Today’s Lady Justice in Peril

Tailored suits drift through government corridors

like sharks beneath black water,

their teeth hidden behind press releases,

campaign slogans, and handshakes practiced in mirrored rooms.

Watchdogs are muzzled.

Whistleblowers are thrown into storms for daring to strike a match inside a house filled with gas.

The architects of bribery don't carry sacks with dollar signs,

they arrive carrying contracts, lobbyists, shell games,

and favors exchanged like contaminated blood.

Truth is dragged into court on broken ankles.

Facts are auctioned.

Outrage is manufactured on glowing screens that breed

a thousand lies per minute, each one hatching like maggots in a wound.

Meanwhile…

Ordinary people rise before dawn.

They stock shelves.

Teach children.

Patch roads.

Drive trucks through seasonal darkness.

Work double shifts while calculating which bill will survive the month.

They obey laws written by people who often seem determined to outrun them.

Lady Justice stands among the ruins.

Her blindfold has been ripped away.

One eye is swollen shut.

The other is forced open to watch power feeding on principle.

Her scales hang twisted like the wreckage of a bridge.

Her sword, once forged for fairness, lies imbedded through the mountains of legal invoices, corporate influence, and political vanity.

The marble beneath her feet is slick with the grease of bought loyalties.

Her robe resembles a battle flag torn apart by decades of greed.

Yet still…

A nurse reports the fraud.

A journalist publishes the documents.

A judge refuses the pressure.

A citizen tells the truth when a lie would be safer.

Tiny acts.

Small flames against a darkness determined to become permanent.

And circling above it all,

vultures of hatred,

wolves of power,

and that tireless counterfeit god, money,

is forever demanding another piece of the public soul.

Lady Justice remains stalwartly determined,

Scarred.

Battered.

Barely recognizable.

We are left with but one question: Can we rebuild our Lady with honesty and integrity, or are we doomed with hate, power and the corrupt pursuit of money for many years to come?