We lead blessed lives,
Safe lives,
Never facing combat,
The slashing of iron against bone;
Never realizing
How resolutely the laws of physics
Stand to attention,
Ready to pump out the blood.
We go on gut instinct,
Ignorant of how quickly it all falls apart,
Of how readily we start putting people on trains—
Anything to be of help.
We only see the surface;
Living is not really living.
We must look unblinkingly into the abyss:
We must steel ourselves,
So that we can dare to think and feel.
A little suffering keeps despair at bay,
Enabling everything
Beautiful and good,
Virtuous and sound,
To come into being
And endure.
We must be armored,
Prepared to fight:
Only the hard can be soft,
And we must be soft
At any cost.
Depends who the 'we' are, I guess. So many in the world do not lead blessed lives.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of us in the English-speaking countries think we lead less than blessed lives. Yet we've spent those lives in countries that have never been war zones--that's a blessing many envy. That's what the first stanza brought to mind.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's basically what I meant.
Delete"We go on gut instinct,
ReplyDeleteIgnorant of how quickly it all falls apart,
Of how readily we start putting people on trains."
The last four years in the United States were a stark illustration of how Nazi Germany could happen. Yet some people continue to stick their fingers in their ears, close their eyes, and yell "LALALA, CAN'T HEEEARRRR YOU!" at the top of their lungs.
"Good" people have done (and continue to do) atrocious things.
We must all be aware of that possibility in ourselves and do whatever is necessary to keep ourselves from becoming THAT person.
A teacher named Jane Elliott performed an interesting experiment in the 50's by dividing her class into Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes. The experiment is a tutorial in mental manipulation. Applied to the masses by a charismatic leader leads to putting people on trains.
ReplyDeletehttps://exploringyourmind.com/blue-eyes-and-brown-eyes-the-jane-elliott-experiment/