Volume 12, Issue 7
Autumn 2005

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Evil in Society

Are there people on this world
who take pleasure from inflicting pain?
Need one ask?
Two men pound each other's flesh
in an arena
to the cheers of thousands
and money flows!
There are those who rejoice
at the thought of war;
bullies who beat up on the weak;
endless movies where the gun
is bigger than the gunman!

How does society in general
respond? Well, it's alright
for adults to brutalize each other
but (says current wisdom)
children should not do so
in a school yard or on the street:
– it is not nice –

Why not, may I be so bold to ask?
Is it because no way has been found
to squeeze a buck or two
from this particular form of brutality?

The point of my asking?
Does 'society' have a soul?
Does it have empathy?
Does it feel the pain it condones?
Inflicts?
           Causes?
                      Supports?
                                 Encourages?

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Dance To Anger
Dance To Love!

How should one react in the face of anger?
It seems easier to give back hate for hate, eye for eye,
limb for limb: you hurt me, I hurt you!
but is that not rather short-sighted?
Do we not learn from our mistakes?

To return harm for harm... and possibly a bit more!
has been the way of things for thousands of years,
and such a 'solution' has even been casually proposed
within the written pages of man's wisdom.
Thus has unconditional love been given short shrift
and thus have wars and violence flourished!

The master, Jesus, once taught that when struck on one cheek,
one should present the other as well.
Not very practical, we might be forgiven for thinking;
yet why not?
If love truly is the glue of the cosmos;
if all energy is love, however disguised,
do we know of a better way to implant it firmly
within the daily routine of our short lives?
a better way to end the violence we claim to abhor?

On Earth, love expresses as best it can--
it is but energy; but God in experience:
if the expression I receive is inappropriate,
can I not transmute it back into pure love?
Why maintain a negative balance
when the means to cancel the debt
are available...
freely to all?

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Good Advice?

Anger and frustration mount
when nothing seems to go right;
hours and hours spent on a problem
without reaching a solution;
stress adds itself to more stress
when too much month remains
at the end of the money:
is there no way out of this mad maze?

Maybe!

On a particularly angry day
an old friend said to me:
"When a problem arises
it's best to find some way
to give the mind much needed rest
and think about something else.
Often problems resolve themselves
if you "sleep on them".

Good advice, But with a few exceptions
such as one's house in flames,
or a heart attack.

The problem is not in the problems
but in our expectations
that something ought to be a certain way.
If it isn't, then it's a problem.
I find that our "problems" are just a part of life–
a broken fan belt is no different
than an ice cream cone at the mall,
just a matter of perception;
an adjustment of reality, detachment
and dropping of expectations –
from whomever, whatever, wherever.
Problems? What problems?

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Homeless

A clear cut on a mountain side:
there are those who oppose
as there are those who agree:
protagonists in man's number one game.
It's all about fame and all about gain;
it's all about blame and all about shame!

The cause would be better served
if we thought of those who lose their homes.

What about the precious life in the mountains,
birds, squirrels, insects, trees, plants, streams:
what happens when there are no trees?
No home for so-called wildlife,
and no roots to hold the soil?

If an apartment building was being torn down
to create work; to boost the economy,
what of the ones who called that their home?
Whose possessions are destroyed?
Now they're homeless: where's the real gain?
Is that not the same as cutting down a forest?

Perhaps we shouldn't stop the cutting of a forest
by blocking logging roads, or spiking logs,
nor by giving in to anger or rage,
but perhaps there is another way:
the way of peace, of love and compassion,
the way of empathy for all of life.
Thus can we show there's a better way
to live.

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Why, Why, Why?

Is there a 'why'
to why things are?
a child asks: 'why is the sky blue?'
and you say 'because'
(you're a parent, not a scientist!)
Who cares if Washington
never told a lie?
If elephants can't jump,
let alone, waltz?
A learned cleric will tell you
twenty five angels danced on the head
of his pin.... but you know
you counted only twenty three,
so much for knowledge!

Don't ask 'why' – open your eyes,
welcome the dawn: yes!
the world grows, evolves, and so do you.
Let narrow minded twits sit and ponder,
or ponder and spin...
fear causes one to hang on, to fear
change: time for more
than a mere changing of the guard.

Promise yourself to be here
when a new world births, freed from fear:
Promise yourself not to greet it
with more 'why, why, why'
but with open arms and laughter:
change is the answer to the question.

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About the Author:  I was born in 1964 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where I lived my first three years before moving to British Columbia. In 1974 I moved with my family to the Chilliwack area, also known as the Upper Fraser Valley, where my grandfather had a farm in the foothills of Promontory/Ryder Lake area. On that farm I came into first-hand contact with nature and life as it exists outside the human fish bowl, so to speak. At Watson Elementary I met a teacher who saw my innate abilities and encouraged me to believe that I could succeed despite my handicaps.

By the time I was 20, I realized I was never going to fit, or be accepted, in the normal world. One parent tried to have me committed to a mentally handicapped home, and the other insisted I should try for any and every menial job available such as washing cars or peeling potatoes. But something inside simply refused to be so shackled, and I fought back.

For the past seventeen years I have been pondering the meaning of life; and writing my thoughts in a format some call free verse and some "inspirational prose." And that's it.

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(Copyright 2005 by Sharran WindWalker - No reproduction without express permission from the author)

Letter to the Author: Sharran WindWalker at sharran@uniserve.com

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