Our Humble Democracy
© Surazeus
2018 04 09
Darlene leans on her elbows at the table
and looks across the library with a frown
while chatting with several friends during school.
"Though my home life while I was growing up
was not as good as others that I know,
who had a nice home that was built of bricks,
and more than one car that would always run,
and who ate three healthy meals every day,
and even had a color television,
my life is not so bad that I complain.
I still survived into my teenage years
and harbor no bitterness at this world.
Though our house is old, made of thin cracked wood,
infested with gross cockroaches and rats,
and half the time we could not get hot water,
and too often we had no food for supper,
even though we visited the food bank
every week for free bags of groceries,
and our rusty sedan always broke down,
I managed to survive hunger and fear.
But no one ever dropped bombs on our town,
nor tried to kill us all with poisoned gas,
and we never woke up in piles of rubble
to find everything we had built destroyed,
nor had to flee on foot across the desert,
wandering for months in the bleak wilderness
like those poor people in Syria now
whose dictator is trying to crush them to dust.
Though I am most poor in America
I am far richer than those Syrians
and millions of other poor starving people
in dozens of countries around the world.
Our great nation, where everyone can work
to earn enough for a house and good food,
thrives well because we value liberty
and equal justice for all who live here,
yet if we elect a bad human being
greedy for his success above our nation
we could also fall into poverty,
and become ignorant yet obedient workers
who slave for pennies in cold factories,
losing our spirit of justice and truth.
I wish there was something I could do to help
protect innocent people from cruel war,
yet I am here at college to learn how,
though I will be in debt when I graduate,
so I can only take care of myself,
surviving in a world that shakes from war.
I see so many people fraught with fear,
frightened by the success of greedy men
who run huge corporations to control
lives of millions of people with no strength
to defend themselves against corporate gangsters.
Though my life is not the best one could want
I will not complain about my raw deal,
and though I often feel life is not fair
I will work to balance right against wrong,
seeking to support noble cause of justice
to ensure equal rights for every person
since we all live together on this world.
One principle we learn from history
is that all great nations will fall in time
if we fail to care for each citizen
and provide opportunities for work
so everyone may share wealth of success.
I think America will grow and thrive,
maintaining our humble democracy."
Darlene sighs and opens history textbook
as they continue to study events
that happened during two brutal world wars.
© Surazeus
2018 04 09
Darlene leans on her elbows at the table
and looks across the library with a frown
while chatting with several friends during school.
"Though my home life while I was growing up
was not as good as others that I know,
who had a nice home that was built of bricks,
and more than one car that would always run,
and who ate three healthy meals every day,
and even had a color television,
my life is not so bad that I complain.
I still survived into my teenage years
and harbor no bitterness at this world.
Though our house is old, made of thin cracked wood,
infested with gross cockroaches and rats,
and half the time we could not get hot water,
and too often we had no food for supper,
even though we visited the food bank
every week for free bags of groceries,
and our rusty sedan always broke down,
I managed to survive hunger and fear.
But no one ever dropped bombs on our town,
nor tried to kill us all with poisoned gas,
and we never woke up in piles of rubble
to find everything we had built destroyed,
nor had to flee on foot across the desert,
wandering for months in the bleak wilderness
like those poor people in Syria now
whose dictator is trying to crush them to dust.
Though I am most poor in America
I am far richer than those Syrians
and millions of other poor starving people
in dozens of countries around the world.
Our great nation, where everyone can work
to earn enough for a house and good food,
thrives well because we value liberty
and equal justice for all who live here,
yet if we elect a bad human being
greedy for his success above our nation
we could also fall into poverty,
and become ignorant yet obedient workers
who slave for pennies in cold factories,
losing our spirit of justice and truth.
I wish there was something I could do to help
protect innocent people from cruel war,
yet I am here at college to learn how,
though I will be in debt when I graduate,
so I can only take care of myself,
surviving in a world that shakes from war.
I see so many people fraught with fear,
frightened by the success of greedy men
who run huge corporations to control
lives of millions of people with no strength
to defend themselves against corporate gangsters.
Though my life is not the best one could want
I will not complain about my raw deal,
and though I often feel life is not fair
I will work to balance right against wrong,
seeking to support noble cause of justice
to ensure equal rights for every person
since we all live together on this world.
One principle we learn from history
is that all great nations will fall in time
if we fail to care for each citizen
and provide opportunities for work
so everyone may share wealth of success.
I think America will grow and thrive,
maintaining our humble democracy."
Darlene sighs and opens history textbook
as they continue to study events
that happened during two brutal world wars.
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