548. Oppressed

Don’t make me laugh human.

You are nothing if not a joke.

You love to blame everyone but yourself,

For every fire you stoke.

Don’t make me laugh human.

Do you think that you know of pain?

You love thinking that you are so oppressed,

And touch blood for the stain.

Don’t make me laugh human.

You don’t know what it’s like to be,

Pushed to the outside of your own species,…

Forgotten completely.

Don’t make me laugh human.

Your superficial victimhood,

Is so clear when you always get to speak,

Louder than others could.

Don’t make me laugh human.

If you were oppressed, you’d be me:

A humanoid-looking being who’s scanned,…

Classed as, “Anomaly”;

And no one would ever agree,

To listen to you, or to understand.

They’d simply press *Delete*,

And then continue on as planned.

K. Aldaya, 6/13/21

Picture:

545. Social Division

You look down on those who think differently than you,

And judge and criticize them for being themselves too.

You say to them, “You better love me as I am!”,

And then turn around and say, “You’re wrong, and a sham!”.

Never recognizing the sham as you.

Part of being accepted is being accepting,

Of what you may feel is formidable and upsetting.

You don’t have to agree with everything others do,

But if you truly want freedom, you must grant it too;

For respect’s propagated by respecting.

You may tell me the sob story all humans have to tell.

You may tell me how you feel, and I will feel for you as well,

But don’t condemn me for not dying for you on your cross.

I’m not a God on earth, and have to carry my own cross,…

Along with my personal, all-consuming hell.

All pains are not equal, and life’s a tragedy.

So, why are we infighting? And why can’t we agree?

That life’s far too short, too difficult, and too cold,

To bicker endlessly as our bodies grow old.

You are not a social category.

I am you, and you are me…

The heart of humanity.

K. Aldaya, 6/10/21

Picture: By Yaniv Knobel on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/UvkIx6DMTMk

542. Collective Torment

Have you not yet heard?

There are no more exceptions.

There is only the rule.

A world of false expectations,

Where the discerning are labeled: ‘fool’,

And inquiry…Absurd!

Have you really not seen?

There are no individuals.

There are only collectives…

Born of social, hierarchical rules,

Where all allegedly ‘real’ victim-hood lives,

Above the law,…blood-soaked, yet clean…

…As individual victims mount.

K. Aldaya, 5/23/21

Picture: Photo of August Landmesser, 1936; https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/resistance-responses-collaboration/non-conformity/refusal-to-salute/