Tapping into Social Conscience OR Shaking Up Society

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

Few people set out to deliberately hurt others. It’s just a sad fact of human nature that some  are so blinkered to any if not all home truths that it’s just the way they are; we can take it or leave it. More needs to be done, especially in schools, by way of educating the blinkered among us to the harsher realities of life, an how we can combat them.

With several people who have played a significant part in my life, it took 20+ years before I finally decided to call it a day. Since being diagnosed with prostate cancer in February 2011, I have written off more fair weather friendships. 

There was a time I’d have been philosophical to the extent of being stoical and simply accepted the situation, telling myself I was being selfish and others had their own lives to lead and resuming the friendship once this or that crisis to which I had been subjected and they preferred to turn a blind eye had passed. Not anymore though. Since turning 60 (born in 1945) I decided that enough is enough, and time is too precious to waste on such people. .

So why do I feel so guilty about it...?

It is easy enough to jump to wrong conclusions or fall prey to false impressions passed on and further distorted by gossips, hackers and the like. I guess we need to give people - especially family and friends - the benefit of any doubt; it works both ways, though ... doesn't it?

[Update 2/2016: I still feel much the same way if not more so. Having spent nearly eighteen months learning to walk again after smashing up my foot in a bad fall during the summer of 2014, I now know for sure who my real friends are. I was housebound for five months during which relatively few so-called friends could be bothered to even pick up a phone for a chat, which would have meant a lot. Oh, I haven't given up on all my fair weather friends, but our association is much the worse for wear and I will see to it that I spend far less time with them than in future.]

This poem is a kenning.

TAPPING INTO SOCIAL CONSCIENCE or SHAKING UP SOCIETY

I’ve run the gauntlet

of love, life, fun, and tears,

trying to make the best

of things rather than complain

about the worst years,

struggling to rise above

the pain human beings

inflict upon each other time

and time again

I turn to nature

for comfort and brief respite

from a daily torture

humanity asks me to endure

with all the dignity

and stoicism of someone

always expected to put

other people’s needs before

his or her own

I lie awake at night

wondering who or what

is wrong or right

amongst all that’s been said

and done in the course

of whatever merry chase

mischievous Apollo

and outcast Cassiopeia care

to lead us on

I am that heartbeat of humanity
embracing its own vulnerability

Copyright R. N. Taber 2011

Hero in the Line of Fire

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

[Update Jan 7, 2018: Today marks three years to the day since the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris. We should not and dare not forget...] RT

Today's poem was written several years ago, but will resonate today with believers in Freedom of Speech worldwide.

What appears to have been yet another barbaric act of terrorism in Paris on staff of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing and injuring a number of people, including two police officers, is a terrifying reminder of the times in which we live. There is NO excuse for it whatever.

The killers were reportedly heard shouting what translates as ‘We have avenged the prophet’; a prophet who would have been appalled to have His name so abused.

Humour, especially satire, will always be controversial, but should never be allowed to fall victim to either political correctness or any socio-cultural-religious persuasion. It is one of the most effective Weapons of Peace by which various elements of society can be freely criticised. The keyword here, of course, is ‘freely’. All of us - especially writers and journalists - must feel free to criticise wherever and whenever they feel criticism is justified. Others, of course, must be similarly free to agree or disagree.

Any attack on Free Speech is an attack on us all. We can but trust the perpetrators of this latest horrific event will be tracked down and brought to justice.

I love Paris and the French people. My thoughts and sympathies - as I imagine those of all my readers - are especially with the families and friends of those killed and injured in Paris earlier today. May they draw on the power of love to help them through the coming hours, days, months and years with the kind of strength and courage that epitomises the very best of human nature.

Where certain elements of any society are inclined (as are all of us, up to a point) to take its beliefs as 'written on tablets of stone' these are - and always will be - a legitimate target for satire if only to encourage us be less inflexible and/or dogmatic. We need to regularly review our perspectives on life, including those on the society in which we live, and at the very least draw attention to any perceived failings. Isn't this what a free press - indeed, free speech - is all about? This, too, I fear has been increasingly under threat for some years, especially by a significant (but vocal) minority who so love to play this or that socio-cultural-religious card...

This poem is a villanelle.

HERO IN THE LINE OF FIRE 

Where society a hypocrite or liar,
politics the ultimate blame game,
find a sharp-tongued ally in satire

Invariably, no smoke without fire,
(point the finger, give it a name)
where society a hypocrite and liar

Global warming, threat more dire
for all those repudiating the same;
find a sharp-tongued ally in satire

World leaders, negotiating its mire
(power, among the perks of fame)
where society a hypocrite and liar

Religion, where AIDS toll higher,
its rhetoric loud, reasoning lame;
find a sharp-tongued ally in satire

Drugs-arms dealers loath to retire,
(Greed, the name of the game);
where society a hypocrite and liar,
find a sharp-tongued ally in satire

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010; 2012

Poor Sparrow

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

While this overcrowded island of ours badly needs more (affordable) housing, we must protect what remains of our green and pleasant land. So many birds are losing their natural habitats. This is not only bad news for the, but bad news for us too.

Let’s all speak up to save our trees and woodlands, and make sure there are always green fields nearby for everyone to enjoy, especially our children, and wildlife too… 

POOR SPARROW

Once a village, quickly became a town;

green fields now a housing estate

where we lowered poor sparrow down

In lanes we’d watch the harvest sown,

now highways, commuters running late;

once a village, quickly became a town

Of daisies a tree nymph’s spring gown

within creak, squeak, of a trellis gate

where we lowered poor sparrow down

More peace and quiet than ever known,

though small politics its fishwives berate;

once a village, quickly became a town

Office blocks where kites once flown,

nature’s finest gone for cheapskate

where we lowered poor sparrow down

Long years past, we children grown,

memories like sunlight on wet roof slate;

once a village, quickly became a town

where we lowered poor sparrow down

[From: Accomplices To Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]