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To This Day
("Utopia and Terror Merit Badge", 2010, original oil)
To This Day
Even now over 175 years after Marx
Set a tide of revolution in motion
There are still ever expanding and encroaching
Tendrils and tentacles of his influence
In every aspect of our lives.
At the root of all this hope and change
Is the vision of an idealized society,
You could say a vision of heaven on earth
Which should make it clear
It’s more a dream here than literal vision.
At the heart of desire for change
Is discontent with what is.
Sometimes this makes sense
Like wanting to come in from the cold rain.
But sometimes it’s just a wish to deny reality.
It comes down to choosing our battles
Defining what we actually control
And thus the limits of our power.
As they - they being the generic voices of wisdom - say
You can’t change the world, only how you react to it.
Yet due to the myriad of modern achievements
We easily forget this timeless wisdom
We think we can change how others think and act
And can one day eliminate all suffering
All injustices and sin, and ugliness too…
But, you know, there’s a simple way to solve our problems
And that is to accept them for what they are.
Apparently it works for cows and dogs
But less so for humans
Especially the more idealistic and ambitious among us.
So there in a nutshell you have it,
We choose our problems
Because we don’t want to be cows or dogs
We want to be gods, masters of our destiny,
And so to this day continue to dream, in vain.
(8/28/24)
Copyright ©
James Moore
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