The Tao Of Our Demise

 “When the palace is magnificent, the fields are filled with weeds, and the granaries are empty. ” ― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

when the winning candidate always spends the most, buying up the votes

people see the arranged marriage of free enterprise to the democratic process

thusly, in relation to their own humble way of living,

do they learn to accept the ultimate power of the almighty dollar

when the dealmakers gain too much influence

the mass of people grow uneasy

they sense the dissipation of their masters

as horses smell the impending storm upon the wind

when the citizens have no places that they have always known,

because all is in the chaos of construction and migration

they grow skittish and unruly

like wild herding animals near a raging fire

when the people litter carelessly, having no connection to the land

their feeling for the Tao is certainly fouled as well

but during those briefest moments before the crash

any significance is lost, in the noise and confusion

when one alone stoops to pick up anothers’ litter

it is a hard thing to do

for plastic trash far outlasts our bones

as well as any possible thought behind our actions

when the people do not honor the food that they eat

animals live like prisoners and die robbed of their grace

and the land where they are fattened is polluted by their runoff

yet some will still be straining to hear sounds of missing songbirds

when the frogs are disappearing and growing extra legs

parents study their children with extra care:

arms unable to protect,

brains unwilling to accept

when a country takes its food shrink-wrapped tight in plastic,

which is thoughtlessly and immediately discarded

and its commercials require more thinking than its paid infotainment

its strength is thus diminished and its future is in doubt

yet this is not painful to those who heave mindlessly within the throng

when the children learn to unwrap all gifts with an amazing speed,

then consume, discard and walk away without a thought

it should not be long before they absorb the truth that

they, too, are surely, to be shortly cast aside

when the people worship only what is new

their offspring try to invent an entire culture on their own

but quickly they grow old and must blame it all upon themselves

when the country merely follows the latest in manufactured fads

its cities cannot last

and its old have no roads to travel

and the young have no one that they can turn to

when it is common knowledge that the old are of no use

the young and beautiful, nonetheless, cannot see

their own lives must also very quickly end in the same purposeless emptiness

when the people are always far too busy

with trivial tasks that they must soon forget

and in-depth news is unimportant and history is unlearned

their rush is towards a future filled with old mistakes

when people reach the end of life in such a place as this

there is a sense that the road where they have traveled

was not a winding path leading to a peaceful destination

but an endless superhighway where they've broken down for good

when tourism has become a simple extractive industry

natural beauty becomes a resource to be efficiently exploited

condos and strip malls and cheap plastic icons sprout up very quickly

until the magic is depleted and the workers move away

when the country imports poor and ignorant, young human beings

to do work considered to be too menial for real citizens

the dignity of labor is never learned by its children

and empty media sales values are all that they retain

when the ones that we listen to

we consider to be at least halfway insane

we have forced our lives into making sense

by believing far more than we try to understand

when people ask what a tiger

has ever done for them

it is easy to internalize that

we require no major course corrections

when endless sprawl and traffic jams

are considered simply as the norm

it makes real sense that one more bit of litter

does not matter anywhere, anymore

when jobs and consumption, spoiled children and entertainment

guide all of our blurry actions

then appear the gaping inconsistencies found in our thinking

that guide this accelerating rush towards deserved self-extinction

when an education is just for loosers

and getting rich by any means is good

we have no reason to be surprised

by corporate fraud and collusion

or roving gangs of illiterate and amoral youth

when sex is used to sell everything from

cat food to car parts

newspapers still report that our brave police righteously arrest

women who must sell themselves to feed their fatherless children

when alcohol destroys the lives

of millions every year

beer distributors grow rich and become civic leaders

while pot smokers passively go to jail and rot

when black men go to prison for years

for stealing a car or selling a hit of meth

mealy-mouthed, pale white corporate parasites

get away Scot-free for ruining countless lives and stealing millions

when we say we still believe that

all men are created equal

the people watch as we rush in military aid

to those who live where coveted resources still pertain

when highly skilled positions are all moved away from our shores

and Wal*Mart wires our hard-earned money to foreign bank accounts:

where will the skilled illegales,

who do the real work that we once understood,

find jobs in the bright future of this, our glorious land?

when the scientists and engineers,

craftsmen and computer coders

are all outsourced and only the ignorant and lazy majority remains

loyal subjects pause to ask: who will hook up the lights for me?

when the oil is all sucked down

and the Arabs ride camels back to their fly-ridden sheikdoms

and all the motorized wheels stop their turning

our sacred mommies will puzzle over getting the kids to the mall

when actors and the grandsons of politicians get elected

and money buys the office

some ask: why not just count the contributions raised

instead of bothering to vote?

when city governments compete for destination shopping centers

using new sales taxes to finance their ever-more bloated budgets

and more houses mean more property taxes for their counties to spend

citizens observe as these trusted public servants

build our legacy for the future under the holy rubric of local control

when the people view all foreigners as simple, stupid and irrelevant

and the measure of a nation is taken through a gunsight

there is no contradiction that your clothing and electronics come from china

your cars from japan and your computers are controlled from india

when our leaders pray for guidance in making important state decisions

and terrorist enemies invoke their own gods in support of holy jihad

all those of franchised faith heed the calls to prayer in peace,

secure in the knowledge that their own one true god will not ever forsake them

when the people scoff as fuzzy-thinking tree-huggers try to run amok

and see that their plans are too expensive and will cost too many jobs,

yet provide little value in their own search for exciting entertainment,

then has their society been divorced from the web of life that sustained it

when the children realize that they were raised up to be as ignorant as vegetables

and that all the best resources have been consumed,

while fouling and contaminating the majority of nature to nurture them,

they can sigh while carrying firewood and water barefoot, but still faithful

when political correctness yields gains for passive-aggressive lampreys

note clearly that the weak and submissive have not been advanced

yet the strong, the independent and the productive see once again

the fact that their labors only benefit those truly glib and venal suck-ups

when the evangelicals rule the scientists

while their children are paused in violent video games to take their meds

the corporations set the agenda based upon their short term needs

as all the merry little dancers skip about in this rapidly advancing twilight