She scraped up her knees and she cried
Daddy picked her up to make it all better
Mommy got the ointments and the gauze
Brother got the cartoon Band-Aids
Once it was this simple
Some cohesive family unit
White picket fence, kids 2.0
The house, the car, the job, the marriage
The life
Forget hunger and homelessness
Poverty and burdens
Those exist on some other block in some other TV life – not here.
Not here.
And now
Now family has been redefined to include
Stepbrothers and stepmothers
Shirely’s with two daddies and Shawn’s with two mommies
Grandmas rearing tiny tots while fathers pay child support to kids they may or may not see
Families of 3 generations under one roof
Marriages struggling with definitions and acceptance
Children still hungry for knowledge in the classroom and food in their bellies
Teens considering suicide on the playgrounds
Jumping from rooftops, playing with guns
While soon-to-be victims crouch behind desks and doors and movie seats
We drive faster, more reckless, work harder for less
Bradbury knew what 451 was really all about – about what is happening to us
Now
We fight over boundary lines, political party aisles, genders, orientations, religions
We fight about money and sex and taxes and death
We fight about life
And we wonder why discontentment resides in the hearts of American folks
who grew up with the dream that we are all great, we can all achieve, we can coexist
we can be – happy.
We are the melting pot, the melting point for change
We know the way
Yet the futility of being one in the system, one among many
to stand out, stand up, reach out, accept, forgive and help
is overwhelming
Fear and disillusionment keep most silent, closed up, heads down, hands in
Just one single drop in the bucket of change
is all we need
For one drop inspires two
drops grow into a drizzle
a drizzle into a storm
that overflows the bucket and seeps across the land
One small change at a time
it’s possible
There is a middle ground for us all to stand on
we have overcome so much already
If we arm ourselves with courage and acceptance, an open heart and an honest mind
for growth and change to take hold and take effect
take root
We shall see it happen
Revolutionize our Melting Pot of uncertainty and doubt and make changes for the betterment of all
one drop at a time.
From: Vending Machine: Poetry for Change Volume III
Published by: The Poet’s Haven
November 2012
Sincerely, Lori 