Always do what’s right. The truth is clear.
You can’t subordinate your life to fear.
Say what you mean and mean what you say;
I was raised to believe I should live this way.
Humble yourself and you’ll be exalted.
Exalt yourself and you’ll be faulted.
Let him, without sin, cast the first stone.
He spoke a truth but he spoke alone.
If the weak are strong and the strong are weak,
When, why and how am I confident or meek?
When to have patience and when to fight?
Should emotions help determine what's right?
Sometimes I can no longer sit on the fence.
I simply can’t tolerate intolerance;
even though I learned, a long time ago,
hypocrisy is the critic’s foe.
Tell me when patience loses its virtue.
Woudn’t I be guilty if I were to
obey some ancient, abstract, dictum
and watch an innocent become a victim?
Or is it really a matter of degree?
Don’t sweat the small stuff – just let it be.
We make so many difficult choices.
Ethics seems spoken by too many voices.
Expat4Cebu
Author notes
I start by contrasting my upbringing against Christian values, then delve into conflicts.
Please tell me what you see as the theme of this poem.
Comments
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I see the theme of this poem as one of personal responsibility to one's own conscience...I believe that there is a spirit within each of us that will dictate how to behave in every situation, if we but listen...and sometimes the behavior we are led to exhibit seems opposed to all we have been taught...this, to me, is not contradiction of one's faith or values...it is being fully human and I think you have written a marvelous poem here...If there were no conflict, would there be growth?...Observe nature...storms ravage a landscape...but after the rain does not the ground bring forth abundance again?...all in it's own time and season...The one factor, to my eye, that makes a devastating impact is man himself when he chooses to act unwisely...My apologies for becoming so long-winded, seems you struck a chord with me... Peace, Rhonda
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