Is There An Exit Strategy?

Following political tides –
mesmerized by neglect
of actual issues – playing
to an audience of moaners
(standard consumerist
plights) – glossing over
exploitation of women,
verbal slaughter of race,
religion and social values

Wondering about media –
who commandeer bias,
swallowing atrocities and
spewing contrived truths,
absent sound voice, or will,
jeopardizing the security
of so many trampled in
the race for what? Surely
not responsibility – what

lapse of conscience has
allowed hateful rhetoric
to bloody progress, no
consequences?  Who will
bear the burden when in
the absence of morality
or respect for humanity,
the margins will increase?

The world quakes at the
failure to acknowledge
this broken path, see only
a devaluation of assets,
perceive a race that did
no more than increase
the monarchy of a king,
grant power to absolve
sins – a sleight-of-hand
trick – nothing to do with
the common habitants –
have so many questions
about how they’ll proceed.

(I wrote this poem in 2016. Same issue, different date. Surreal. Image my own)

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VJ

Permission to write, paint, and imagine are the gifts I gave myself when chronic illness hit - a fair exchange: being for doing. Relevance is an attitude. Humour essential.

60 thoughts on “Is There An Exit Strategy?”

  1. And I thought that so disheartening scenario is of only developing countries. Very well expressed, VJ. How these handful can manipulate and mistreat entire world. Media is equally bad.

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  3. Pingback: Is There An Exit Strategy? – kranti

    1. The whole Project 2025 is very scary, Lauren. Dystopian stuff. Here in Canada, my daughters and I are talking about how we can support our American sisters.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. What

    Lapse

    To me, they are the most powerful words in this poem, and all the more stronger as they sit in different stanzas. I am shell shocked as well even though I live in the Netherlands, I just don’t get how this could have happened, all the more because we are talking about a sentenced criminal…

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  13. It is like “deja vu all over again”. I don’t understand people who say the Trump years were good. The worst four years of my life (so far).

    Also you are spot on about all the whining and blaming and failure to take responsibility for their own lives. There are plenty of jobs available, but the only people willing to work those jobs are…immigrants. You think you’re too good.

    Everyone has struggles, everywhere. You’re not special in that regard.
    Grow up. (K)

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    1. There is definitely a lack of understanding of how things work in terms of economics, etc. I think there is a lot of entitlement when it comes to the voters – no awareness that if they want things to change, they need to get involved themselves and not count on the rich and famous. What disturbs me the most, is the level of hate/ anger.
      Thanks K.

      Liked by 1 person

  20. If you’ve seen the series Chernobyl, we’ve just realized that so much comes down to the character Dyatlov–the person who could not see the facts lying on the ground before him. Candide also came to mind this morning.

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    1. I haven’t seen Chernobyl, but resonate with Candide. Ironically, the majority of people voted for him because of his ‘economic policies’. I guess they will soon know.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. “Who will
    bear the burden when in
    the absence of morality
    or respect for humanity,
    the margins will increase?”

    We still need to know. Who?
    This is insightful VJ. Love it. Thanks 🙏 happy weekend.

    Liked by 2 people

  22. Powerful poem. I’m working my way through all this too, revisiting what I wrote in 2016, a sense of deja vu. What I’m realizing and will write about is how American excetionalism, if there ever was such a thing, is now dead. We are the Germans who voted Hitler into power. The Russians who love their tyrant Putin. But we can also be the Navalny who resists that tyranny. Are we up to the task? We have Gandhi and Mandala as models. What hurts the most is that the world no longer has America as a beacon of light to turn to. No one to turn to in another world war. For now. But while American exceptionalism is dead, the ideals of freedom and justice and democracy are not. Perhaps there are still enough warriors of light within this new world order to turn things around. But it will be a long hard fight.

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    1. So well said, Deborah. After my despair settled, I realized that this is a call for those who are not ready to let go of human rights and all that matters. There is work to be done.

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