Privilege

/ rothpoetry

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Give me comfort not truth
It suits me better and eases my mind
In my fine house
Behind the gate
Just down the lane
I close the door
I don’t feel your pain
Give me comfort not truth
Salve my guilt
Hide my shame
In my fine car I’m not to blame
I drive on…
Can’t be soiled or stained
Give me comfort not truth
Save my soul
Free my mind
As I drop a five in your plate
for the bottom line
I close my eyes
My heart is blind
Give me comfort not truth
Oh… what tangled webs we weave
Don’t tell me you love me
Just please don’t leave
Give me comfort not truth
As I consume Earth’s wealth
Never blinking
Fill me up…
My car, My truck, My boat, My SUV…
…Isn’t life grand!
Give me comfort not truth
Tell me what I want to hear.
God loves me more than he loves you
Maybe next year he’ll help you too
Give me comfort not truth
Vote for me // I’m God’s man
Tell ‘em to get a job
No more helping hand.
We’ll send our young solders to fight in Iran
Give me comfort not truth
My views are always best
ABC & NBC FOX & CNN
I’ll close my mind and just pretend.
Give me comfort not truth
We are the “chosen ones”
We are blessed
We deserve it,
This “Christian Nation”
No aid for them
In their situation
Give me comfort not truth
Could I be wrong?
No, it would be too hard to change
This good life will always stay the same!

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Today at d’verse HA challenged us to look at privilege and how it affects us as individuals and as a society. I wrote this poem a couple of years ago when thinking about this very thing. I came to the conclusion that few want to hear or face the truth. They would much rather be comfortable.

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60 thoughts on “Privilege”

  2. Oh wow. I loved this! And you wrote it prompted by your own hearts murmurings. Masterpiece Dwight I can see strains of my own privileged life in your lines. Is it self preservation that makes me seek the comfort of an unfinished lie? You meet the bar… No… scale it with this honest look at life.

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  3. I like the different perspective of “having that good life”.

    Also the refrain of : Give me comfort not truth, works very well. A lot of people prefer actually to not know the truth. Very well done Dwight, thanks!

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  11. I like the poem Dwight and the sentiments expressed. We should help the disadvantaged, try to get along with others, don’t go to war, do something about the environment. I have never liked the word privilege, perhaps because it’s meaning has been distorted by social media in relation to race. I also think that privilege is accruing to the minority and the comfort level of many is eroding. The divide in the US between rich and poor is growing and the middle class is diminishing. See what your poetry does, stirs up emotions, as every good poetry should.

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  13. The repetition is effective, Dwight, a way some people have of convincing themselves that they’re right. So many have that ‘I’m alright Jack’ attitude, wearing their privileged blinkers to avoid the truth.

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  14. In the end, it is about this comfort and our propensity to seek it and hide behind it that makes us complicit in the systems of oppression, even when we are not doing it personally. It is very simple to safeguard ourselves from social realities and evils.
    I really admire this thoughtful and thought-provoking narrative. Thanks for participating, Roth! 🙂

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  20. To me what stands out the best is
    “God loves me more than he loves you
    Maybe next year he’ll help you too”
    To justify your privilege by this is sickening to me… the gospel of prosperity is one that turn my stomach..
    No camels will be allowed through the needle’s eye in the end.

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  21. Awesome and raw truth that doesn’t want to be heard, let alone believed by the privileged who leave the poor, ill and homeless to the Good Samaritans in life! Did they edit out “Love your neighbor as yourself” from the new versions of the Bible??? Stunning and brilliantly penned, My Friend!!!

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  22. Sadly, an apt description of our throw-away society, and a generation of young people who consider themselves entitled. Fortunately, there is likewise a generation of young people intelligent and aware, determined to restore their world to dignity and integrity. Pray for them!

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