Good intentions?
‘’the road to hell is paved with good intentions’’
By the nuns and fathers
Who saw a dire need to do good
Jesus was brought to the savages
Indians that needed saving
Indians that needed to be civiziled
That’s why they ripped them of their kids
Put them in schools
That tortured them
Killed them
So, they could go to heaven
A civilized heaven full of good intentions and a white Jesus.
We needed to provide protein for our families
That why we killed the kids of others
So that we can feast on their protein
That’s probably why the colonialists
Stole our spices and jewels
Made us slaves
because they needed the spice to
Preserve their meat for long winter months
And feed their families
We give to charity
To do good and feel good
But do we feel good and that’s why we do good
Is that why we flash a camera
In the face of a hungry man
For whom consent is the least of his worries
But a right to his dignity
We strip a man of their respect
By giving a fraction of a fraction
Of a salary
Through which we live like kings
How noble of us
The world is round,
Not a box,
Things flow in this world
We are not bound by walls
We create them
We create communities
By words that separate us to them
I exclude you
Us exclude them
That’s maybe why we pollute the world
It flows as someone else’s problem
How many have lost their lives in the name of nations
Merely a factual concept, peons in the game of hoarding resources
When the world is divided, separated, distinctly named
There is no place for everyone at the table
Our world is not merely changed by intentions but by actions
That are fuelled by the imagination that create the world
Where there are villains and heroes
A stark divide
That paint the world in black and white.
If we want to change the world, ask the world does it need changing
If we want to help, ask those that need, how we can help them
If we want to care for another, ask them how they need to be cared for
If we want to live, ask others if our lifestyle is encroaching upon their right to life.
If we speak, ask other is our words hurt, divide, judge or condemn
Intentions are born of our language, environment, culture, resources, history
Whether they are good or bad is asking whether the world is in black or white
But when the light shines in, everything is made of color with each sunrise
Critical cultural relativism looks at why, who, and to whom does it serve our practices.
Does it serve one or all?
A home is made whole when all its members are united in their differences.
Differences that challenge our egos’ that maybe just maybe we do not know everything
And knowing that might make us a little us sure of ourselves.
But when our ground is shaken, do we not hold the hand of another to find our balance?
And would that be such a bad thing after all to not know everything and learn a little something everyday so that we are together in our uncertainty as we go through life?