What do you when the darkness wins
When hatred wins
Good is supposed to triumph over evil and all that
But real life ain’t hollywood glossy-wrapped in a neat bow
In real life sometimes the monster wins
In real life evil can rise to power
And stomp on all the bright things, gloating at its puissance. Gloating at its chance to ruin and break and soil, devalue and dishonor, as if by defiling that which is good, the brute will somehow be made elevated
In real life greedy man babies in expensive suits grab and snatch and steal
Hoarding all the shiny things for themselves
With one to rule them all. And in the darkness bind them
This covetous evil, ever feeding its empty ego, a bloated walking talking leech
A prancing, poisonous jester gleefully spreading a toxic brew of hate and bigotry and fear
Because this attention-craving professional trickster and con man lives to be worshipped, lives for the hollow approval of cheering mobs thrusting their arms at skewed angles.
What do you when this darkness wins
When hatred wins
When it is loosed and encouraged and emboldened and inflamed
Drooling now, eager to attack, strutting about, engorged with validation, impatient to flaunt its power
What do you do
You grieve of course
Camelot invaded
…I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.*
And most of all, I see Americans of every party, every background, every faith who believe that we are stronger together, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, young, old, gay, straight, men, women, folks with disabilities, all pledging allegiance, under the same proud flag, to this big, bold country that we love.**
Oh bright beacon of hope and inclusiveness, your far reaching beams of light fractured by giggling bullies slinging rocks
Such a terrible day 11/9
What do you when the darkness wins
When hatred wins
You lift your lowered head so heavy with sorrow
You patch your broken heart
And you grasp hands with those who would fight the darkness
And you pledge to fight fight fight the darkness
And you vow to protect those whom the darkness desires to crush
And you sign petitions and make calls and you take to the streets in protest
And you RAISE YOUR VOICE
and say NEVER AGAIN
NEVER AGAIN
Never again will we allow hatred to rule
Never again will we allow hatred to terrorize and brutalize our fellow humans
NEVER AGAIN will you strip us of our rights
NEVER AGAIN with your internment camps
NEVER AGAIN with accepting hatred of the other
We will not sit passively by as darkness consumes the light
What do you when the darkness wins
You stand up and shout against the darkness
NEVER AGAIN
NEVER AGAIN
NEVER AGAIN
And you emulate that bright beacon in the darkness and you do everything in your power to bring back the light
* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19751-2004Jul27.html
Transcript: Candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois, Barack Obama, delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention
Transcript: President Obama’s speech at the 2016 Democratic Convention
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