Autobiography of a Master Builder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

In the history of humankind, everyone has a conscience or at least an awareness of something for which they deserve to feel a sense of regret, even guilt; whether or not we take much if any notice, of course, is something else altogether. Anyone who chooses to ignore matters of conscience - or block them out, as the case may be -  may well mean they will carry on regardless, even 're-offend'.

We can never quite be rid of any form of self-awareness (and alter ego), whether it be for better or worse; such, perhaps, are the ghost selves that haunt us, manifestations of all we see as mistakes we have made or whatever ...?

History and personal history all have their ghosts; we need to acknowledge these, if only to enlist their aid to prevent either repeating itself, except in a good way, for we are all born into innocence and goodness although fortunate, indeed, is he or she who resists any temptation to stray in an opposite direction, for whatever reason, as we tackle the ups and downs of life on an everyday basis.

We can, all of us, but do our best not to stray, and if we cannot forgive ourselves for such times as we do, we can at least allow our ghosts to remind us not to do so again; in a sense, they are both ego and  alter ego, invariably vying for our attention, not least with the rhetoric of persuasion.  
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AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A  MASTER BUILDER

You’ll find me in no history book,

yet I haunt its pages

among other lively ghosts

left pulling any strings

available in their assured capacity

as a role model figure

of authority, the least likely

to be challenged but by the politics

of ambition and its semantics

I am rarely seen compensating

for any damage done

given that my  preferred brief

has nearly always been

to take the path of least resistance

for just as long as I can

until the next player, poised

to take me over lock, stock and barrel,

ceases to scheme, gets real

I play mind games with humanity

in a contemporaneity

hell bent on putting its house

in order to specifications

as put forward by one of our own,

encouraged and backed

by various related personae

suggesting he or she has to be the best,

for the Here-and-Now at least

I am that bitter-sweet rhetoric of ego
behind every socio-political hero

Copyright R.N. Taber 2020