Jun 6, 2014 Original Poetry
Being Prepared (Or: Fiddling, While …)
©June 6th, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
Plunged in reality,
I discussed mundane,
But important, things
Like, “Educational Testing.”
“Why do grownups
Discuss dark matters?”
Asked my nine-year old.
I paused, hand on receiver
Suspended my tirade
About the Privatization
Of Education, looked at her,
And admired her
For her straightness
And her crystalline mind.
“Because,” I said,
Choosing my words
Like a person stepping
On shards of glass
On a tile floor,
“Because, if we don’t,
They come upon us
Suddenly, when we
Are unprepared,
And we need to be.”
“But why do you need to
Discuss it?” she persisted,
“Because, though I hate it,
I need to talk about it with others.
Think about it, be able to fight it.
It’s important, though awful,”
I said, feeling the weight
Of it dragging my voice,
And my internal voice
Asking, Why, indeed?
And I thought,
Because, I need to
Find arguments against it,
Look at it, discuss it.
Because, I need
To know my enemy,
And size it up,
Before it comes at me.
But I didn’t say it.
I think she already
Understood my world.
She looked thoughtful.
“I know it’s important,
But I prefer books,” she said,
And went back to hers.
So do I, I thought, and
Returned to my
Telephonic exchange,
Then hung up.
Outside, the coolness
Hung in dewy curtains,
Exquisitely damp,
Promising sweet rain.
Oblivious, my pup pawed,
At the kitchen door,
Impatient, eager to drink the
Evening air, dance in dew,
Pounce on a harmless stick.
And, somewhere,
Bubbles of methane
Arose to swampy
Siberian surfaces.
And animals fled,
Or curled up and died.
(But … we’ll have
No more talk of
Dark matters, shall we?)
So, I took my dog out,
Let her taste the
Beautiful evening,
Brought her back in.
Then, with a sigh,
I opened my book.
Reality receded.
________________________________________________________________________
Tags: #Books, #Mother and Daughter, Being Grownups, Climate Change, dark topics, Educational testing, escape into stories, Fiddling While Rome Burns, Privatization of Education
May 14, 2013 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries, Current Affairs / General Interest
Fiddling? Or Eating Bread in Circuses?
©By Vijaya Sundaram
May 14th, 2013
The planet is burning, and Emperor Nero is fiddling away.
Bees are dying off, and the company that was doing important work studying and protecting bees was bought by the company which made the very products which probably contributed to CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder). Whole species of animals and birds are dying off. Monsanto is today’s Satan, along with all the politicians who support it.
Meanwhile, on another plane, war-mongers and manufacturers of weapons rule the world and promote more war to line their bank accounts. Drone aircraft destroy villages, and no one person can feel guilty, because, after all, those are drones, and the people being killed aren’t white people from the Western world! Now, drones are being developed for domestic surveillance — it will be the beginning of a far worse global Big Brother which will be far more insidious than 1984.
And then, in the sphere of daily life, in all the developed countries, people drive gas-guzzlers. Alternative modes of travel are not happening quickly enough, and the rich travel here and there on private jets with impunity. Nobody really thinks it shameful. Nobody calls anyone out on anything. It wouldn’t be polite, don’t you know!
Forests are being cut down, the deserts and arid lands are advancing, and the wilderness is NOT paradise anymore. Floods do damage in some places, while drought takes care of the rest in others.
The planet is collapsing.
And we continue to shop, go to school, buy electronics, eat plenty, waste food and water, and watch movies. I do some of the above, too (except that I use older versions of computers and am probably one of the few people I know with an old flip-up cell phone, something which I avoided buying for years, anyway). I don’t indulge in some of the fancier technological devices used by the people all around me — but who knows? I soon might, tempted by the lure of their easy availability. No, I won’t. I shudder at the thought of adding more misery to the lives of those who toil away in places like China, or have to deal with the consequences of coltan-mining in the Congo).
Perhaps, for those of us consuming away in our frenetic fashion, it’s too frightening to look reality in the eye. Perhaps reality is really one of those monster flame-creatures that J.K. Rowling conjured up in “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.” What’s it called? Ah yes, Fiendfyre.
And so, we fiddle, while being burned up, along with the rest of those in power who set all this in motion in the first place.
Or perhaps, we are not the fiddlers, after all. The fiddlers are the makers of all those things we consume. Who are we, then?
We are the frightened populace who nervously eat the bread we are thrown in the circuses where we sit, maddened by fear and hunger, while watching some of the worse-off among us be killed off. After all, many of us don’t have economic power, and lack the wherewithal to assume power, so we take whatever handouts that those who DO have the power toss our way.
The problem is: We might be lion-fodder next.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The End ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tags: Bread and Circuses, Climate Change, Collapsing Planet, coltan-mining in the Congo, Emperor Nero, Fiddling While Rome Burns, Fiendfyre, Harry Potter reference