Looking out for one anotherIs seminal to whyWe’ve made it so far.When anthropologists consideredThe first signs of civilisationThey looked forBroken femursThat had healed,As that meant that at some pointAfter breaking a legAnd invariably becoming a burden,The wounded person belongedTo the kind of communityThat cared for people,Who could not carry their own weight-For long enoughTo allow […]
Read more "Broken Femurs"Knowing why you struggleIs just as important as figuring out the journey to overcoming it.Some of us have struggledAnd for the longest timeWe could never quite figure outWhy we did.So in the absence of a clear culprit,in some misguided attempt to‘Pull ourselves up by the bootstraps’We decided to beat ourselves upAnd call it ‘discipline’Because we […]
Read more "Giving it a name"But worth fighting for. That’s the best most of us can hope for From the people that get to know us. It’s unfortunate that it’s often the people That love us the most That get the short end of our stick, They stick around long enough to see us After our daily performance When our […]
Read more "We are far from perfect"What is it about collective struggle That draws us together? Maybe that we see firsthand That everyone’s blood bleeds red That others aren’t impervious to pain That our struggles don’t make us less than That while fortune invariably seems to be so selective, Suffering, ultimately, is not. Knowing that the pandemic affected us all Albeit […]
Read more "Hard on all of us"Spanish for the posture you assume When the odds are against you from birth, When foreign aid assumes a permanent role In your community Because it seems unlikely that you’ll ever Prosper without it, When people celebrate your capacity To suffer, To be hard pressed and not crushed. Songs of struggle should not be sung […]
Read more "La Brega"Every so oftenSome of us find ourselvesWith the means to shape thingsSignificantlyRemarkablyDecisively.To exist in the worldIn such a way thatMakes room for others to thriveTo suffer lessTo prosper.Power is at it’s weakestWhen used for small ambitions;Personal enrichment and short term aspirations.Power at it’s greatestIs soft.Soft enough for the broken to lie onYet strong enough to […]
Read more "Soft Power"The faces we see on a daily basis, Familiar though we don’t really know their stories. The faces in frames on our living room wall, We may not see them daily but their stories are embedded in our own. The contacts on our phone Scrolling past people we once spent many hours with While other […]
Read more "Contemporaries"For the ones who can afford it? The ones who don’t have pre-existing conditions? The ones who easily comply? The ones who “get it”? Or perhaps the ones already educated about health, The ones who won’t miss appointments Or ask dumb questions Or make unreasonable demands? Or perhaps its for the ones who can really […]
Read more "Who is good health care for?"Sure, But if it wins at our expense should we keep letting it? If the market wins and leaves millions vulnerable What kind of win is that? If the so called market forces supplant human thriving What exactly are we winning? If the market always wins It implies that something else always loses. Systems are […]
Read more "The market always wins"How great are you really, if the axis of your ambition Pivots on personal benefit? How wonderful are your interventions If you, alone, can carry them out? How generous are your donations If you intend to permanently capture the means of wealth creation? Making it big by working harder and smarter than everyone else Is […]
Read more "How great?"
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