Moving The Needle

We’re losing out there,

us people.

Ant’s in a maze.

Puppets on a string

We’re losing hope

We’re losing trust

We’re losing the fight

The lies were told

The lives that never grow old

Another pawn in a game

Another one of us sacrificed

for someone else’s gain

It’s an ugly world,

when you zoom out.

If you zoom-in,

into the individual,

or a community,

and you watch a child's christmas play,

as your son sings off key,

with a big smile on his face,

and your daughter looks up to him

with pride in her eyes,

that's good

That’s beautiful

That’s what it means to be human.

When you take that same lens,

and zoom-out,

outside of your personal life,

outside your community,

when you hear the rumors of how bad the world is,

when you stay ignorant to it,

when you shrug your shoulders

and just accept it as what it is,

we lose the fight.

You ought try to move the needle,

just a little bit,

while you can.

Try to move it towards goodness

Towards love

Towards understanding

and wisdom.

There is not much wisdom

in the nihilism of our current culture.

Not speaking up against injustices,

can lead us down a path,

of death

and desperation.

Soon,

no one will be allowed to speak,

except for those

who pull

the strings…

The fight is now.

It's your turn

to try to move the needle,

that rest in the middle

between

good

and evil.

-C.H.