This Morning I Woke Up Angry

This morning I woke up angry.

 I did not sign up 

for this mess we’re in.

I did not agree to live in a culture

that did not honor truth

or fairness or sharing the load.

When I was a little girl

I learned that we needed to be kind,

to be good, to think of others as ourselves.

I learned that people work together,

listen to each other

are part of something bigger.

As I grew older, I learned about tragedies.

Across the ocean innocent people were killed

because of their religion, because they were different.

I learned that it was up to good people

to not let that happen again,

to make sure all people were respected and valued.

I learned that the country I lived in had high standards.

We respected all people, all colors of skin, all religions.

We shared the decisions of government with everyone.

Because of this my country attracted the downtrodden,

the weary, the poor, people yearning to be free.

I was proud to be a citizen of this country..

When did this all change? When did we lose our compass?

Today I see people lured away from kindness and cooperation

into a morass of greed and hatred, their ruling passions

not allowing them to see the trap they’ve fallen into.

It would seem we have forgotten that we are all the same

underneath those surface differences, all the same.

Are we seeing the rise and fall of our united states?

With unrest and division arising over much of the world,

what can our future be? Where does this dysfunction lead?

It is easy to despair, to see our fatal flaws bringing an end to our existence.

But I would rather listen to the trees, to the crickets in the night,

and take the long view that healing and balance are natural in our world,

and that we are on our troubled way to a good outcome.

NF 7/19/22