VIOLENCE

Violence is a violation of the stewardship of life. The so-called "stand your ground" laws that many States have passed are reflective of the violent culture of our times. Here's another poem from If I Do Say So Myself (CSS Publishing Co.):

  
                          A VIOLENT WORLD


The violence surrounding us is frightening to see---
the child abuse, and spouse abuse, police brutality.
It’s on our streets and in our homes, it’s on the movie screens.
It punctuates the language of adults as well as teens.
It fills the daily papers and it dominates the news.
It saturates the television programs people choose.
It’s how some people root for teams, and how they drive a car,
and how they flaunt the litter laws, no matter where they are.
It’s their abuse of others’ rights, their treatment of the poor.
It’s what they do in their aggressive grabs for more and more.
It’s gross neglect of neighborhoods where poverty abounds,
it’s water, air, and land misuse, offensive sights and sounds.
It’s acts of terrorism that do not seem to abate.
It’s ethnic cleansing, racial hatred, bigotry, and hate.
It’s what some do to animals and their environment.
It’s corporate crime, the mafia, and sleazy government.
It’s slaughtering endangered species ‘til they are all gone.
It’s all of this and much, much more ---one could go on and on.
As violence breeds violence, we’ll pay the price, because
the whole world is the victim when a few transgress God’s laws.
How much worse, then, the consequence of violence and strife,
when for so many it has now become a way of life.