 'Living with Giants'.]
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