Heads Hiding in the Sand
By Odin Roark

Let’s face it…

We only care to preserve ourselves.

And why not?
Who else should wish we survive more
than ourselves.

Take care of yourself….
Remember that bit of everyday wisdom
your parents drummed into you?

And what’s wrong with that?

Not a damn thing,
to hit it head on.

C’mon, you altruistic slaves.
If you don’t make sure
you’re surviving,
amidst your pseudo caring syndrome,
who will?

Sure as hell won’t be a devotee
of “Save the human race.” billboards.

So, where do we go from here?

Yeah, I know, back-seat altruism
is passé, and real care
for our fellow human beings,
is a misnomer,
and those of us
with any good will
continually gets a bad rap.

So, what’s the answer?

Well, let’s start with
“humanness.” You know,
that attitude long expunged from
our psyche with the narcissistic plague
that aspiration for “celebritydom” nurtures from…
ah, let’s be fair…
pre-teen media gluttony digested and held within?

And then…

Like it or not,
we arrive at adulthood,
few with a cognizant set of cells in place,
while even more suppress any possible maturity,
preferring to hide behind their long passed
adolescent stage, but nevertheless,
needing to guard
the most protected
anchor within them.

And then…

Comes along an innocent child.
Call him an alien.
He might be yours,
Or just a kid in the sand box of growing up.
A person who is not yet part of our debacle-of-a-civilization.
He or she is just beginning to be massaged,
coerced,
led blindly into power’s hell,
knowing not the rules to survive,
caring not for anything
but perhaps the lonely ant
crawling on his hand,
or is his crib,
or if fortunate,
the smile from a mother,
a sign that there is a modicum
of humanity’s effort trying,
even though…

So we try,
don’t we.
Some of us.

Yeah…
We try, but…

Where the hell are the others?

Conspiring another unrealistic way to survive,

While others of us sit back and sigh.
many of us alone,
even though we have a family in the next room.
Might we be very happy because we clawed our way
to the grown up table...
even though we are sitting alone?

So, now what?

Some would argue,
who needs nuclear annihilation,
when we’ve got inhumanity
rushing to destroy us,
swollen heads hiding in the sand.