Divided We Fall

It’s interesting how we always seem to divide ourselves up into various groups. Whether political, geographical, cultural, racial, religious or whatever, folks feel the need to take sides and that’s how we get into the various global pickles like we are in today … and always have been. Divisions are drawn, enforced and invariably benefit the class at the top of whatever system they have created. Not surprisingly, once a system is established, the bias spreads to every group involved. It would be easy for me to cite dark moments in history or spin the globe and point to almost any nation to discuss examples of how we have classified and misused our fellow man. However, today I’d just like to share the following poem and let you see what comes to mind. Certain races, nations and religions seem to have suffered more through the centuries, but we each have our own lens of experience and concern. What I ask is that you think it through, or pray it through if that’s your nature, because simply taking a step back and looking at the world from a different perspective can be half the battle. Where are the walls built in your own life? Where are the lines drawn? Did you inherit them or come up with them yourself? If we consider such questions honestly the world could be a better place … and we owe that to our children. I hope you enjoy the poem and find it thought provoking.

Divided We Fall
Brick upon brick, we build our walls
With blocks of resentment and pride
We raise up lofty barricades
Then, drawing lines, step to one side
Proclaiming we, the elite, shall stand
Over here, where no one else may
We demand that everyone take his place
Or there will be hell to pay
Through the ages we've added more bricks
And a host of new rules to the game
Clouding the issues and stirring the pot
But the outcome is always the same
It is always the group who draws the lines
And imposes them on the rest
Which seems to have the most to gain
And which seems to become obsessed
With making sure that only a few
May have the privileges they have known
For if all men were equal they'd have to share
The spoils they claim as their own
While the rest of humanity cowers outside
Degraded and left in the cold
By a system which robs them of their rights
Crushing even the wise and the bold
Yet, the greatest injustice about the system
Each man has been shackled within
Is the shallowness of the parameters
Which doom him before he can begin
Neither race, nor creed, nor country
Are the sum of any being
They are merely the cover of a book
Which may contain treasures unseen
Any system that judges a man
By his temporal exterior
Has done a disservice to all of mankind
By promoting dissension and fear
For only a system which looks each man
In the eye without judging him first
Is worthy of judging a man at all
Without predestining him to be cursed
So the next time you find a brick in your hand
And you're tempted to work on a wall
Find a bridge that needs repair
And do a service to us all
By Frank Carpenter ©