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

When the people grow up chasing endless empty fads

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

because all is in the chaos of cheap construction and hourly work migration

they should grow skittish and uneasy

like caribou forced to migrate past packs of hungry wolves

when the people worship only what is new

the children try to invent an entire culture of their own

and then quickly they grow old and confused

and are discarded with a strange distaste for themselves

when the people do not honor the food that they eat

animals live like prisoners and die stripped of their grace

the land is violated by many forms of dirty runoff

yet some still yearn for the simple lilt of missing songbirds

when the country gulps from plastic that it quickly throws to the ground

and its commercials require more thought than its entertainment

its strength is diminished and its future in doubt

yet it is not painful to those dancing hypnotized in a dull throng

when corporate agribusiness controls the food supply

and stock prices guide the stewardship of our sustaining land

the future appears both raggedly hungry and quite filthy to the disaffected

when developers create communities and give them idyllic names

and create streets meant to recall other times

those who are not team players may mournfully intone that

what is no more, and cannot return, will always be the better

when it is cheaper to bulldoze rich farmland for new cheap strip malls

than it is to re-develop shoddily-built and decaying storefronts

some people see the true wisdom

of the invisible hand of capitalism stroking the sacred free marketplace

when home owners speculate on gains from their properties

making improvements only to appeal to prospective buyers

and to enhance their curb appeal

others see the true meaning of our Traditional Family Values shining thru

when the winning candidates always spend more than their rivals

in campaigns all run by sloganizing puppeteers

and corporate sponsors quickly recoup their election investments

people revel in the spiritual experience of the democratic process

when a man is ashamed that his car is too old

and women routinely throw out clothes that they have never worn

consumption remains high enough to support the holy economy

and advertisers have won a great victory for leveraged consumerism

when an honest workman feels that he must be a loser

and is ashamed of his good craft

his country has abandoned purpose and reason

and the image makers have falsely robbed him of his dignity

when the people grow up chasing endless empty fads

ignoring all else as passé or unimportant

it is with a cold and faceless impartiality that

they, too, very quickly pass out of style as well

when the old are disgusted with what the world has become

and are simply glad that time has, at last, passed them by

the young come of age full of unrelated images, each only half-digested

their brains an unsorted compost heap of mass entertainment

when the people do not know what to do with their elders

and they are laid aside and asked to pay to be kept out of sight

when no one knows what these citizens are living for

the society which asks this question can have no decent answer

when expensive dogs are purchased from puppy mills as status symbols

but left out alone in empty fenced yards

before, very soon, to be sent away forever more

children learn the value of commitment and companionship

when the angry young man, once so widely admired,

morphs pathetically into a bitter and tired old fool

his impotent rage becomes boring repetition

and he is quite easily left behind and quickly forgotten

when the people burn bright lights outside their homes

throughout every night of each year

and more is spent on security systems than for reading material

the children grow up coping with implants of ignorance and paranoia

when grown men spend good money having pickup trucks make more noise

though they are too big to park and have no place for groceries

little boys learn what is important though father's never home

growing up tough as nails and dumber than the dirt

when mothers spend their time in knots of vicious gossip

merely aping empty fashion trends

and pursuing shopping as an extreme avocation

no one need wonder why girls do poorly in science and math

when anger, revenge and greed provide the best in workplace motivation

even though the silly mantra of political correctness is regularly invoked

how easy can it be then, once at home with the family

to lay it all aside and be gentle and just, kind, calm and loving

when senior officials, hip-hoppers, movie stars and athletes

turn up their noses at education, science and normal work

while violence, ignorance and crime are portrayed as part of ordinary life

why are we surprised when first offenders cannot read, write or add

when our parents wind up languishing in their own smelly wastes

in institutions staffed by tired drop-outs and illegal immigrants

shortly to be preyed upon by a conglomerated funeral ‘industry’

who would argue that our own lives are not, thereby, greatly diminished

when the most important of all the many government spending items

is how much we can spend on killing other people

while whipping up the public against enemies in the shadows

it becomes clear that the business of war shall prosper, forever more

when the incumbent promises things he could already have delivered

many poorer citizens may still trust him if he seems to be nice,

and spends good money on family images with soothing voices and safe music

while touting moral values but favoring the rich and the incorporated donors

when intelligent people read only pre-digested spin from a for-profit press

it is easier to maintain the consistency and rhythm of the message,

thereby ensuring that the rational will not panic, bolt and run,

while establishing by repetition what seems false upon first impression

when elections are brought to you by corporations to reach financial goals,

none of which include family values or environmental nonsense

and slick firms launch expensive campaigns designed to spin the candidates

who would be surprised if voters are treated as simple target markets

when the credit cards are all maxed out and the houses aren’t worth their loans

and once-cheap imports and outsourced skills are simply unaffordable

when all the strip malls are complete and the entire ecosystem shattered

the people can still sit inside gasless SUVs, communing with their personal saviors