Let Their Children's Children Decide

Enjoy Your Inheritance...

let your children's children's children decide who was now right or dead wrong -

should they ever be born and learn to read, should they even grow up

ask them what it is like in the land that we carved up from coast to rich coast

get their opinion on our furiously confusing petroleum-powered lifestyle

poll them about what we did when all the fish were gone or poisoned

listen to what they say of the animals they know of only in books and zoos

discuss with them the agricultural contamination they congenitally inherited

talk about toxic landfills also filled with half eaten foods and tons of recyclables

question them over paying off your credit card by refinancing your home

prompt them about ignoring the increasingly hot, dry and windy weather

feel them out about the green revolution and the value of large human numbers

probe them concerning their legacy from the turn of the 21st Century

listen to their bewilderment regarding our runaway military spending

ask them which are the lands of the free and where the brave actually lived

have them detail consumerism's contribution to our legacy for humanity

have them name one media event that millions of you sat haplessly glued to every week

get them to list out the issues we knew and ignored which now plague them every day

let them judge us only on our actions, should they suspect our motives

determine if they find us quaint but levelheaded or foolish and short-sighted

find out if they still emphasize expensive form over boring substance

ask them about the wisdom of our nationalistic intolerance

get their opinion about the cheap fast foods that we grazed upon into a proud obesity

poll them about our exterminating the smiling chimps and the quiet orangs

listen to what they say about the birds they can only hear now in old recordings

discuss with them the toxic runoff our pavements dumped into their channelized rivers

talk about the plastic litter we casually tossed that they still find everywhere they go

question them over the wisdom of leasing a new gas-guzzler every second year

prompt them about ignoring the heavy metals & coal-fired mercury in a mother seals milk

feel them out about our policy of righteous and reactionary, preemptive exceptionism

probe their feelings about what we did for so long to the cows, pigs and chickens

listen to their questions about how corporations took over the government

ask them to name the countries that they can actually admire from our times

get them to list all the ways our political religious right has blessed their lives

have them name a scientist and one corporate leader that lived among us

have them list out the benefits of an ever-increasing world population

let them judge us by our legacies should they have forgotten our empty rhetoric

determine if they still feel that abortion really is an overriding and very public issue

find out if they think we left them a chance to have at least what we had

ask them what those we called conservatives actually preserved for them

get their opinion on the affects of global aquaculture methodology

poll them about the brains of cetaceans and our killing them in the name of canned tuna

listen to what they have experienced with regard to the climate change we scoffed so hard

discuss with them the state of the lands left to them by our conglomerate farming

talk to them about the wisdom of subsidizing the export of our manufacturing

question them on the enduring vision of real estate salesmen and land developers

prompt them about the consequences of ignoring where your food is coming from

feel them out regarding what decisions god should make in a proper government

probe their feelings about which creatures actually possess real souls

listen to their questions about the ratio of paid lobbyists to politicians

ask them why we always spent more on dEfense than all the others put together

get them to list all the benefits of putting a plastic flag decal on an imported car

have them name some old multinationals that inspire their admiration

have them list out the benefits of corporate medicine over family doctors

maybe they can judge our actions not on what remains but by our perceived benefits

determine if they feel that we just stood by as millions died of non-profitable diseases

find out what they hold in honor and see if we used it in our marketing

let any surviving children decide and whoever writes the history be our judges

for we are not about to be stopped in this, our own righteous pursuit of individual happiness

Let Us So Virtuously Abide

and so my dear brothers let us go forth to pollute and to destroy

let us slash and let us burn, let us shop and let us drive giant vehicles all alone

let us consume without care for time everlasting, amen

let us worry not for tomorrow nor for any affairs of the future

yes, my dear brothers let us despoil, let us ruin

let us propagate our own and teach them our ways

and woe unto him who would speak a word to oppose us

verily, my dear brothers, the One True God we have created remains upon our side

let us use him to retain a strict certitude in all of our decisions

go forth my brothers, may you remain ever righteous and angry

and see only what you will in just the way you wish to see it

let us despoil and waste and remain blissfully unaware

let us ignore and rationalize, cast blind eyes and turn deaf ears

let us have no regrets and fear no retribution

let us sow wide aspersions and offend quickly at the smallest slight

let us take dominion over the plants and the animals, the water and the air

let us foul and move on, defile and leave, waste and cynically smirk

let us take our jet skis upon the water, our ATVs over the land,

our snowmobiles on the snow and our SUVs upon the highways

let us call upon the strength and morality

of the forefathers we do not know

let us extol the glories and seek guidance from

the history that we have no need to study

let us contend that our self-centered actions are necessary

for those future generations whose potentials we daily shrink

let us extol our virtues and beat upon our chests

let us trumpet those same self-evidences time and time again

let us be kind to the foreigners though they be simple and abide in darkness

remembering always that we only obey the higher authority we have created

let us reach out our hands for subsidies and dole out expensive favors

while reminding the less fortunate of their personal responsibilities

let us slickly repackage issues into sound bites using clever slogans

but demand concrete certitude of scientists before taking any action

oh, yes, my dear brothers let us recite these catechisms as one

yes, and those who are not with us are most surely our enemies

let us ape and let us parrot, let us not see lest we shame

let us take for ourselves and preach to others of the Golden Rule

Sorry That The World We Leave You...

sorry that the world we leave you

          is less than the one that we got

sorry that the fish are poisoned and

          grandma's house is gone

sorry that the farms are bulldozed and

          all you can see are miles of suburbs

sorry that it's all so expensive

          and all the good stuff is gone

sorry that we built it all out

          and you find stripmalls everywhere

sorry that the place is crawling

          with way too many people

sorry that the birds and frogs

          have all gone far away

sorry that that favorite lake of your childhood

          is surrounded by our huge houses

sorry that the stars are gone

          because of all the lights

sorry that we armed the world

          but left you without healthcare

sorry that you cannot find

          a quiet place to fish

sorry that we filled the air

          with poisons from our cars

sorry that we turned the farm

          into a corporate concentration camp

sorry that we sat by numbly

          3 hours every day, watching television

sorry that we lost the skein

          that bound us to our past

sorry that it got so warm

          all the lovely glaciers melted

sorry that the tigers left

          and the rhinos shuffled off

sorry that the orangs split

          and the leopards can't be found

  

sorry that you are so many

          that the earth cannot provide for you

sorry that we stripped the wilderness

          before you got to see it

sorry that our life's desires

          were no more than commercial fantasies

sorry that there's not much water

          and most of it is simply filthy

sorry that we fed you food

          that was full of chemicals and pesticides

sorry that you'll always find

          our discarded plastic on the ground

sorry that we didn't teach you

          the frugal ways of our grandfolks

sorry that the sun's so hot

          and the rain has ceased to fall

sorry that we used up the oil to drive to work alone

          spewing smog and sipping coffee on the phone

sorry that we could not tell

          between the bigger and the better

sorry that you learned from us

          that learning is for losers

sorry that we gave control to

          the faceless conglomerates that now under-employ you

sorry that in your empty lives

          you can only search for fun

sorry that you have spent far more time

          playing video games than reading

sorry that we raised you by example

          to be as ruinous as us

sorry that we never saved a penny

          and now expect that you to support us

sorry that if you even listened now that we are old

          we never took time to think of what we would say

sorry that you missed the time

          before we came this way