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

In A Far-Off And Careful Land

 In a careful land, each eldest son breathes in his father's dying breath

and the generations form a flowing river

When the leaders do not embrace the Tao

the people have no links to their past

Not aware of the great wheel's turning,

They cannot provide for those that follow

In a quiet land, there is music to be heard in the sound of raindrops falling

and even people's clothing reflects the deeper patterns all around

In a rowdy land there is no time for turning inward

And though people’s lives remain empty they are filled with constant noise

Rushing ever forward, mindless, until, in the end -

They plummet like frightened cattle off unseen cliffs into a black abyss

In a land that knows its past, the future must remain consistent

and there is an unspoken consensus going forward

In a land ignoring history, greed makes up the rules as befits its daily needs

and then these are packaged into ideology to be sold as moral virtues

Freed from the yoke of history, without any tribe, safe from tradition

Nothing must be sacred, all may be bought, sold and subverted

In a carefully tended land, people know the farmers and what is in the fields

they are grateful for the rain and rejoice upon the autumn harvest

In a land of manufactured, pre-cooked and shrink-wrapped foods

the sun must always shine and dirt is to be studiously avoided

water logically appears and wastes go down the drain or vanish out the door

Thus, living without wonder and dying without grace

In a land that plague and war have devastated, where fire and famine ruled

perhaps their tragic echoes may lend a steadying hand

In a land of milk and honey fantasies, where the miserable are outcasts

media delusion bonds the mindless sheep into propaganda-herded flocks

Safe from the burden of collective introspection

Freed by a proud ignorance to satisfy only their induced consumer needs

In a land where revered ancestors lived, the people take on responsibilities

Change requires consideration because things have been built to last

In a land of form instead of substance, people spend more than they earn

And such as mere teachers are viewed with just a bit of scornful pity

purchases increase an empty arrogance and define shallow personalities

and the people maintain a very vengeful pride in their angry ignorance