595. The Soundless

Speech shouldn’t be a gun to the head.

Enforced conformity or social death.

For does not a life still exist,

As long as there is breath?

Silence is not insignificance,

Nor essentiality: of a word;

And a voice is no guarantee,

Of ever being heard.

K. Aldaya, 11/6/22

GIF 1: Actress Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven from Stranger Things; https://aminoapps.com/c/stranger-things/page/user/eleven/YjW6_VJPtWf6Q5PnldWQPMx7xEDERlj8dv7SR

GIF 2: Actress Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven from Stranger Things; https://aminoapps.com/c/stranger-things/page/blog/eleven/V0EL_2Wvi7u73BQNXQ2o4NYVlZ7ZDx1l12

583. Disinformation and Lies

If truth hurts someone’s feelings,…

It’s disinformation,…

Though hurting you for it’s the state of the nation.

Politicians start race wars,

While blaming you and me,…

And praise morality,…

While spreading bigotry.

The masses tally point-cards,…

In games of victimhood,…

Then throw help away,…

Victimizing victimhood.

–People grow ever more tired and cruel,

Behind screens,…comments, texts, and tweets.

Trashed for each typo and misword,…

Passed with nary an eye to meet.–

What good’s a mouth that’s muzzled?

What good’s a mind, unwise?

What good’s a human heart,…

Where love can not arise?

K. Aldaya, 5/19/22

Picture: By: Maarten Scheer on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/7Ouf2hMCYi4

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

535. White Privilege

“Do you plead guilty for being skin-white?”,

The judge asked, pointing his gavel at me.

“We must rid the world of the hateful sight,

Of privilege and self-superiority”.

I pled, “I’m not guilty, your honor!”,

To the resounding of gasps, oohs, and ahhs.

“I’m not guilty any less…any more,

Nor have I broken any just moral laws.

I reject your claim that I’m a color.

I am human. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Of the same shade as our first ancestors.

Color only matters when used to oppress.

We are of the same fam’ly and species,

Though our troubled history is quite clear.

Evil has been done to everybody,

For we’re all susceptible to manipulation and fear.

Color and anything that’s “different”,

Is used to attain power and control.

Forging divides where they once were absent.

Oppressing far too many a human soul.

So I can not be guilty, your honor,

For I refuse to accept division.

My privilege is merely in living, sir.

I do not acknowledge this court’s position!”

“Sentence her!”…”Guilty!”, the court erupted;

As, “Order! Order!”, the judge shouted out.

“I see this trial has long been corrupted.”

“Not guilty”, the judge firmly declared. “Out! Out!”

And as I strode outside into the sun,

Someone in the crowd yelled, “Racist!”, and *BANG*

Another human oppressed by oppression.

And in the end: What is won? What is won?

As the lynched and I sang, yes, sang to the grave,

The power-mad laud that finally…

“Justice has been done!”

K. Aldaya, 4/28/21

Picture 1: By Volkan Olmez on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/wESKMSgZJDo

Picture 2: By Kamil Feczko on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/fd3BpI6NcMU

534. The Devil’s in the Details (Uncensored)

They told him that he was insane,

When life had beaten him down,

And instead of offering love and support,

They gave him drugs in which to drown.

They told him to stay locked away,

“To protect the most innocent”;

While the suicidal were sacrificed,

Upon their altar of consent.

They told her the baby should die,

When she feared being a mother.

Instead of helping her be one,

They taught her how to smother.

They told her she was only worth,

The money she could earn.

There was no worth in “family” work.

A home was meant to burn.

They told her she could have it all,

When there is only so much time,

So instead of having everything.

Everything was out of time.

They told him he was guilty,

For the crimes of a skin color.

Instead of individual guilt,

All are guilty for another.

They told him he was racisms’ victim.

That everyone else held him back.

So instead of giving him a hand to stand,

They stood upon his back.

They say they care for nature,

While they destroy it all too well,

And conspire against human life,

Forgetting humans are of nature as well.

They told him he was toxic,

For simply being born a man.

Instead of accepting nature as it is,

They told him he’d be better as a tran.

They told her sex is a construct,

Of an oppressive system,

While oppressing her with testosterone,

Was part of their stratagem.

They told him to speak his mind,

That the country was still free.

Instead they censored and cancelled him,

‘Til he promised (on one knee) to never again disagree.

They do not care about you,

But there are those out there who care,

They just aren’t for big government,

For power does not care.

Power seeks more power,

Be it by fear, or by deceit.

If they wanted to build where you stand,

You’d end up in concrete.

They’ll tell you they are in the right,

When all they do is wrong.

If one says one thing and does another,

You can bet they’re leading you along….

Into the depths of hell.

K. Aldaya, 04/19/21

Picture 1: By: Murilo Gomes on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/EYdFerWxoQY

Picture 2: By: Tech Nick on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/5YuVGW2deMw