¡ One !
O America,
America,
Wherefore Art Thou...
¿ America ?
"
Twelve Score
And Six Years Ago
Our Fathers
Brought Forth ...
Upon This Continent
A New Nation
Conceived In Liberty
And Dedicated ...
To The Proposition
That ALL PEOPLE
ARE CREATED
EQUAL
"
~~~ Abraham Lincoln
[ With updated 'Score' & 'Years'...
and with: 'ALL PEOPLE' for: 'All Men' ]
I Was Born...
In The U. S. A.
And I Have Lived Here...
All of My Life
And I Love My Country
But I Have Been Wondering Lately...
( and for most of my adult life )
~~~ JUST WHAT ~~~
HAS BECOME
OF OUR ...
¿ AMERICA ?
And I Wonder...
~~~ Especially ~~~
When I Compare...
The State Of The Union...
~~~ As It Is Today ~~~
With Those High Ideals
So Eloquently Expressed
By Our Founding Fathers...
In The Declaration Of Independence...
And In Our Constitution
And I Wonder...
~~~ WHY ~~~
Those High Ideals...
And Honorable Intentions
Have NOT Been Honored
Nor Striven For
To The Degree
That Our Forefathers
Might Have Hoped
And I Wonder...
~~~ WHY ~~~
~~~ In TOO MANY Areas ~~~
THEIR Dream...
Of A JUST
And FAIR
And FREE
Nation
Remains
Yet To Be
Realized
And I Wonder...
~~~ WHY ~~~
~~~ IN PRACTICE ~~~
It Often Seems To Me...
Like We Are HEADING...
IN THE WRONG
¡ DIRECTION !
... When WE Turn Away ...
From Our Shores...
Those In Need
Those In Distress
And Those
Who Would Be
Free
... When WE Pass Laws ...
Which Make The Rich...
Richer
And The Poor...
Poorer
... When WE Are Unable To FIND ...
THE MEANS...
TO CARE...
FOR OUR OWN...
PEOPLE
... By Providing Them With Free ...
~~~ Or Even Affordable ~~~
Healthcare
... By Providing Them With Excellent ...
And Equal...
Education
... And By Assisting Them ...
When They Are In...
~~~ DIRE ~~~
Circumstance
... When WE Disproportionately ...
Incarcerate
Our Own People
By Race
By Class
And By Wealth
... When WE HAVE ...
The HIGHEST
Prison
Population
... And The HIGHEST RATE ...
Of Incarceration
OF ANY NATION
On The Face of The Earth
~~~ Including Russia ~~~
~~~ Including China ~~~
... When WE ...
Are SO DIVIDED ...
AGAINST
OURSELVES
... THAT CONGRESS ...
~~~ ITSELF ~~~
HAS NOW BECOME
UTTERLY PARALYSED
By Partisan Bickering...
One-Up-Man-Ship...
Showmanship...
And Sheer ... Animosity
... AND SO ...
IS NO LONGER ABLE
TO SERVE
¡ THE PEOPLE !
Wasn't ... America ...
'SUPPOSED' ... TO BE ...
An 'Example ... To The World' ?
A 'Shining City ... On A Hill' ?
And PROOF ...
To The Whole, Wide World ...
That A ...
"Government ...
OF The People,
BY The People,
And FOR The People" ...
CAN Endure ...
WILL Endure ...
And ...
"Shall Not Perish ...
From The Earth" ?
But ... WHAT 'KIND' ... OF ...
'EXAMPLE'
ARE WE BEING...
¡ IN TRUTH !
¡ IN ACTUALITY !
¡ RIGHT HERE !
¡ RIGHT NOW !
¡ TODAY !
~~~ TO ~~~
The Whole, Wide World...
~~~ And TO ~~~
¿ Posterity ?
What ARE ... WE TEACHING ... The World?
What ARE ... WE SAYING ... To The World...
By Our Words...
By Our Works...
By Our Fruits...
Both At Home...
And Abroad ?
¿ "Greed Is Good" ?
¿ "Our Way ... Or The Highway" ?
¿ "You Can Do Whatever You Want...
In YOUR Nation
As Long As WE ...
CAN STILL ... DO ... BUSINESS" ?
¿ "America ... Will Turn A Blind Eye...
~~~ To ANYTHING ~~~
If It Is IN...
Their OWN...
Self-
Interest" ?
¿ " 'WINNING' ... IS EVERYTHING! " ?
¿ " 'WINNING' ... IS THE ONLY ... THING! " ?
And WHY DOES ... America...
FAIL To Sign...
So Many Treaties...
Put Forth...
By The United Nations
And Signed...
By A Vast Majority of Nations...
Treaties ... of Great Merit
Treaties ... of Compassion
Reasonable Treaties
Sane Treaties?
And WHY DOES ... America...
When We DO Sign Treaties...
Then REFUSE...
To HONOR Them
When A 'New Adminstration'...
Comes Into Power?
And WHY DOES ... America...
Use Its 'Veto-Power'...
In The United Nations
To THWART ... The Majority Vote
And Thus PREVENT The Enactment...
Of Sane, Just, and Compassionate Resolutions?
And WHY DOES ... America...
Deny Funding...
To United Nations Programs...
And Initiatives
Just To Satisfy...
Parochial
And Political
Interests?
IS THAT ...
¿ DEMOCRACY ?
As I Look Out...
Across Our Great Nation
It Occurs To Me...
That There Are TWO...
Possible
Directions
Towards Which...
We Might
As A Nation
Incline:
Towards A Kind of...
Military
Industrial
Corporate
Oligarchy
Run By The Wealthy
~~~ OR ~~~
Towards Our OWN ...
HIGHEST
IDEALS:
~~~ Those Of Our Founding Fathers ~~~
Towards A TRUE Democracy ...
OF ... The People
BY ... The People
AND ... FOR ...
¡ THE PEOPLE !
Which Direction
~~~ I Wonder ~~~
WILL
THE PEOPLE
¿ CHOOSE ?
¡ Calling All ... TRUE ... Patriots !
In Case You Haven't Noticed...
We Are Engaged...
In A NOT ... SO ... 'Civil'...
'War'
~~~ Testing ~~~
Whether OUR Nation...
~~~ Or ANY Nation ~~~
So Conceived...
And So Dedicated...
~~~ As Ours Has Been ~~~
Can Long Endure
And Also...
[ In Case You Haven't Noticed ]
It Is A 'Civil'...
'War'
¡ Of WORDS !
With Battlegrounds...
On Social-Media
On Main-Stream-Media
On Hate-Stream-Media
And On FAUX-Media
Please Forgive Me...
While I Paraphrase...
A Well-Known Speech
By A 'Comrade'...
In 'Arms'
[ With Whom ... I Do NOT Agree ... In ALL Things ]
[ NOTE: I have Replaced the word: 'Island' ...
With: 'Nation'
And Added the word 'New' to many lines...
And the word 'ALL' at the end ]
"
We Shall Defend Our Nation...
Whatever The Cost May Be!
We Shall Fight ... On These New Beaches!
We Shall Fight ... On These New Landing Grounds!
We Shall Fight ... In These New Fields...
And In These New Streets!
We Shall Fight ... In These New Hills!
We Shall Never Surrender!
We Shall Carry On The Struggle...
Until
In God's Good Time
The New World
With All Its Power And Might
Steps Forth
To The Rescue
And The Liberation of...
¡ ALL !
"
~~~ Winston Churchill
But ... PLEASE ...
Let Me CAUTION:
In THIS ...
So-called ... 'fight' ...
The Goal ...
Is NOT ...
To 'Annihilate'
Nor To 'Humiliate'
Nor To 'Bend The Knee of'...
The 'enemy'
FOR IN TRUTH ...
WE HAVE ...
¡ NO ENEMIES !
We Have ONLY...
Our Brothers and Sisters...
With Whom...
We Have Not Seen...
Eye-to-Eye
Just Yet
~~~ RATHER ~~~
Our 'Fight'...
Is Waged...
By Merely SHINING...
OUR LIGHT
Into Hearts...
Hardened...
By Darkness
By SHINING...
The Light of Truth...
The Light of Liberty...
The Light of Justice...
The Light of LOVE...
That Those Hearts...
Still In Darkness...
... May ... AT LAST...
~~~ BE ~~~
En-LIGHT-ened
And That They May Join With US...
~~~ And With ALL ... of Our Brothers & Sisters ~~~
... In A World ...
¡ Of Light !
Spread Truth...
Not lies!
Spread Love...
Not challenge!
Spread Light...
Not 'shade'!
And So...
I Am Putting Out A CALL...
TO ALL
TRUE
PATRIOTS:
NOT ...
'To Raise Up Arms' ...
... But To Raise Up ...
¡ VOICES !
Voices ... To Be HEARD...
ABOVE ... the din of confusion
ABOVE ... the haters
ABOVE ... the greedy
ABOVE ... the selfish
ABOVE ... the obstructing
ABOVE ... the hardened ... Hearts
... Voices ... That RESIST ...
The words of darkness...
With The Words of Hope
The Words of Love
The Words of Peace
The Words of Justice
The Words of Freedom
And The Words of Inclusiveness
So That WE ...
As A People
As A Country
May Finally
Live Up To...
OUR OWN HIGHEST IDEALS
AND TO THE TRUE 'FOUNDING SPIRIT'
OF THIS
GREAT
¡ NATION !
And So That WE...
~~~ THE PEOPLE ~~~
... MAY FINALLY BE ...
~~~ TRULY ~~~
¡ FREE AT LAST !
¡ Hey ... America !
WHO's ...
Gonna Save The World ...
¿ If Not ... U.S. ?
[ Unless ... You'd rather just leave it ... to some other ... Great ... Nation! ]
Maybe We Should Put ...
¡ Our Best Women On It !
[ Since the 'Men' ... can't seem to get ... ANYTHING ... DONE ...
Nor Show The COURAGE ... To Stand Up To ... Bullies! ]
The Gauntlet ...
Is In YOUR ...
~~~ Court(s) ~~~
¡ 'America' !
American Tune
Paul Simonwikipedia
Tithe: On Amazon On iTunes
[ or on your favorite source ]
¡ LISTEN !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many's the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I've often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
Oh, but I'm all right, I'm all right
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and Bon Vivant
So far away from home
So far away from home
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know a Soul
Who's not been battered
I don't have a Friend
Who feels at ease
I don't know a dream
That's not been shattered
Or driven to its knees
Oh, but it's all right, it's all right
For we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road
We're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help it, I wonder...
What's gone wrong?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my Soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above...
My eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, We come on the ship
They call The Mayflower
We come on the ship
That sailed The Moon
We come in the Age's
Most Uncertain Hours
And Sing An American Tune
Oh and it's all right
It's all right, it's all right
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's gonna be
Another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all I'm tryin'
To get some rest
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"
Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor,
Your Huddled Masses...
Yearning To Breathe Free
The Wretched Refuse...
Of Your Teeming Shore
Send These, The Homeless,
Tempest-Tossed, To Me
I Lift My Lamp ...
Beside ...
The Golden Door
"
~~~ Emma Lazarus
[ On The Statue of Liberty ]
| ¿ |
|
? |
NOTICE:
NO ... 'Black & Blue' ... 'Stripes'!
Because THAT ... WOULD BE ...
--- DESECRATING ---
The American Flag
¿ WOULD IT NOT ?
E Pluribus Unum
Out of Many:
¡ ONE !
¿ America ?
¿ America ?
You Still There...
¿ America ?
¿ America ?
You Still There...
¿ America ?