|
And so I do
I look at the globe on the end of a chain
Around my Mother’s neck
And it gets bigger and bigger
Until I realize that the globe is the Earth that I am sitting on
The globe is the same Earth that my Mother and I
Are sitting in a park bench on
And now I am confused
I look to my Mother
What am I supposed to look at now?
She smiles and points to yet another globe hanging
At the end of a chain around her neck
And bids me to look at it
And so I do
And I look at this globe
And it does not get larger
And I look at it
And it remains the same size
And I look at it
And I hold it on my palm
And I see people upon this globe
And they are moving stridently about
They are marching
They are giving orders
They are barking orders
I see a military leader and somehow he looks ridiculous
For he is barking orders and striding around
And no one, not a single person is paying him any attention
And the spit is coming out of his mouth
He does not seem to notice or care
That no one is following him
He is leading a charge into battle
He is consumed with this task
He is engrossed with this his task
It does not occur to him to realize
That no one is following him
He is doing his part
He is not concerned whether others are doing theirs or not
And so he leads
And no one follows
No, not a single one
And this disturbs him not
For he notices not
His task, his role consumes him
He lives in his own self-created world this man
And he is a great general
Leading a major offensive against the enemy
I don’t know if he knows who the enemy is
It matters not
His offensive is what matters
He has his strategy all laid out
He has gone over it in his head a million times
The strategy is brilliant; it is perfect
If perfectly executed, it is sure to succeed
He can hardly wait!
He can hardly wait!
And so he goes issuing the orders
That specify the different parts of the strategy
And he issues a certain set of orders to this part of his
battalion
And another set of orders to another part
For they each have a different role to play
Yes his plan is multi-pronged; it is complex
And is bound to confuse and confound the enemy
He is excited the man is
He is having so much fun!
Who is as brilliant as he!
What wonders and glory he will accrue!
Why he will be a hero!
And off he goes to the 3rd battalion
To give them their set of orders
He is careful to not let the different groups
Know of each others’ orders
For secrecy is of utmost concern
He is the concertmaster
Each will play their part as he directs them
And the whole thing will come together beautifully
Well orchestrated
With a glorious and dramatic finale!
Oh yes! it will be glorious!
The body count will be high of course
For what glorious battle was ever won
Without a high body count
Yes that is part of the game
The necessary pain
A small sacrifice indeed to make for such glorious achievement
And the man continues to bombast
And strut around
He is happy he is
Happy he is in his own world
As he continues the execution of his battle plans
He is feverish with excitement
He consults with others
And yes there are others
I am seeing other older men who consult with him
They take themselves most seriously
They listen most attentively to this man
And yes they see he is brilliant
Possibly insane but brilliant nonetheless
Why had they not thought of such a plan
Why it is sheer genius!
And they are envious
How could a lunatic such as he come up with a greater plan
Than they were ever able to devise
It rankled yes it rankled
And they broke rank
The men split off into various groups and sub groups
Each one determined to come up with a plan that would rival
And yes best the man’s plan
For they were jealous
They wanted the glory!
Why leave his name for the history books
They wanted their names known to posterity
And so off they went
Each group and subgroup
Went off to their own corner of the world
And ruminated and strategized
And while none came up with a plan that was as brilliant
As the original man’s plan
They did come up with some quite clever plans indeed
Yes they were quite pleased
With their own versions of their plans
And some of them were proud that their plan would result
In a lower body count
And some of them took secret pride
That their plan would result
In a higher body count
For they knew which of the two, the history books would note
And so it went
These men, and yes, they were mostly older men
Competed as it were
Each one claiming to have the best plan
And they would actually compare and contrast
Each other’s plan
To see which one was most effective
And they began to have contests these men did
For these men were not insane
These men knew quite well that no one would follow them
People were just no fun anymore
And did not want to play in their delicious games anymore
No matter
They still got to play their part
No one would deprive them of their pleasure
No, no one
And so the men kept on
Into their tottering old age they kept on
And the people around them looked upon them
And allowed them to be
They were harmless after all
They were allowed to strategize and to plan and to scheme
To their hearts’ content
Yes they were allowed
There was no harm in allowing them to do so
They even allowed the 1st man, the insane one
Who shouted out his orders to one and all
Not realizing that no one was listening
Not realizing that no one was hearing
Not realizing that no, not a single person
Was following his lead
Yes they even allowed for this man
For again he was harmless
For the people of this world
Had long ago made a quite startling discovery
They had discovered that they could ignore such men
And nothing would happen
Absolutely nothing!
It was quite amazing actually
One just ignored them
The way one ignores old women
Who feed the pigeons at the plazas
It was as easy as that!
Who would have thought it!
And so the people of this world
Gradually implemented their newfound discovery
It was hard at 1st
It was hard to believe that all that bombast
Had absolutely no power
Why no power at all
It was exciting to discover
That the power was all in the hands
Of each and every single individual
Yea each was free to do as he pleased
And if one chose to not follow this bombastic man
To one’s own death
To the death of others
He was left to this his choice
And the people of this world increasingly so chose
Individual after individual after individual
Chose to not follow these so-called generals
The generals kept on being generals
For they did enjoy it so!
But the individuals of this world
Chose to go about their own lives
Marrying and creating families and building cities
And making music and doing all sorts of things
But no, they did not follow these generals
And no, they did not kill each other
And no, they did not die for these generals
No they did not
They chose not to
They chose not to
They chose not to
And there was not a thing the generals could do about it
No, not a single thing
|