becomes try to teach thy neighbor to be like you which
transitions to pity the neighbor who can’t be like you which
slips into despise the neighbor who refuses to become like you which
falls to spurn the neighbor who is different from you which
sinks to hate thy neighbor as thine enemy.
The chain of hate began with love,
and all the best of intentions.
We hate because the love was imperfect to start;
perfect love doesn’t try to proffer change:
it is the change, the adaptation, or perhaps the total lack thereof that comes naturally
without any prodding from self-righteousness in warm-fuzzy sheep’s clothing.
When you can say look how different we all can act
look how different we all can think
look how different we can all be
and yet still be so related
because, after all, the difference in the DNA between you with your yin
and your exact opposite with his yang
across the globe is less than one percent,
and only five percent to our next monkey-cousin down the line
and ten maybe to Mother Earth herself…
when you can say god made you you
and god made me me
and that’s beautiful
then you have found the love that the sages were offering to all humanity
on the golden platter.
Editing status: Unedited. Very unedited.
Composed: 20 June 2008
Submissions: None
Inspiration: Who knows. A random unasked-for visit from the poetry-muse. Might not have been the muse highest up the muse foodchain, but it was one poetry-muse more than had visited me for a long, long time, so I'll take what I can get.
