People Know
The border is a made-up problem
People know it will never get fixed
People know it is just a distraction
It is an unstoppable addiction
People know they have a side to pick
People know they can’t win for lose
For they know which direction they’d
Be traveling, if they were in “their” shoes
People know it’s better here than there
People pretending to be angry while
Others are just pretending not to care
If people were to consider immigrants
As they do what they do for fetuses
They’d be helping them to get here
So they could introduce them to Jesus
A Rabbi, Muhammed, or a Buddhist
Inspired by Leanord Cohen’s
“Everybody Knows.”
Which is stuff we all know…
“Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long-stem rose
Everybody knows”
Using words over and again to desensitize
Like criminal and rapist that dehumanize
Rather than look directly into their eyes
They get more and more bitter as they age
That feeds into an empty state of rage
Instead of learning a different language
Pointing fingers and blaming them when
They themselves have too many children
Somehow, coming in from within the border
Is okay, it seems like a strange mental disorder
Knowing their ancestors were immigrants former
Welcomed by resident indigenous cultures
To this new land, who then were pushed away
From Plymouth Rock to the San Francisco Bay
“We really gave the Indians a fast trip across the continent. Did you notice that? They were having a little cookout in Massachusetts- buncha boats came up, man…”Hey, ya mind moving over, guys?
Bring in the stuff. Would you move it over, man. Bring in the stuff. Would you move it over, man. Bring in the stuff. Would you move it over, man.
Over three mountain ranges…four mountain ranges. Got ’em onto an offshore island, Alcatraz, right? Off the continent completely!
They had to take the island to get it! Then we kicked them off there.”
– George Carlin
Indeed everything is a made up problem. If we were truly present in each moment, we could see there are no problems anywhere, except in our own hearts.
But so many go looking for something to rail against.
We can just attend to that which is placed in front of us to do and then do our best to act and speak out of love and not worry about the rest, unless of course we witness harm, or threat of harm, happening to the innocent. Then maybe it is the right thing to stand up for what is good and right.
The refusal to take care of what is for us to do is as harmful as doing wrong directly.
So simple, and yet…
Thanks Angelo!
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