Assembling a portion of an earlier poem with a recently written one about Texas’s horrible anti-abortion legislation. Aware that the state I grew up in has a very imperfect history, but I never expected this kind of demagoguery.
Showing posts with label Texas school boards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas school boards. Show all posts
Friday, September 3, 2021
Thursday, September 2, 2010
New poem: NO, I DON'T HAVE CHILDREN (and if I did....)
NO, I DON'T HAVE CHILDREN
And I know cats don't count.
And I also know that I don't
live where I once grew up
and don't feel hardwired to
guard my nonexistent children
against the evils of technology,
entertainment and too-independent thinking.
I find it fascinating
that my generation
when they got their chance to run things
have kept drilling young people
in pledging unquestioning obedience
to national and state flags.
Even the just-as-conservative generation
who ran things when I was a youngster
didn't insist on repeating the pledge of allegiance
all the time over the schools' PA systems.
Maybe they respected children more
and weren't so afraid.
And I remember that
the generation that ran things
even before I was old enough
to go to school
managed to integrate
the Electra, TX school system
several years before
neighboring city Wichita Falls did.
No one wants to trust young people anymore.
Yes, they may not want to conform
to your version of a "good Christian."
They may convert to Judaism, Islam, Latter-Day Saints--
or, gasp--Atheism.
They may never share your values
or your politics 100%.
But you shouldn't love them any less.
And you should give them some credit for understanding
by easing up on robotic indocrination.
Trust that they'll remember some of
what you pass along to them.
And don't ever fail to love them no matter what happens.
And I know cats don't count.
And I also know that I don't
live where I once grew up
and don't feel hardwired to
guard my nonexistent children
against the evils of technology,
entertainment and too-independent thinking.
I find it fascinating
that my generation
when they got their chance to run things
have kept drilling young people
in pledging unquestioning obedience
to national and state flags.
Even the just-as-conservative generation
who ran things when I was a youngster
didn't insist on repeating the pledge of allegiance
all the time over the schools' PA systems.
Maybe they respected children more
and weren't so afraid.
And I remember that
the generation that ran things
even before I was old enough
to go to school
managed to integrate
the Electra, TX school system
several years before
neighboring city Wichita Falls did.
No one wants to trust young people anymore.
Yes, they may not want to conform
to your version of a "good Christian."
They may convert to Judaism, Islam, Latter-Day Saints--
or, gasp--Atheism.
They may never share your values
or your politics 100%.
But you shouldn't love them any less.
And you should give them some credit for understanding
by easing up on robotic indocrination.
Trust that they'll remember some of
what you pass along to them.
And don't ever fail to love them no matter what happens.
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