Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans! The poem I wrote for this month sort of took on a tone I hadn’t intended to take at first. But the lines just kept coming, and it became a bit of a protest, or a rant, about all the freedoms that keep getting taken from us, little by little. I absolutely LOVE our awesome country. And contrary to the claims of some, that we have no identifiable culture, or that we are not a diverse country, I say we have a very unique and diverse culture here in the United States. The media and certain “leadership” figures would like us to believe we are all divided against each other, because we all have differences of opinion, or different core values. But the diversity we celebrate is not to be synonymous with “division” as they would like you to believe. We are free to differ, without being divided. My issue is with the fact that more and more of our individual rights, liberties, and responsibilities are being forfeited or stripped from us in the name of security. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” This is a very sobering idea, perhaps especially today, as we are consistently being stripped of individual thoughts, speech, movement, and actions, while being convinced that it is all for our own good. This poem isn’t exactly aimed at anyone with a different opinion than mine. It’s more of a cynical rant to those in leadership and media who wish to involve themselves in our personal lives, while they don’t live by the rules they wish to impose upon the rest of us. Look at your TV and you’ll be led to believe our differences divide us. But look around your community, and I bet you’ll see that those differences aren’t points of contention – they are opportunities to learn from each other and respect the rights we have to live our own lives as we wish. Those liberties come with personal responsibilities, too. I hope you’ll read and enjoy this poem in the manner I intended it – just a bit of a “standing my own ground” with a cynical undertone. Enjoy your freedoms, my friends, before they are taken away!
COME AND GET IT
By Trevor Hardwick
Let’s get rid of all the groceries,
Let’s get rid of all the toys.
Take away my gas appliance,
And anything that brings us joy.
Strip us of our logs and lumber,
Take our incandescent lights.
Come and take my A/C unit,
On some sweltering summer night.
Tell me I can’t drive my classic,
Because it ain’t electrified.
The day you do, I’ll tell you then,
That’s the day my country died.
Come and get my stick-built rambler,
Why not take my property?
Give them to someone who thinks,
They have no opportunities.
Tell my kids there is no truth,
That nothing real, is really real.
There’s no such thing as moral compass,
And everything is how they “feel”.
Fill their heads with propaganda,
Fed to them through public schools.
Let the village raise our kids,
And wind up with a league of fools.
Steal my private information,
Sell it on the internet.
Tell me all my hard-earned cash,
Is nothing but a silhouette.
Want my guns, well come and get ‘em,
My private life must rearrange.
Make believe my skin tone matters,
Then tell me that the climate’s changed.
You can try to take my freedoms,
Try to change my way of life.
But all that does is cause division,
Leading to more civil strife.
Burn my flag and close my churches,
Kill the cows and fire the cops.
Punish good, and pardon evil,
And wonder when the hurtin’ stops.
Take these virtues we’ve established,
Drag our culture through the muck.
Do all these things if you dare,
And THEN come get my diesel truck.
