Nature and Human Nature Revisited

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

How well I still recall the old childhood cry, “Stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me...” It was a lie I actually believed until I stood on the threshold of my youth as a gay person; I was 14 years-old and it was 1959, not a good time to be of an LGBT persuasion.

There were so many words, insults, faux stereotypical images behind every one of them; queer, faggot, cock-sucker among the least offensive, likely to be thrown at anyone even suspected of being “not normal” or as morally prescribed by the majority heterosexual point of view.

Yes, I know things have changed, but not for everyone and not everywhere. Whenever I recall barely scraping by as a real person, too scared to come of the damn closet until my early 30’s, I feel ashamed of myself and angry that some 40+ years on, there are men and women continuing to suffer much as I did, courtesy of various socio-cultural-religious agendas for bigotry worldwide.

Homophobia, sexism, racism... these could have been minimalised, if not eradicated altogether, had Education but done its job properly in its various academic settings rather than being made to feel it had to ‘play safe’’ by choosing to confine itself to academic life-forces rather than those at the heart of human nature that have made the world go round for centuries. Some may well argue that it is up to parents, not teachers, and they would be right, only how many parents really talk to their children (at any age) about the wider ‘moral’ spectrum beyond what they have chosen for themselves? If pressed, they will invariably say it’s a teacher’s responsibility, but as soon as a teacher attempts to help a class cross academic lines into real-life issues, its usually parents who are the first to express such outrage as likely as not  to be ‘legitimised’ by a social media that appears to prefer fake news and local gossip to anything approaching the facts of a matter, Consequently, offence is often taken where no offence meant other than to give us what we can expect to find outside the school gates... if we haven’t already experienced much of it for ourselves already...

Thank goodness for a level of maturity among many if not most young people these days, teaching them to recognize and differentiate between such fake news, home truths and stereotypes as academia rarely has an opportunity to home in on; where it does, it needs must walk on ‘eggshells’ - for which, read metaphor and simile least likely to cause offence.

Unfortunately, even the most well-intentioned statutes, such as those embracing Human Rights and Equal Opportunities are fair game for anyone whose power of persuasion (or power alone) is such that we may too easily be led (or misled) by their interpreting words to their own advantage, for negative as well as positive reasons. Whatever, the chances are that various media sources - with their own agendas - will provide them with a global audience...

NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE REVISITED 

Sun, beating down on a Covid-stricken Earth,
humanity encouraged yet again by the glorious rebirth
of nature as seasons come into their own,
seeds sown long ago start to flower, bear fruit, whatever
expected of their species, so human nature, too,
continues to rework stories of love and peace, such joys
of life that help compensate for its darker aspects,
wars and (local) hate crime ever among its chief suspects
besides drugs and people smugglers 

Apollo glaring down on a panic-stricken Earth
as if bringing kinder weather might even yet encourage
its communities to get their acts together,
cease making out that God’s in His heaven and all’s right
with a world so bent on making assumptions
that everyone’s okay with  progress keeping Business
in the loop, while having some folks jumping
through more Hoops of Change, only to find mind-body-spirit
as willing as ever, but less and less able 

Past-present-future starting to fall like fake news
on human ears ever wrestling with such sounds and effects
as now raising hopes, now free-falling us
into a sea of despair, waves crashing, that sinking feeling
almost welcome... but... mind-body-spirit
not finished with us yet, urging us to panic not, but swim
ashore, grab the reins of life once more, steer it
while reasoning the need, paying less heed to certain ‘betters’
whose words but axes grinding us down 

Rain, beating down on a Covid-stricken Earth, lending us time
and (personal) space to rise above its worst 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2021

 

 

 

 

Democracy, the Dark Side

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

Update (Oct 14. 2017): I have always believed that Brexit will be good for Britain, but never more so than now as EU leaders procrastinates while blaming the UK for negotiations not progressing as well as they might.  It is clear to many of us that they are afraid the UK just might be on the right road by exiting what is seeming more and more like and organisation unfit for purpose; a great idea in principle, but proving less and less so in practise. If we make a go of Brexit, as I am sure we will in time, the fear is that other countries may follow, especially given the fact that there is increasing unrest and dissatisfaction in other countries whose leaders seem determined to turn a deaf ear; Italy, Greece and Germany to name but three; nor is Freedom of Movement without due border checks in an Age of Terrorism the only issue. Even in the USA, Land of the Free, Congress continues to turn an all but deaf ear to growing demands for at least an appropriate/ common sense amendment to the law relating to a right to bear arms more relevant to the Age of the Pioneer than the modern world.] 

Update (Nov 03, 2015): It would appear that Democracy has just died. The High Court has ruled that Article 50 cannot be invoked without Parliament's approval. Hopefully, the Supreme Court may yet overturn this judgement. A democratic principle is at stake here. Why bother to ask the people what they want if they are going to be ignored? (It was a very high turnout for the referendum.)

My only regret about voting to leave the European Union is leaving myself open to abuse from narrow-minded, arrogant hypocrites who, on the one hand support Human Rights, and on the other have no respect for the rights of every individual to make up their own minds on matters that have a direct bearing on their lives and the lives of family and friends. Whatever happened to the right to disagree?

I resent being called a racist because I voted to leave the E U. Immigration was not the only issue on the political agenda. Besides, most people were voting against a flawed system of immigration over which we had precious little real control while under the thumb of the Brussels parliament. Many people of various ethnic origins who have been living and working here for years are also sick of the political shambles that passes for a European Union. [Yes, of course, EU nationals living and working here should be allowed to stay, not least because they are friends and neighbours, but what is our new PM supposed to say if any among the EU elite try to use Brits living there as bargaining chips during the course of Brexit  negotiations? Let’s face it. It would come as no surprise to anyone should they stoop to such tactics.]

Among a UK majority, I voted for an EEC (European Economic Community) not a United States of Europe.

Some of my friends voted to remain in the European Union and we have hotly debated the issue. However, we all agreed from the start to respect each other’s points of view (despite trying to change it) and - perhaps even more importantly - that we would not let our diverse opinions undermine our friendship. In short, we agreed to accept a majority vote if only because we all support the principles of democracy. Those people crying ‘Foul’ because the vote did not go their way are ignorant scumbags; no less so are those making the vote an excuse to verbally and/or physically abuse ‘foreigners’ living and working in the UK, some of them for years. Those who are calling the vote a disgrace need to look closely at the worse aspects of its aftermath if not their role in it.

No one likes a bad loser. I suspect the vocal albeit significant minority now noisily deploring the E U referendum result by casting aspersions on the opposition, even calling our integrity into question, will find that out for themselves in the fullness of time. Meanwhile, the country needs to pull together and unite not let knee-jerk reactions and activists prevent the UK's future outside the EU taking a positive turn in the longer if not shorter term.

This poem is, yes, another villanelle.

DEMOCRACY, THE DARK SIDE

Come a vote on this or that decision
(why not let us all have a say?)
cue for bad losers to abuse someone

Some losers will wallow in delusion
(pity any scapegoats in their way)
come a vote on this or that decision

Vanity of vanities, the grand illusion
(in the right, deserve to win the day)
cue for bad losers to abuse someone

No assuming immunity to aspersion
(or sitting on the damn fence today)
come a vote on this or that decision

Take the case for a European Union
(grave reservations come what may)
cue for bad losers to abuse someone

Consensus is no call for celebration
(democracy, too, must feel its way);
come a vote on this or that decision,
cue for bad losers to abuse someone

Copyright R. N. Taber 2016

The Visionary, a Man of Substance

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

As regular readers well know, I never post comments but always read and appreciate them, even the less kind ones. 

Meanwhile…

Someone once asked me if I had any heroes. I replied that, off the top of my head, Martin Luther King is the first name that springs to mind. The person who posed the question appeared genuinely puzzled because King was black and I am white, asking, "Didn't he champion equal rights for black people?" Of course he did, but ‘equal rights’ is the key phrase here.

I am passionate about equality and a common humanity, passionate too about peace and love and how the people of this world should respect each other’s differences instead of using them as an excuse for stirring up division and unrest, even wars.

All that is good in the world is worth fighting for and all that is bad cries out to be exposed and (hopefully) rectified…however long it takes.

I was in my early 20s when Dr King was assassinated. Yes, his legacy is perhaps cherished most among black people but this is one white poet who learned a lot from this great man whom I have long counted among my heroes and always will. Although no poem can do justice to the man and his work, it was written in good faith.

Regular readers will know I am not a religious person in so far as I do not subscribe to any of the world religions, but, as I see it, that shouldn't prevent me admiring someone  who spoke out against prejudice and inequality at a time when both were much in evidence, and sadly remain so in many communities and parts of the world to this day. Indeed, the irony of poet, Robert Browning's words, 'God's in His heaven/ All's right with the world.' (from Pippa Passes) has never been lost on yours truly since I first encountered it as a schoolboy in the 1950's.😉

THE VISIONARY, A MAN OF SUBSTANCE 

He had a Dream, shared it with the world;
many listened, but others would not,
(some learn lessons taught, others soon forget)
given human nature's common inclination
to deny home truths to deserving ears, regardless
of who we are or where we stand on the need
to bring certain socio-cultural-political agendas
in line with such common realities as test
its communities, prove how actions speak louder
than words regarding its flaws 

Nor should it matter, the colour of his skin
only the shades of its naming, shaming 
such pain and prejudices as bigots feast upon
to show a world inept at stitching its seams,
patches always at the ready to cover any flaws,
proof of its failing to put us (all) through
our paces, unite even populaces in those places
least inclined to acknowledge injustices;
rhetoric, sweetener enough to prevent home truths
shouting from too many rooftops 

All that glisters is not gold nor all that’s aged
grown old, however much we’ve seen
since time began and taught us how to dream,
envisaging humanity running true without
having to shoot down any living thing too close
for comfort, posing a threat to personal space,
blurring thoughts of a common humanity 
in whose future we (all) can play a lead part 
by encouraging its more honest brokers to speak out
on all that's (still) not right with it

Copyright R. N. Taber 2004, rev.2021 

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in The Third Eye by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2001; a later version that appeared on the blog  in 2013  has been since revised again in 2021.] RNT

 

A Phoenix In Soho

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

Today’s post is in remembrance of all those who died at the hands of a very disturbed person in London UK during the spring of 1999.

On April 30th 1999 a loner with a hatred for all gay and non-white people planted a bomb in The Admiral Duncan pub, in Soho just after 1830 hours. The bar was packed with drinkers during a Bank Holiday weekend. The pub is in Old Compton Street in what has been the heart of London’s gay community for many years. The bomber had already made similar attacks in areas of the city frequented by ethnic minority communities.

Soho's gay community has always welcomed anyone and everyone. Among the dead from The Admiral Duncan blast, were a woman only recently married and the best man at her wedding; her husband was among those who survived with horrific injuries.

There is a tragic postscript to the bombing. David Morley, a barman at The Admiral Duncan when the bomb exploded, died after a vicious homophobic attack on London’s South Bank in the early hours of Saturday morning, October 31^st 2004. He was only 37 years-old. Morley had helped many people victims of the bomb that killed three people, and injured 73. Although he escaped with minor injuries, he suffered serious trauma for years afterwards.

London is often considered a safe haven for gay people, and I dare say it is safer than many places. But let’s be clear. Homophobia and racism are alive and kicking just about everywhere; the flames of hate crime are constantly being fanned by various socio0cultural-religious elements around the world. It has to stop, and the first place of call has to be schools everywhere – including if not especially faith schools – where teachers who genuinely care that their students should become responsible adults need to raise their voices and be heard without fear of reprisal from bigoted parents, Head teachers or  school governors and the like.

Over the years, many people have fallen foul of homophobia, racism, sexism and assaults on their religious beliefs (or non-belief, as the case may be). We must do our best to stamp out these prejudices once and for all. At the same time, we should always remember that prejudice works both ways and should not be tolerated by or from anyone, regardless of colour, creed, sexuality or gender. It frequently strikes me that many people nowadays are far too quick to play various socio-cultural-religious cards in a society where ‘political correctness’ is doing precious little to encourage integration or mutual respect among its members.

A PHOENIX IN SOHO

Ordinary people passing by,

having fun in bars, folks
like you and me, no aliens from Mars
come to threaten the planet;
some sipping coffee at a roadside café,
enjoying a chat, warm spring
sunshine on the face, trails of laughter
like wedding lace...

Suddenly, the sky turns black!

Smell and roar ofa devil on the back
as heavens look away in despair
and ordinary people learn
the true meaning of fear;
death and destruction everywhere,
wedding lace in tatters,
ordinary people, discovering
what matters and playing their part
straight from the heart...

Smoke clears, sun reappears,
world keeps turning;
finger of blame points, charges,
moves on...

Ordinary people, rising above tragedy
or the Devil win - pray we never
see the like again;
Small comfort for those left to writhe
in the throes of loss and pain
but hope for us all - as we learn
to live and love again, no matter
the colour of our skin or
creed we live by or our sexuality

Amazingly, yesterday, a complete
stranger said ‘hello’ over a cappuccino
in Soho; and there was wedding lace
in the street, ordinary people rising
above their tears and fears, bringing
hope and love for years to come...
Or what chance for peace, we children
of the millennium?

Copyright R. N. Taber 1999; 2012

[Note: This poem has been very slightly revised from an earlier version that appears in 1^st eds. of  Love And Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2001; revised ed. in e-format in preparation.]

How long Before the Next Bus? OR Fear on the Streets

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

Although this poem was not written until 2003, Stephen Lawrence loomed largely in my thoughts as the death toll among young people subjected to violent, sometimes fatal attacks in London continued to rise; it is still rising. The awful irony is that all the while knife crime remains prevalent, the more young people feel it is necessary for their own protection to carry a knife. 

Stephen Lawrence was an 18-year-old sixth form student. The black British teenager from Eltham, South-East London was stabbed to death while waiting for a bus on the evening of 22 April 1993. It is only recently that two people have finally been convicted of a murder believed to have been racially motivated.

Racism, like homophobia and all hate crime is invariably fuelled by a prevailing gang culture and/or those less discerning socio-cultural-religious bigots among us without whom societies worldwide would far better served. Education is the key; in  schools, colleges and universities, but first and foremost in the home. Tragically, it is far too often the case that education is found wanting in all of these.

As a gay man, I cannot help but get the feeling that homophobic crime is rarely afforded the same high profile as racism among the press, police, politicians or parents. Oh, and why is that?  Does a person’s sexuality make him or her less of a human being than the colour of their skin? Whatever, discrimination in any shape or form is unacceptable in a civilised society.

HOW LONG BEFORE THE NEXT BUS? or FEAR ON THE STREETS

Blood on the pavement where a body lay

and later someone knelt to pray for the soul

of another youth struck down violently
long before his time; utterly senseless crime,
harsh indictment of a society as inclined
to pass by on the other side as rush to the aid

of anyone being attacked, since it could be
for the sake of not being able to buy some acid,
coke, crack, weed, designer gear, the colour
of their skin, a suspect sexuality or even simply
getting kicks out of attacking, maybe killing
someone, given the chances are some in-crowd
says it's 'cool' to look good, act big enough
give old ladies a heart attack, snatch a blind man's
stick for a (sick) joke. Why tempt fate. risk
pitting ourselves against wolves in sheep's clothing
for any of that?

Years on, the pain still tearing at modernity's 

flimsy fabric, as hate ripped a young man's jacket

whose blood at a bus stop tells its own story,

plaque meant as a memorial but also recalling
the vainglory of a fraternity never properly brought
to book, justice gone to ground so we'll never,
walk down any street without a fear shadowing us
that’s persistently perverting its course; no peace
in a sad world likely to stab us in the back any time,
no matter our ethnicity, creed, sex or sexuality,
(easy targets for the perversity of cowardly thugs)
on a street that could easily be mine or yours,
leaving yet another mother, father, sister, best mate
left grieving us, missing us, forever questioning
the ethos of contemporaneity, feeling abandoned
by a society, left watching anxiously for the next bus

that never comes

Copyright R. N. Taber 2005; 2019

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in A Feeling for the Quickness Of Time by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2005.]