A Dying Dynasty

---

Learning about our history
and foreign policy / imperialism
has been a disturbing
and mind-bending journey
that one can
never come back from --
a truth that has been seen,
cannot be unseen.

Context is everything
in understanding what is happening,
and I'm so grateful
to have discovered journalists
who are brave enough
to dig deep
and endure endless smears
to educate us
and reveal our darkest denials.

In a strange way,
I feel calmer
looking at the bigger picture,
and less frenzied
by the day-to-day theater.

I see so many people
who appear as if
they are about to implode
over every 'news' detail --
this is not sustainable
(I should know)
and the world needs your
fire.

Hating Trump is easy;
parroting power-pushing pundits
requires no effort;
scapegoating, blaming, and bullying
reveals a lack of understanding
and imagination.
Systemic analysis is difficult,
but it is the only thing
that will bring about
real change.

It's a terrifying experience:
having your safety blanket of myths
torn away,
your paradigms and stories
rocked like a tectonic shift,
but in the end
we'll be better for it.

Lift the veil,
and then ask:
why the veil?
Who's idea
was it anyway?
What's its purpose?
What's its meaning?

What do we really want?
Do we even know?
Let's build it!
And let the old ruins
crumble.

The elite factions
and capitalist interests
battle it out,
while we spectate
and cheer on teams
that only use us for our votes
and our complacency.
They already own our lives,
and so much of our time
and our minds
and our desires
and attention.

We have better things
to do
than prop up
a dying dynasty.
It's time
the People
draw up the contracts,
empower one another
to pick up the pieces
and heal the wounds --
to set the world right.

I believe
that we will win.