The Biology of Peace

Consumption Friday is upon us and the news will tell of whether it was a good one or not by the volume of things consumed. It will show people waiting in line for bargains... it will seem all normal.. except it all represents consumption and its subsequent waste. Goods are needed and gifts are fun to give.. but focus will not be on how to make our world saner, it will be on how our corporations did today... as if they are not subject to the laws of physics too..the laws of limited natural resources..... so I wrote this in defiance of a world we still have the power to change, if we want to badly enough...


I know the president who I helped elect is very busy preparing his speech for why we should send more troops in Afghanistan, but maybe someone can steer him to this poem and the feeling I have that as a progressive my only choices are to either be devastated by a leader I completely disrespect or be disappointed by a leader I like... I think he will be making a huge mistake one that is costly, unproductive and a drain our limited resources...


The Biology of Peace
By Karen I. Shragg

Now that we know
Now that we can prove
That we are all related
Thanks to the success of those brave
few who ventured out of
Sub-Saharan Africa just a second ago
Earth time
Its time to let go of all of the lies
Which tell stories of difference
Which plant the seeds of violence
Which perpetuate war

Now that we know that our kind left the trees
When the forests dried out to find food
Just a few Earth minutes ago
Its time to stop treating them like
Strangers forcing their ultimate extinction
As if we don’t owe them more than a ride on a
Circus train for they share all but a fraction of our DNA

Now that we know our power to make all ecosystems
Bow to our wishes and break in the process
Its time for full throttle focus on stewardship
Which is not a sacrifice
But a sacrament
The kind with real consequences here on
Our planet which science is telling us doesn’t
Have long to support us
All of us
In numbers which far exceed its ability to give

Now that we know our planet’s limits
Now that we know we can exhaust them
with our numbers alone
Its time to admit we have limits of our own.