To be so convinced

Of your convictions

That all the others

Seem gross & obtuse

As if mere remnants

Of some bygone age

Rather than individuals

Who differ from your opinions.

Those with more content with America

Or perhaps their own country

So not need to bolster their contentment

With the derision of another’s viewpoint.

Instead we listen & accept their view -

Put in the mix, if you will.

And proceed ahead

Seems discontent expressed peacefully

As a strength of a social system.

Others see peaceful protest as futile -

In a world of overt war

Fought with intercontinental guided missiles

As well as every conceivable tool of destruction

Wielded with complete human devotion -

To survival of the self

And the death of the opponent.

So we witness Ukraine, Gaza

Russia, Iran, India, Pakistan

And all the peripheral states

Involved in a nuclear age -

Clearly we are at the end

Of the pre-nuclear period -

Awaiting the mistakes

That are part of the human genome