copyleft 2006

by Zbignew Zingh

Sharon.

Even though you are in a coma, I see your shadow in Gaza, Ramallah and Beirut. Are they channeling you in Lebanon? Sharon, it's twenty years since Sabra and Shatila. Are they channeling you in Beirut?

Sharon, I understand the reason why you are the way you are. The Shoah, the Jewish Holocaust, left millions dead and millions more profoundly hurt, their blood and flesh and brains alive, their Yiddishkeit, their souls unhinged. Sharon, Israel, listen to me despite your life-supported, U.S. tax-supported coma. I understand the reason why you act the way you do.

When ovens burned in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Buchenwald and Dachau, no one lent a helping hand, no one paid the slightest heed, no one seemed to care. Presidents and businessmen, prime ministers and popes, no one paid the slightest heed, though they all knew or could have known, if anyone had cared. After the fact, perhaps they shed some tears, but tears don't save a human life, and no one really did a thing when, gassed, the millions died. So you were scarred, Sharon, with knowing that the world was mean. The Shoah did this to you, cast you out from Europe's Eden. You ate the crabapple of life; you saw no good, just evil.

Sharon. You could have learned two lessons from the Shoah. One was to rise, at least to strive to rise above the bitter ways of man, to imbibe wisdom from the Crime, NEVER AGAIN, FOR ONE AND ALL. The second was to Join Them, to be like Bush, like every other craven Mensch and less, to be a nation just like the rest, just save Your Skin, to Hell with Them. But now, Sharon, “never again” means only you; and as to anybody else, you lend not a hand, you pay no one heed, and do not give a damn.

Sharon, what are you teaching everyone? That prison camps, and gas and steel are what you learned in Auschwitz and Treblinka? Sharon, what you sow is what you reap, you learned that in the Bible. I understand you, Ariel, you reaped six million tears of death; but why not sow a better crop, for what you sow is what they'll reap, for future generations.

Awake, Sharon. Awaken from your coma.

Bush.

Are you in a coma? It's hard to tell, sometimes, to really know just what you are: a fearless fool, marionette, a messianic mad man? What kind of upside down god do you pray to, turning plowshares into swords? Do you dream of Rapture, Bush? Is your route to Kingdom Come just to drop a neutron bomb? Are you in a coma, Bush?

I understand the way you are, even though you will not hear me. If Palestine is occupied, its people crushed and Bantu-ized, what did you and your forebears do to occupy these U.S. lands and herd Native Americans onto your reservations? You built a mighty nation, Bush, as Israel would do. But where'd you put the Local Ones whose land you took and forced to give up riches? Bush, I understand the reason why you are the way you are. It is a mean, hard world and times are getting harder. It's all for one and all for me, that's Capital's tough mantra. You ate the crabapple of life, you think you're good, all else is bad. We're with you or against you.

Bush, what are you showing everyone? That prison camps and bombs and guns are how to win Man's heart and soul? Bush, what you sow is what you reap, you read that in the Bible. So why not sow a better seed? For what you sow is what they'll reap in future generations.

Bush. Are you really in a coma?

Congress.

Are you in a coma? Are you, both Ds and Rs, obsessed with clinging to your seats such that you cannot find your souls, such that you kiss the foot of Power? You spend your days on trivial things, the Pledge, the Flag, and Marriage Rights, while powder kegs explode world-wide, while schools and old folks starve for funds, while wages fall and prices rise, while pension funds dissolve away and everything gets privatized and few can pay the premiums for rising costs of health care.

Congress, are you comatose? I understand the way you are, even though you will not hear me. Money is your mother's milk; you suckle at the lobbyist sows that nourish you and feed you. But, Congress, if you had some spine, if you had some courage and awareness, would you really stand for Human Rights and humanistic values?

Congress, are you comatose? What is it you are showing us? That politics is all about your petty fiefs, you hanging onto office? But what you sow is what you'll reap. And when you ask us for our bucks to run for reelection, and when you ask for volunteers and time to help you doorbell votes, we'll recollect your timid cower, we'll spurn your claim to power.

Congress, are you comatose?

America.

Are you in a coma? Your reputation's sinking fast. You shop, wave flags, you watch TV. But are these days of living death? You seem to be oblivious to everything around you. You build and sell the missiles that the world shoots at each other. Your cows are mad, pollution's bad, your ballots are not counted. America, have you been outside? The weather's getting hotter! Your old folks cannot pay their bills, you never can retire. You're snookered time and time again to help the rich inherit wealth while you fight over bread crumbs. You send your children into War; tell me, for what? So Wall Street and the corporate cats can profit while they grind kids' bones and send you back their ashes? Because there are no better jobs than working in a fast food joint or serving lattes by the pint? America, are you dozing?

I know the reason why you snooze: part fear, part greed, part media forced-feeding. But while you sleep, the world has changed. It's now a meaner, grittier world: democracy's just an empty word and peak oil's getting nearer.

America, you know the rule: what you reap is what you sowed. So what you sow is what they'll reap for future generations.

America: are you dazed? Are you dead? Are you in a coma?