you labor beneath an oppressive thumb
not realizing that the very leaders you exalt
will use that power to hold you down.

you’ve armed them with the greatest of weapons:
blind conformity. empty acceptance. unquestioning obedience.

you dwell comfortably within the confines of ignorance,
misguided by misinformation splayed across the tv screen.
what you believe in is but a puppet.
as democracy devolves, we increase in callousness.
masses defined by a singular purpose:
to extinguish original thought.

accept or die.
embrace or be ostracized.
this culture is crippled by its complacency,
putting stock in empty men who mask deception with eloquence.

am i the only one who finds this troubling—
that our society demonizes those who think outside the box?

we authorize the torture of millions
on the conjunction of justice.
we stood by while thousands were slaughtered
so the rich could fill their pockets.
chemical gases infecting the innocent,
minefields tearing malnourished children asunder.

fight fire with fire? what a ridiculous concept!
how can we hope to extinguish a flame if all we do is feed its embers?
an eye for an eye will blind this world,
we are all culprits, victims of what we think we deserve.
defiantly, we drown on our thirst for revenge
pretentiously labeling vengeance as just.

our government would rather fight skirmishes for oil
than acknowledge the fact that a man is kidnapping kids in Africa
and forcing them to become soldiers.

our leaders would rather squabble over economics
than look past their own noses to the little girls
sold into sex slavery in our very country!
instead of filling the empty stomachs of starving children
big name corporations line their designer jackets with green,
not even willing to give free meals to the homeless in our own neighborhood.
there is something terribly wrong when this city forbids us to give food to the hungry.

wrapped in the red, white, and blue
we subjugate innocents in fruitless attempts to glean information of our perceived enemies.
our actions are the furthest thing from righteous,
because, believe it or not, the ends do not justify the means.

we can talk all we want about bravery and honor,
muse about the heart of liberty and the strength of democracy,
but if our army is abusing children,
then who the fuck are the bad guys?

i’m tired of the whispers that roar like machine gun fire,
violence is never the answer and i refuse to stand by
and watch as we deprive other human beings of their rights to a choice.

we fancy ourselves noble, cramming “freedom” down their throats,
bringing this “Brave New World” into the foreground,
guns held high, shoving our weapons in the faces of those too weak to protest,
speaking anything but softly, gloating,
drunk on the illusion of power.

and this is supposed to be a “Christian Nation?”
we so adamantly admire our forefathers for writing down “Christian morals”
in the American constitution, but only because we’re ignorant of the fact
that they promoted slavery, larceny, and embezzlement.

this is a Christian country?
where we promote cynicism all throughout the media?
we’re so eager to teach our children the purpose of power, promoting arrogance,
neglecting to remember that those who live by the sword will die upon its edge.
we’re so quick to throw out the instrumental teachings of Jesus simply because they’re inconvenient:
selflessness, non-violence, unconditional love.
and, yet, the funny thing is, you’ll probably be more worried
about the f-bomb i dropped in this poem
than the bombs ripping Iraqi innocents to shreds on a daily basis.

this senseless violence must come to an end.
beat your swords to plowshares and seek peace.