Disaffected Youth, Wasted Lives

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

The majority of young people are decent, honest, and hardworking, but there is also high unemployment among young people and that leaves some disaffected with society so they join gangs or become targets for radicalization; violence and/ or drug abuse and / or criminal behaviour becomes a way of life until something (or someone) happens that helps them back into mainstream life and a more positive, fulfilling sense of personal identity.

While there is no excuse for violence, it is high time politicians, religious and community leaders among others (parents, too) looked more closely at its roots and took responsibility where society is failing so many of its young people. Some do, but rhetoric is not enough; actions really do speak louder than words. 

This poem is a villanelle, written in 2014 so its content is nothing new; what is new are successive cutbacks in spending (here in the UK at least, since the financial crisis of 2008)) on such related national and local Government budgets as make provision for policing, extra curricular activities in schools, youth centres, apprenticeships, grants for professional and vocational training places etc. I rest my case ...

DISAFFECTED YOUTH, WASTED LIVES

Got my hands on a knife, a gun,

spread the word,

didn’t ask who’ll carry my coffin

Shouting at just about everyone,

no one heard;

got my hands on a knife, a gun

Needed to prove I was someone,

earn street cred;

didn’t ask who’ll carry my coffin

At first it gave me a buzz, was fun,

but all that disappeared;

got my hands on a knife, a gun

A gangster movie set let me down,

(mustn't show I'm scared)

didn’t ask who’ll carry my coffin

Macho mates weep to see my crown

dripping blood ...

Got my hands on a knife, a gun,

didn’t ask who’ll carry my coffin

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010

[Note: This poem is a villanelle, written in 2010 so its content is nothing new; what is new are successive cutbacks in spending (here in the UK at least since the financial crisis of 2008) on such related national and local Government budgets as make provision for policing, extra curricular activities in schools, youth centres, apprenticeships, grants for professional and vocational training places etc.]

Islamic State (So-Called); Rivers of Blood, Sea of Hate

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

(Update, December 12 2018: The appalling attack on a Christmas Market in Strasbourg yesterday evening is being treated as a terrorist attack; the perpetrator, known to French police, is believed to have been radicalised in prison.  Whether or not Islamic State claims responsibility, they must surely take the lion's share of responsibility for any terrorist event which involves the perpetrator shouting 'Allahu Akbar (God is Great) in the course of its execution. The hearts of decent people worldwide will be reaching out to the family and friends of the dead and injured.]

[Update. March 23 2018]: Hearts across the world will be reaching out to the families and friends of those killed/ traumatised by events near Carcassonne in southern France earlier today; indeed to all the people of France, tragically no stranger to such atrocities. First reports are suggesting a link to so-called Islamic State. The terrorists can, do, and will bring fear and grief wherever they go...but they can never win if only because there is more humanity than inhumanity across the world and the former, for all the hurt it may suffer, remains indestructible.]

[Update. August 18 2017]: Re-publishing this poem/post is becoming frighteningly familiar. All good hearts cannot help but go out to the families and friends of those killed and all those injured in two horrific terrorist attacks in Spain; one yesterday and another in the early hours of this morning. It is awful enough when natural events like the recent mudslide in Sierra Leone cause devastation and death, but terrorism is a deliberate, human act and all the more horrific for that.

[Update. May 23 2017]: Events in Manchester last night have shocked and horrified the civilised world. Our hearts and thoughts fly not only to the families and friends of the dead and injured, but to anyone who was there, and may well be haunted by this senseless tragedy forever. One death is one death too many, but the ever growing total from terrorist attacks around the world must not deflect a common determination to give the greater good of human spirit a free rein to rise above it all and express itself in such acts of all-inclusive kindness as we have seen in the past; as good a message as any to terrorists that they will not and cannot win.

[Update, March 22 2017]: Our thoughts this morning are especially with the families and friends of those who died and were injured in yesterday's terrorist attack in London. Those who witnessed the attacks on Westminster Bridge and outside the Houses of Parliament will have seen scenes likely to stay with them for the rest of their lives. We can only trust that time will be kind to everyone in helping to alleviate their distress. As for the terrorists, whoever they may be, the bastards can never win if only because the better side of human nature and the natural goodness in people is stronger by far than anything they can throw at us.]

[Update, Jan 2nd 2017]: Yet again our hearts go out to the families and friends of victims and survivors of yet another terrorist atrocity carries out by so-called Islamic State, this time at a nightclub in Istanbul on New Year's Eve. The same, of course, applies to the victims of the latest car bomb attack in Iraq (Baghdad). Around the world, fanatics attached to I S strike at the very principles of our personal freedoms, but they will not emerge victorious in the ultimate endgame...if only because the majority of human kind are better than they can ever hope to be.]

[Update, Dec 20, 2016]: Our hearts go out to all the families and friends of those killed and injured in what appears to have been a terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin yeaterday. Terrorists are worse than just murderers; they have no conception of decent humanity beyond their own warped idealism.  But humanity is comprised of a stronger resilience to attack than these sick minds can possibly conceive; its innate goodness WILL triumph, although the road ahead be long and many more tears shed before terrorism (and all hate crime) hangs its head in shame and concedes defeat.] 

[Update, June 26th 2015: I am sure most if not all readers will join me in utter condemnation of the murderous attack by Islamic State fanatics on innocent civilians in Tunisia, France and Kuwait yesterday. Our thoughts today are with the victims, their families and friends for whom life will never be the same again.]

[Update, November 14th 2015: Yet again, the so-called Islamic State have caused carnage. It is claiming responsibility for the deaths of many innocent civilians in Paris last night and I am sure all my readers hearts go out to the family and friends of those killed. The bastards will not win. The principles of democracy, freedom and the humanitarian values upon which they are founded and from which they will always take their strength and survive, no matter what, WILL prevail.]

Regular readers will know that I try to record certain world/national events as well as my personal relationship with body, mind and spirit and various communications with nature. My collections reflect this, too. 

I once had the idea that, centuries on, someone might come across my poetry in a time capsule and see that, for all the early twenty-first century was a mess, the finer qualities of human nature endured, survived and overcame even the atrocities committed by Islamic State (formerly ISIS) in the name of a form of Islam Muslim friends, acquaintances, and colleagues have assured me for years that no true Muslim would countenance

This poem is a villanelle.

ISLAMIC STATE (SO-CALLED): RIVERS OF BLOOD, SEA OF HATE

A raging tide, Islamic State,
(creating floods of fear);
rivers of blood, Sea of Hate

Religion, at the Devil’s Gate
(password ‘power’ here);
a raging tide, Islamic State

Good people left to their fate
(even the sun sheds a tear);
rivers of blood, Sea of Hate

Women and children but bait
(up for grabs, world media)
a raging tide, Islamic State

Islam dragged into disrepute
(its peace lovers in despair);
rivers of blood, Sea of Hate

Poisonous radicalism at root,
(no care for Earth Mother);
a raging tide, Islamic State;
rivers of blood, Sea of Hate

[London, August 30th 2014]

Copyright R. N. Taber 2014