Replaced

A leaf falls away and turns brown,
Then is forced to watch later from the ground
As green sprouts again in Spring,
Which is now a separate thing.

A grandparent goes to a nursing home
Which his family finds depressing;
The family comes round less and less
Preferring company with more blessings.

A friend moves away and the phone calls decrease.
Then you're slipped a thirty day notice
When new tenants sign a lease.

A kid gets an Xbox for his birthday
And his teddy bear lays forgotten

While many fabrics are rendered less popular
By the practicality of cotton,.

A lover's lover loves another.

A son takes a wife, leaves his mother.

A girl goes away to college
Then comes back for Thanksgiving,
Then stumbles on the knowledge
That her friends have new friends,
New manners of living.

Oh, what an uncertain longing we face
When we find that we have been replaced.

Here's to the Mothers

Thanks
For getting the wrinkles out of my clothes,
For finding the right ointment for the zits on my nose,
For lifting me up
And not giving up,
For carrying me around 9 months,
For meeting my needs and some of my wants,
For buying me my first suit
While calling me handsome-- never cute,
For teaching me to love books,
For eating the meals I cook,
For keeping a roof up over my head,
May you feel fully alive and never dead,
Because you deserve to
And because I love you,
Here's to you, mothers,
From me, my sisters, and my brothers.
Our gratefulness is expressed best
Not here in rhyming couplets
And not fully anywhere,
But we're grateful nonetheless.
Thanks for being there.

The Root of All Evil

Original sin.  Self-interest.  Money.  Satan.  Hearts of Darkness.  There are a few things attributed as being evil's source, but they all trace back to mankind.  "They're only as good as the world allows them to be," says the Joker in The Dark Knight, "You'll see.  When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other."

Or there's Simon in Lord of the Flies.  The children of the novel, stranded on an island, start believing in  a monstrous beast that lives out in the jungle.  But Simon asks, What if the beast is us?  And sure enough every bad thing that happens in the novel is caused by the children themselves.  Simon has a fantastic (in the literary sense) conversation with a representative of this beast, who says, "You knew, didn't you?  I'm part of you?  Close, close, close!  I'm the reason why it's no go?  Why things are what they are?"

I do believe that evil comes from mankind.  However, does that make mankind evil?  I do not believe so.  Mankind produces evil, but we produce good too.  After all, the people stuck on the ferries in The Dark Knight choose to risk their own lives rather than sacrifice the lives of others.  And there are characters in Lord of the Flies that try to act for the common good even when it isn't fashionable and even when ridiculed, betrayed, and abandoned by others.

There are people who have children and abandon them.  But there are also people who devote the better part of their lives to raising their children.  And there are people with no children of their own who still try to teach and improve the children of others.  There are people who will kill for 100 dollars.  But there are also people who save lives for 100 dollars or sometimes more or sometimes less or sometimes nothing at all.  There are people who use other people like objects... to be disposed of as soon as they're no longer useful.  But there are others who make an effort to show love every day to those they care about.  And there are people who try to love those they don't even know.

We are not inherently good or bad.  It is a choice we make.  And sure, there are many circumstances out of the individual's control (poverty, international relations, natural disaster, tragic accidents, and the positive or negative actions of those around us) that might influence how a person acts, but when it comes down to it we all have a choice to do good or to do evil.  Some do good.  Some do evil.  Most do a bit of both.  But no matter how hard or easy life may seem, there is always a choice.