We’ve Been Fooled
We’ve been fooled
By years of peace
Where the rumble of war
Was distant;
Where missiles and bombs
Fall on brown-skinned folk
In lands that are poor.
We’ve been lulled
Through days of prosperity
And calm,
Distant from guts and gore,
Into believing
That trade and civilisation
Are the new law,
And war was consigned
To history;
A despicable artefact
Never to darken our door,
Once more.
Opher – 21.4.2022
We’ve opened up the world and mixed with all people and cultures. We have discovered that we can get along with everyone. We are all the same.
We have united cultures and countries through commerce and travel.
The terrible wars always seem consigned to poor countries full of people who were not like us. It was terrible but distant.
It could never happen to us.
But have we underestimated the terrible human flaws – the paranoia, the greed, the lust for power and the fear?
Was civilisation a band-aid over a gaping wound?
Have we underestimated the human propensity for violence and cruelty???