Friday, October 30, 2015

Driven by delusion

Perhaps I am wrong,
but I no longer care to be
driven by the delusion
that I make a difference
in the world.

The same ten commandments
that informed the morality
of the ancients are still
equally valid today.
People have not changed
their natures in over
5,000 years of recorded
human history.

Wars.
Hatred.
Murder.
Lying.
Cheating.
Stealing.
Adultery.

These are permanent
human character flaws.

Poverty.
Famine.
Starvation.
Illness.
Refugees.
Innocent children
riven by the
horns of political wars.

These are the facts
of human history
going beyond memory.

I used to think
that the bottle of water I bought,
or the shoes that I wore,
or the money I gave to faceless
charitable organizations would
actually make the world a
better place.

I know better now.
Many charities are profitable only
for the administrators of the organization.
And all socially conscious businesses
are simply marketing their wares
by other means.

So I no longer allow myself
the luxury of delusion
that my small, inconsequential
thoughts, actions or purchases
make a goddamn bit of difference
in this world.

People are as they will always be.
The world is the best that human
beings can make it, given their
perennially flawed behaviors.

Now, I exist moment by moment,
mourning the senseless bloodshed,
witnessing the self-serving political lies,
noticing the religiously self-righteous
who serve up hatred on a golden platter.

If there is an afterlife,
complete with a judgmental god,
I hope to hell that I get a chance
to tattle on all shit I have observed
during my travail in this world.

My revelation is that
long after I am dead,
the world will still be plagued
by wars, murder, hatreds and grief.

But maybe I am wrong.