Who says I can put pencil to paper
and not make it paper to pencil?
Why am I not so entirely ruled
that I cannot breathe without permission?
My heart beats only on command,
I rely completely on my superior.
Give me freedom any day-
if I want to cut down a tree,
my labor is my property-
in the state of nature,
no one will contest that.
No rules, no regulations
except that which I impose on myself.
You can swing Louie as close as you like
but you must stop at the tip of my nose.
From there, it's my right
to decide whether I want to be hit.
Hit me
with the responsibilties
of being free:
I am all alone
and if you decide to violate my rights,
it is only me, myself,
and I to stop you.
Unless...
We form a band of brothers
and give up some of our powers
to use our united rights to protect all of our rights...
what then?
We have come from the virgin state of nature
into a wiser, newer land:
society has formed
and a government established.
At birth, no man is great
he is whom he makes himself to be.
But the greatest in the world
cannot control the poorest man in the gutter-
we all have some innate sense
of when our rights are violated.
Nowadays, we have rights to everything.
If I steal something from you,
I can claim I had a right to steal it.
"Give me my rights!" they cry.
Alright-
I'll dump you in the woods,
free to live on your own.
You'll have to take care of yourself
and defend yourself
and you get no benefits except what your hands create.
Byebye!!
Author notes
There are too many "rights" that aren't rights, and the basic human rights are life, liberty, and property. In the state of nature(no society, man on his own), you can cut down a tree and it is your property. You can do anything you like- so long as you do not infringe upon someone else's rights. That's where Louie comes in. Anyhoo, when ppl demand their rights, I just want to dump them in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing. That's their right- they live their own way. This may make absolutely no sense, but hey, spur of the moment.
A contest entry
- Difficult: Rights by bgoub.
900 points, ended February 27, 2007, 6 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
-
ick..Locke...
Nice explaination though!! -
It does make sense. It expands on the idea of rights vs. privledges and the rule of law in a community. Very few of us live as hermits (or would want to) so we have to balance the benefits of civilization with the lack of freedom it confers
-
Nice
i love it it is so very true that people to often take for granted the rights that they have and this is a wonderfull way to show that
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