A long, thought-provoking, free-verse poem about ignoring the warning of distant thunder. |
As my wife and I watched TV, we heard thunder rolling in the distance. Soon a warning of approaching severe storms bringing dangerous winds and hail to threaten property and lives appeared on the TV screen. My wife and I grew more apprehensive as the distant thunder grew louder. For eons distant thunder has warned of dangerous conditions ahead. Man ignored this warning at his own risk. America now is embroiled in a political storm that threatens to tear apart the fabric of our democracy. All too many people paid no heed to the distant thunder forewarning of this storm’s approach. One candidate in the 2016 presidential election set loose thunderous clap after clap that should have alerted the populace – lie upon lie, hateful attacks on Mexicans and Muslims, false claims of business successes when bankruptcies, law suits, and fraud were his true legacy as a con man, brags about assaults on women, ridicule of the handicapped, and support for white supremacists. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Contact by multiple members of his campaign with Russian agents was ignored. Roll thunder, roll! A campaign lacking specific details, only slogans to arouse the crowd –- Build That Wall! Lock Her Up! One after another roll of distant thunder … ignored or excused. By the narrowest of margins the storm swept into office. The thunder grew louder with each action: the appointment of unqualified cabinet officers who opposed the work of the agency they headed, campaign promise after promise soon forgotten, a White House staffed with numerous people who met in secret with Russian agents and lied about doing so or failed to reveal it. How could we not hear the thunder growing nearer and nearer? Now attacks on the free press, a cornerstone of our beloved American democracy; attacks on the federal judicial system – thunder is shaking the walls of the republic. Collusion with Russia has led to investigations, which drew open acts of obstruction of justice – the thundering is booming overhead, the hail is pelting down, the winds are whipping, threatening to rip asunder the structure upon which American democracy rests. We as a people paid too scant attention to the distant thunder warning us. Now we are paying a dear price for our inattention; we are enduring a battering storm that hit us unprepared. And now the thunder is deafening! Why oh why did we not pay more heed to that distant thunder? I invite you to please check out my ten books: http://www.amazon.com/Jr.-Harry-E.-Gilleland/e/B004SVLY02/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0 |