As fighting flares in the land of monotheism, soldiers mass along the border between two nuclear states, extremism rages in the cradle of civilization, the stuff of life threatens to overheat the planet that sustains life and a superpower continues down its blind path of bombs, I pause to ask a simple question: who among us does not prefer peace?  In truth, the answer is very, very few of us, but that extreme minority is responsible for fanning the flames that bring nations to war and destabilize the world.  We cannot continue to allow that.  It is time for the so-called “silent majoriy” to speak up against unspeakable acts, to leap forth with ideas, protests, actions that will prevent more madness.  After all, when the dust settles there is still a gem of an orb rotating a mass of energy that provides so much life with sustenance.  The great work of understanding the universe and creating a more just, equitable home for all is held back by weaponry, the people that employ them, and worst of all, the money that finances them.  We live in an age willing to enrich itself by tearing others down, where the mindless pursuit of more comfort obscures the suffering of billions of people so deprived as to be unable to feed or clothe themselves.  We know enough to understand the irrevocable connection between an injustice in one place and an action in another, yet we have yet to summon the courage to act on that knowledge.  Who among us is willing to avoid making money on an investment that is legal, but unjust?  Who among us is willing to forego still more luxury to enable that another may enjoy a meal, an opportunity, a life? 

This New Year, let us commit to a shared responsibility. Let us recognize that if little girls in Afghanistan die while in school, then little girls in America will inherit a world that has lost their beauty, their ideas, their hope.  Let us recognize that where we can we must act and where we cannot we must seek ideas, pressure others, and demand an end to injustice wherever it transpires.  The global economic crisis is yet another sign of the way in which a few selfish people–Wall St. bankers, lax regulators–can cause untold suffering.  But every day the decisions we make have repercussions around the world, like the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings that creates a ripple of air that leads to a hurricane.  We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend this is not the case.  Let that be our New Year’s resolution. 

Read on for a poem I wrote on this matter during the run up to the war in Iraq.

The Human Race



Who doesn’t want peace?

Who doesn’t prefer

A white jasmine wind,

Or an amber dawn

To the black unveiling

of bombs?

Who doesn’t love to love

And be loved by saline lips?

We are strong as magnets:

In order to hold together

We divide until a no-man’s land

Fuses our disarray,

And to surrender to the center

Is to die.

Who doesn’t want peace?

We disagree, opine, demonstrate,

Raise arms, palms, prayers, shouts–

We agree, unite, stare off into discontent,

Drop bombs, flags, clothes, lies and truths.

And now I ask you, as a poet

Caught between your truth

And my truth, my lies

And your lies,

What will become of my poems

After we damn the last river,

Destroy the last forest,

Culture, life?

Who will read my work

When the last soldier dies

In the name of peace?

What will happen to

Our disagreement

If mankind kills itself?

When all was said and done,

Who did not want peace?

monday, march 23rd, 2003