On Heads We Stand

Are we celebrating violence every second of our time on earth? Oppression and opportunity seem to have a lot more in common than  just being words starting with 'opp'.

 

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I look back at what

We humans have achieved

And see million heads buried

Deep in the sorry earth

Stepping-stones for success

As man climbs over man.

The faster he rose

Deeper embed were the heads

Of countless women

Untouchables

Embattled Jews

Blacks, browns and the yellow

Multitudes of the abled-differently

Mentally, physically or sexually

The poor and the illiterate.

Look closer and you see

The heads are no longer heads

But building blocks called

‘OPPORTUNITY’

Hardened blood, flesh and tears

Molded into depressions

That feels easy

As we march eyes ahead

With feet cushioned

In up-market styles.

I hear my voice speak

Loud over the daily noise

Of thoughts, dishes, the keyboard,

And the occasional traffic,

Hope it seeps into the unheeding ears

of my son engrossed

in the bloody violence

of ‘Warlords-Battle Cry-II.’

“Don’t tread on toes”

“Don’t use people as footholds”

“Don’t degrade someone to upgrade yourself”

But my words are lost as he counts his points

In gold, metal, gems and grain

And around him lay slain

The bodies of his enemies!

© Nalini Hebbar/openmind/2009 - all rights reserved

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