Dreaming

 WHENEVER SOME SANCTIMONIOUS AMERICAN complains about human or civil rights violations in other countries, sarcastically percipient un-Americans, Chinese, Russians, Iranians, North Koreans, what not, who not, appropriately speaks the words: "I can't breathe". Touche'. Point taken. Case closed. What goes around, comes around, etc. If only we got the point, and kept it. The ugly American shuts his mouth, only, not usually. it is indeed possible for the United States  of Inequality to lecture other countries about human and civil rights, but not with any credibility. This, considering our present state of affairs. If American abuses of basic human rights and decency were confined to history books, and had since been corrected rather than merely incrementally improved, it would be one thing.  We could with some degree of credibility voice our concerns about conditions in foreign lands. But considering our grossly uncorrected situation, not so much. It has not, and thus we cannot. Practice what you preach, the saying goes, and we the arrogant ugly American hear a lot of that, not without justification. Of the many wonderful poems Langston Hughes wrote about inequality in America, his favorite was titled "I Dreamed A World". Its a beautiful little piece, easily understood, with the oft explored theme of imagining a better world. We the American people were invited to write our own version, beginning with the words "I dreamed a world". I decided to try to make mine a bit unusual. here it is:......................................................

I dream a world

Therefore I am

And thus the world I dream can be

Deep within the better part of me.

The Buddhists say that mind comes first

That everything from mind proceeds.

The world I dream therefore becomes

A better, kinder world, manifest reality.

As Voltaire famously said; We must tend our gardens.