H
e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s
b e r g
N
a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i
v e s E d i t i o n
ALI ZARRIN
To Whom Do We
Owe Our Freedom and To Whom Do We Not?
“For it has
been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given
us
the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us
freedom of
speech. It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has
given us the freedom to protest.”
––Zel Miller from a speech given at the Republican
Convention, Sept 1, 2004
Certainly not to kiss-ass politicians
Kissing hands and asses
for favors or money,
Connection and influence, jockeying for
position,
Slaughtering each other at daytime
And drinking Champaign together at night
But of course to those who lay their lives &
wealth
on the line for people
Presidents like Abe Lincoln, Prime Ministers
like Dr. Mossaddeq
Not to pompous religious leaders
Whose god resides in a large building or on a
gilded throne
Hooded or un-hooded, robed or unrobed,
Allowing people to kiss their hands,
to serve them out of fear of hell and
damnation
the fear that has been instilled and fanned
in their minds;
and yes to those religious angels and saints
who work out of a pure heart
To serve people, many of whom
are unknown
But Holy Mothers such as Mother Theresa
Represents them well
And not to proud and vain kings who drove their
armies
Thousands of miles from home to prove their
abundant testosterone
Or its lack, to prove that they are addicted to
power, addicted
To war and killing, and yet to those few kings
in the history
That showed mercy and generosity and considered
Their crown bestowed to them by their subjects
Certainly not to cruel & wealthy aristocrats
For if it were up to them we would only have two
classes forever--
Master and slave, but to thoughtful and generous
aristocrats
Who knew that they will never be remembered
unless through their
Generous deeds and their humble acts of sharing
their wealth with the poor
Not to the global bankers / war mongers
Who create “international
incidents”, manipulate “irreconcilable differences”
Between countries and fuel the wars of genocide
as part of their business as usual,
Finance the likes of Hitler and his war machine
The likes of Saddam Hussein and his torture
chambers
The likes of Taliban and their imprisoned
society
The likes of the Bush regime, who want to devour
and control the world through war and
supremacy, killing
millions of people from all sides
We owe our freedom to the kindness of mothers
Their love, the sweetness in their milk, their
warm soft bosom
For we learn there from
early on the meaning of love and security
as the essence of freedom
We owe our freedom to loving fathers
Who teach us through love and care how to hunt
and gather wood,
How to provide and give, as that is also the
true meaning
Of freedom
We owe our freedom to the farm workers
Working in the heat of summer, tilling land on
their tractors
Or harvesting in their combines
Providing food to nourish people so they can
carry on with their lives as they wish
We owe it to the workers who went on strike in
Chicago in 1888
Demanding 8 hours pay for 8 hours work
Or else employers would still make us work long
hours and ask us to be grateful
We owe our freedom to the coal miners
Who day in and day out shovel coal from the
belly of the mountain
While the rest of us sit at our desks writing
about freedom
We owe our freedom to the postal workers of the
world
Who keep stamping, carrying and delivering all
our mail to nearly every place on earth
We owe it to the truck drivers,
Traveling long distances, often alone, on ice
and treacherous roads
And we owe it to teachers
who educate our young and old,
teach them to read
and understand our history and our struggle for change toward a more
just society. Yes, to the teachers from elementary to college,
working for petty
wages but for long hours,
instilling knowledge and
know-how.
We owe our freedom to the maids and servants,
chauffeurs,
conductors and cooks,
waiters and attendants,
Who toil, work and sweat giving service, comfort
and liberty to the rest of us.
We owe our freedom to the philosophers
who elaborated on the notion of freedom and
democracy,
For the nation and for the individual, who
showed us how much
Room there is for out thoughts and ideas to
become free
And our lives to reflect this freedom.
We owe it to the countless scientists whose
tireless work
led to the discovery of electricity,
Vaccines for incurable diseases
Machines and locomotives that liberated us
from the primitive means of living and
traveling.
We owe it to good Physicians who truly care for
their patients
And offer them healing and liberation from
disease and discomfort
We owe our freedom to the builders of machines,
planes, trains and automobiles,
For if it were not for them, we could not travel
freely across the continents
We owe our freedom to grocery workers, cashiers,
clerks, butchers and bakers
Preparing all our food for purchase
We owe our freedom to all those who work in the
basements of America,
cooking, washing, and
ironing
All those sewing, mending, welding, pumping,
assembling on lines in the factories
For each one’s work contributes to the freedom
of others and enables others to be free
using products that
enrich their lives
We owe our freedom to our spiritual teachers
Who show the path to tolerance to opposing
views, peace and justice for all
Who bring food to the needy, shelter to the
homeless and jobs for the unemployed, relief
to the addicts.
We owe our freedom to the fire fighters,
emergency workers, and soldiers
Who come to the aide of the needy in dire straits
From fire, flood and earthquakes.
Who bring immediate relief, who sacrifice their
noble lives to save people they have
never seen
We owe our freedom to artists, musicians, poets
and writers,
Whose imaginations create a new world for us
And a new freedom
We owe our freedom to true judges and lawyers,
To exceptional athletes.
Freedom is the most loaded word in the world
And all the people in the world from the child
to the aged
Can have a part in creating and maintaining it
[Originally
published in NHS 2006, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs06/Zarrin.htm.]