August 16-B, 2022

Hay on Groundhog Mountain 08/24/2011 Oil Paint Rendered — Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 188, Hillsville, Virginia
Free to sound like everyone,
wearing the same tone of red,
chanting the same chants,
thinking the same thoughts,
bound to the same hates and fears,
free to vote in unison,
and to spit on the flag
by standing for the flag
by refusing to stand
for what the flag stands for...
how free is that?

Free as a bird in a cage,
as a lion behind bars,
as an elephant eating peanuts
thrown into its compound
by school kids on a road trip
to the zoo.

Free to be bound
to think
and talk
and act
like everyone else
who is free in the same way,
makes fools free
by talking about how free they are
to choose whatever they want
from the cafeteria buffet
that is the same every day.

Freedom to do what they are told
and beg for more
is death,
and those who are free like that
are dead,
and getting deader
by the day,
thinking they are free
to do anything they want,
but totally not free
to change their mind
about what they want.

And "freedom" is just another word
for nowhere else to be,
dreaming of a world 
where everyone is free
in exactly the same way,
unable to be different
in any way.

Ever.

–0–

Published by jimwdollar

I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing. I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters and five granddaughters within about twenty minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.

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