By Susan Long
So much we must take in, absorb.
We take short cuts ‘cos we can’t hoard
detail pertaining to this, those …’
The media flourishes, stuff grows—
info bombardment spreads at pace.
Keep up, keep up, cut to the chase!
But
cut
and beware,
what’s lost from out there.
We categorise;
cut down to size,
to absorbable bits,
something that fits
conditioning, embedded ideas,
familial, social, national … the fears …
all that’s reached our ears
through years.
The categories, the ways we view
our world, what we accept as true,
implanted deep in each psyche.
Examine, check validity
of what we take for granted, see.
Ok, let’s check … humanity?
There’s male and female, young and old
Already we have cast a mould—
excuse the trick or did you see?
Go back beyond the category
to people—we are people all.
Things like the gender, big and small—
boys are warriors, bold and brave
princesses must be pink, behave
in girlish ways. The word tomboy?
You don’t fit in—an evil ploy.
Who makes up each convenient slot?
No wonder we can lose the plot.
Divisions made by which to judge
it’s either/or—no, don’t begrudge
‘And also’, notwithstanding, please
I’d like some this, that, those and these.
Feel free to think outside the box.
The box, what box?
Demolish it, each false constraint
dished up as truth—well, truth it ain’t!
Imposed at random to control
cannot be swallowed as a whole.
Of course, we need some rules and laws—
they’re necessary—but then choose yours
as ways of thinking, how to live
you’re you, not some derivative.
‘I am, you are … ’, so be and do
with gracious care, what’s true to you.