Xvall
29th March 2002, 01:11
i am a communist
as children we are taught
that this "communism thing" was a dark evil force
born out of the ashes in the east
my parents generation feared it
like a red plague bent on world dominion
and my generation lived to see its death
politically anyway
what we know of it is considerably limited
there was this guy named marx
who wrote a pamphlet
and somehow out of all those letters
stalin started killing people.
so when someone from my generation says
"i am a communist"
it can sometimes bring out the wrong reactions
after all
our parents lived in fear of them
and were all too young to know what communism is really about.
sometimes im afraid
that ill grow up to make the same mistakes my predecessors made
and that one day
when my grandmother finds out
shell die inside
knowing her country fell to that word.
so im afraid
but nonetheless i say it
"i am a communist"
not because i aspire to one day follow in stalins footsteps
and finish what he started
far from it
i say it because i know that in my heart
it is possibly the last strand of hope our race has
everyone knows it
thats what makes this so hard to understand
but we still keep our eyes covered
politicians are crooked
its a dog-eat-dog world
and everyone is out for themselves
weve forgotten that were one people
when a man stands before you,
poor and hungry
to ignore him is a crime
he is a part of us
a single cell in a great array
of human life
no more important than you and i
and no less
but he has no money
or he wouldnt work at mcdonalds so that he might afford rent
he could be a great painter
or the finest carpenter of this century
or he could be a father
but it doesnt matter
because i need my money
my coloured paper and shiny metal
that i work so hard for
the money i work so hard for
so that one day
maybe next year
i could take a break
and go on vacation...
so that one week later
i can start all over again
my point?
we are slaves to money
we are the one race that works the hardest to survive
"the man" exists
we created him
and we serve him daily
forsaking our fellow brothers and sisters in his name
so that at the end of the day
we might be rewarded with more pieces
of finely cut shiny metal
metal
we are blind of course
partially at least
there are some of us who know better
but lack the courage
and talent to move forward
their job is display
to show us what is wrong
but they dont know how to fix it
john mellencamp knows
so did tu pac shakur
and gene roddenberry
and j michael straczyinsky
mother teresa knew
so did abraham lincoln
weve forgotten who we are
"we" has become "i"
and we have become so independent of each other
that we have forgotten where we came from
so that every morning you wake at 5.30am
so you can beat rush hour
you look in the mirror
and you ask yourself:
why am i doing this?
your groggy brain replies stupidly,
drugged up from the alcohol you used to help forget everything last night
"because i have to"
and you wash up and go to work
at a company that designs sub standard products and reduced prices
in order to compete with the other companies that do the same
later, if youre feeling enlightened
you answer the question again with a slightly more enlightened answer
"because theres rent to pay"
you frown to yourself and face your screen again
all in the pursuit of paper and shiny metal
we have come to a point in our history
where microsoft office 2000 is more important than a cure for AIDS
research into crucial things like cold fusion is being held back by "budget problems"
and spam has a new flavour
mcdonalds has produced a web site (www.mcdonalds.com)
and a 50year old man passes me on the street mumbling something to himself
as his brain tries to cope with schizophrenia
paper and shiny metal have brought us to a world where were forced
no
encouraged
to step on each other
kill each other
for the upper hand
weve all put ourselves on a great big corporate ladder
but this ladder doesnt go up
it goes down
into the depths of hatred, deceit, greed and death
if we one day manage to leave this rock
and explore the stars
may the gods help us if we insist on bringing this plague with us
we will conquer the stars
not explore them
and the result will be an entire universe
of people fighting to stay alive
instead of helping each other to build a legacy
so i say that i am a communist
not because i long for the days of the soviet union
but because i fear what i see before us
and because i know that we are capable of change
if the minbari can exist in the mind of straczyinsky
and the federation can exist in roddenberrys heart
and if mother teresa can say "i have never refused a child"
then you can turn to your fellow man and look him in the eye
and see a part of yourself
and if that can happen
then i know theres hope
- daniel quinn
as children we are taught
that this "communism thing" was a dark evil force
born out of the ashes in the east
my parents generation feared it
like a red plague bent on world dominion
and my generation lived to see its death
politically anyway
what we know of it is considerably limited
there was this guy named marx
who wrote a pamphlet
and somehow out of all those letters
stalin started killing people.
so when someone from my generation says
"i am a communist"
it can sometimes bring out the wrong reactions
after all
our parents lived in fear of them
and were all too young to know what communism is really about.
sometimes im afraid
that ill grow up to make the same mistakes my predecessors made
and that one day
when my grandmother finds out
shell die inside
knowing her country fell to that word.
so im afraid
but nonetheless i say it
"i am a communist"
not because i aspire to one day follow in stalins footsteps
and finish what he started
far from it
i say it because i know that in my heart
it is possibly the last strand of hope our race has
everyone knows it
thats what makes this so hard to understand
but we still keep our eyes covered
politicians are crooked
its a dog-eat-dog world
and everyone is out for themselves
weve forgotten that were one people
when a man stands before you,
poor and hungry
to ignore him is a crime
he is a part of us
a single cell in a great array
of human life
no more important than you and i
and no less
but he has no money
or he wouldnt work at mcdonalds so that he might afford rent
he could be a great painter
or the finest carpenter of this century
or he could be a father
but it doesnt matter
because i need my money
my coloured paper and shiny metal
that i work so hard for
the money i work so hard for
so that one day
maybe next year
i could take a break
and go on vacation...
so that one week later
i can start all over again
my point?
we are slaves to money
we are the one race that works the hardest to survive
"the man" exists
we created him
and we serve him daily
forsaking our fellow brothers and sisters in his name
so that at the end of the day
we might be rewarded with more pieces
of finely cut shiny metal
metal
we are blind of course
partially at least
there are some of us who know better
but lack the courage
and talent to move forward
their job is display
to show us what is wrong
but they dont know how to fix it
john mellencamp knows
so did tu pac shakur
and gene roddenberry
and j michael straczyinsky
mother teresa knew
so did abraham lincoln
weve forgotten who we are
"we" has become "i"
and we have become so independent of each other
that we have forgotten where we came from
so that every morning you wake at 5.30am
so you can beat rush hour
you look in the mirror
and you ask yourself:
why am i doing this?
your groggy brain replies stupidly,
drugged up from the alcohol you used to help forget everything last night
"because i have to"
and you wash up and go to work
at a company that designs sub standard products and reduced prices
in order to compete with the other companies that do the same
later, if youre feeling enlightened
you answer the question again with a slightly more enlightened answer
"because theres rent to pay"
you frown to yourself and face your screen again
all in the pursuit of paper and shiny metal
we have come to a point in our history
where microsoft office 2000 is more important than a cure for AIDS
research into crucial things like cold fusion is being held back by "budget problems"
and spam has a new flavour
mcdonalds has produced a web site (www.mcdonalds.com)
and a 50year old man passes me on the street mumbling something to himself
as his brain tries to cope with schizophrenia
paper and shiny metal have brought us to a world where were forced
no
encouraged
to step on each other
kill each other
for the upper hand
weve all put ourselves on a great big corporate ladder
but this ladder doesnt go up
it goes down
into the depths of hatred, deceit, greed and death
if we one day manage to leave this rock
and explore the stars
may the gods help us if we insist on bringing this plague with us
we will conquer the stars
not explore them
and the result will be an entire universe
of people fighting to stay alive
instead of helping each other to build a legacy
so i say that i am a communist
not because i long for the days of the soviet union
but because i fear what i see before us
and because i know that we are capable of change
if the minbari can exist in the mind of straczyinsky
and the federation can exist in roddenberrys heart
and if mother teresa can say "i have never refused a child"
then you can turn to your fellow man and look him in the eye
and see a part of yourself
and if that can happen
then i know theres hope
- daniel quinn