Years ago these two cute little girls were the best of friends. They did not think about race or color, just that they really enjoyed each other’s company. Makes me wonder why it is so hard for adults to to the same. We need to work on Dr. King’s dream and make it become a reality.
Teach your children well
Love crosses all boundaries
Be their example
***
How are you doing your part?
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities!
Voltaire ~
Most of us like to hear what we already believe is true! We gravitate toward that narrative and feed on our idea of truth. This was very evident in the atrocities at the Capital in Washington, DC; all done in the name of patriotism and based on absurdities and misinformation.
Sadly, the game of politics is often a game of misinformation. What starts out as a grain of truth gets twisted and spun into a cotton candy swirl of falsehoods. And we tend to cheer on the person or platform that says what we want to hear, even when sounds absurd and crazy.
PBS did a documentary on Alex Jones, far right radical talk show host who promoted things like the 9-11 attack was a government plot and the Sandy Hook massacre of children was all just a group of staged actors! You might think, how would anyone believe that; but, though he was banned from talk radio, he expanded his following on the internet and has millions who listen and believe what he says, as absurd as it may seem. Even Roger Stone and Donald Trump were on his show trying to get his followers to support Trump, which they did. Trump’s repetitive statements repeated over and over again are simply repeating what Jones said to his followers.
And it worked! Volatire words were played out in real time. as people who actually believed they were patriots, attempted to storm the capital to disrupt and take over the Senate proceedings that were being conducted at the time. What a sad day for America. What have we come to. Khrushchev was right when he said, “Communism doesn’t have to destroy America, it will be done from within by your own people.” Unless we get together and find common ground, this may well be our fate.
Twisted truth destroys
America’s foundation
Time for Trump to go
The following clip is a documentary from PBS . It disturbing in content, but very enlightening as to how all this could happen . It is well worth your time to view.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities!
Voltaire ~
I found the Voltaire quote on the blog website of my friend Ivor Stevens.
Furious, a Haiku ‹ Ivor.Plumber/Poet ‹ Reader — WordPress.com
When ideology supersedes the common good
the cause becomes a righteous one;
Rhetoric gets substituted for truth
and action replaces common sense.
*
Trying to guard our constitutional rights
while neglecting our social contract…
“that all men are created equal”…
is a failure of moral responsibility.
*
If we are to survive as a country
we must show one another
respect and dignity
in the face of disagreement.
*
Without cooperation and compromise
our dreams get squelched by violence
as we implode on ourselves…
knowing WE are right!
Painting: Dwight L. Roth
My poem today was inspired by thoughts from John Paul Lederach’s Saturday news letter , The Pause.
John Paul Lederach
Senior Fellow at Humanity United and Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame University.
Condor rises high
Above churning ocean waves
Others ride strong swells
*****
Rise above life’s ebb and flow
Find your true perspective there
Painting: Dwight L. Roth
Let us not become jaded
With reports of senseless violence
Brought to us in living color
Real time action like virtual reality
Worn across our eyes
*
Let us not become jaded
Thinking all is lost and evil has won
Don’t believe it do not fear
Brother helps sister when danger is near
*
Let us not become jaded
For love is not lost / truth will triumph
Tragedy brings unity
Realizing what is really important
We stand arm in arm and hand in hand
Knowing that in the end
Love Wins!
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Open link night at d’Verse. It is easy to become jaded with all that happens in the world around us. I have revised this piece from a couple of years ago, to remind us that truth is light and love is truth and Love wins!
Join us at: https://dversepoets.com then click on Mr. Linkey to read our poems.
Birds fly into my window from time to time crashing into a sky of glass and an image of illusion. Stunned they fall to the ground or circle back to the trees, only to do it over again on another sunny day. Being territorial they are trying to attack the illusion of another bird intruding into their territory, and only hurt themselves in the process.
Seems we are seeing this play out today in DC, as our Lame-Duck President continually tries to incite followers to attack the illusion of an intruder stealing his space. Over and over he keeps hitting the glass sky and is now looking like that stunned bird that hit my window.
Protesters gather
Attacking an illusion
Stunned bird thinks he won
*********
Mountains majestic / rising tall above us all
Solid and strong they stand immovable.
Until shaken, they crumble and tumble;
their strength broken and their high position
brought low, scattered across the landscape.
You see, mountains are simply rocks waiting to crumble…
Even the tallest mountains turn to sand in time.
Sand is the great equalizer!
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
I wrote this a few years ago for the d’Verse Poets Pub. I thought it would be good to reflect on as we exit 2020 and enter 2021. We have lost a multitude of people this year to Covid-19. Death has a way of bringing things into focus. It brings us face to face with our own mortality. The thoughts in this poem reflect on spirit within each of us.
Where dwells the spirit before life begins
Waiting to entwine with genes at man’s whims
Does it float in space riding red stardust
Or in ocean waves where the raindrops swim
*
Where dwells the spirit when I took my first
Breath of life // of heart and lungs merged thirst
Spirit seems at home in this flesh and bone
Fragile body // heart pumping till it bursts
*
Where does my spirit dwell when life is done
As eyes close in death and the race is run
Breath leaves the body and the spirit rises
Rejoining spirit with Spirit // lives on
******
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Some may say Christmas is just a myth
Like the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause
A fantasy created to make us feel good
But to me Christmas is Love
*
You may want to debate the details
Or argue whether the Wise Men were three
Or just three in a caravan of twenty-three
Bringing gifts to the Christ child so long ago
But to me Christmas is Love
*
Some may wonder at the story of the Shepherds
Of Angels singing from on high in the night sky
Perhaps the baby was in their stable asleep in the hay
A tiny baby with a story to tell that changed the world
To me Christmas is Love
*
God coming in the flesh is a concept some might doubt
The Word,,, The Spirit of the living God embodied in a baby
A child said to be both human and divine is quite a wonder
Leaving skeptics to doubt and critics to pick it apart
But to me Christmas is Love
*
You see, God is Love, his love shown through the man Jesus
If you get lost in the details you miss the story, for the story is Love
What ever you believe about the Christmas story most will agree
That Love is the foundation of Christmas… God’s love shown to mankind
To me Christmas is God’s Love and Grace to those who need it most
*
Painting “Piercing the Darkness” – Dwight L. Roth
Travelers came knocking on the door of the inn
After traveling all day tired, hungry, and thirsty
The donkey needed fed // they needed a bed
A full inn afforded them nowhere to lay their heads
Pregnant Mary needed a place to deliver.
Water broke // waves were coming on strong;
No time to look elsewhere for a private room.
The inn was no place for a delivery room;
Travelers standing around gawking at the sight
Of a new born baby coming ready or not.
The kind Inn Keeper suggested, “Perhaps the stable…
A private place to deliver away from prying eyes?”
The animals provided warmth from their exhales.
He did what he could to make them comfortable;
Brought water and a blanket as Mary screamed in pain;
He was not the villain in this story as portrayed;
Rather a compassionate keeper avoiding gossip’s scandal.
Why do we think they should have been entitled?
Unknown travelers from afar // they had no reservations.
Thankful for a private spot, it all came about
A child was born in private, and would soon,
In the course of time, change the world;
A Savior who is Christ the Lord!
*
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
