Power

[Ann Bingham]

This is not my tipical topic for writing, but a post I read of LRods triggered this thoughtwave and inspired the work.

POWER

of the people
by the people
for the people

when did people become a singular word of which one man or group of men can dictate the fate of several million not just here but abroad.

Lincoln has lost his luster
Kennedy did not die for naught
but his wishes died with him.

people do not seem to rally
against wars anymore
no they wave their flags
and display their bumper stickers
declaring what good Americans they are.
Doesn't being American mean
we can oppose our government
replace that government
see fit to abolish the wrongs
this government does?
apparently not
we go on waving our flags
in someone else's face
abolishing their way of life
thinking they will be better off
living as we live.

all the while we grumble
under hushed breaths
how disheartened
we have become
with our own country.

Perhaps it is because we fear
becoming like Lincoln and Kennedy
and even Martin Luther King.
Have we not become like them though?
they were silenced with a shot
we are silenced by power.

July 4, 2006