MAN'S PENCHANTS

cataclysms that vent their forces and violence 
one the intrigues of man on earth 
the other the forces of nature reigning havoc and 
destruction on whole populations 
these we have no effective control over

but what about the other? 
why is man's brutal inhumanity to man so common 
that it almost seems to be necessary? 
just how conscious of the situation is man that 
it is permitted to persist, often without much 
public outcry?
is acceptance of this condition an anesthetic? 
does it insulate any individual from its effects?

we pride ourselves as being much advanced from 
early man
but emotionally have de really grown? 
whole populations experience violence and crime 
not as endemic but as epidemic 
most men profess belief in a higher power, one 
usually regarded as providing for the good of man 
then how does one justify crimes against the individual, 
and worse yet crimes against humanity?

man as liberated has over the past two centuries 
moved from de sade's castle to the concentration camps 
why was it necessary to use the best technology of 
the day to eradicate 70 percent of europe's jews? 
it seems that much of europe then was in reality 
an institute for the criminally insane

the problem since the age of high rates of population 
growth and the start of the age of technology has only 
intensified
maybe the human brain took a wrong turn sometime 
in the primordial past
if this is true and we cannot or will not do something 
about it, we will lose that inner morality and spiritually 
that keeps us going as a species

people who lose their grip on their morality and spirituality 
usually are doomed
they lose themselves in effect 
if as a species we lose this grip, then i'd venture to 
say that our very survival is a matter of doubt ...


Copyright: james j nemeth      9-9-2002