Headline Poem 3/23/14 -- Crazy of Days

Russian Navy Takes Over Ukrainian Sub in Crimea.  This image on the news triggered a conversation with one of my kids, and then a reflection on my part. Many of the things we tell our kids just don't make sense in "the real world." You can't just take something that doesn't belong to you... except submarines, countries, and other people's wives... crazy of days.

Crazy of Days

You and me in the crazy of days

Dividing fragments of heres and theres that we see

To make wholes we believe in and beds to lie in

Borders are changing and we have our hearts set on Zion

The submarine has been taken over
Submerged so long it doesn't realize it isn't over 

The nerve of the man to take the plaque and flag down 

Marking an exchangeable value that he can't take back now

Like before it was theirs
And then theirs 

And now ours

How do you explain this world to your kids?

We talk about shopping malls, lawsuits, and missing planes

But have countries killing their own, making stones, and throwing them 

Is the history in books so far removed, we no longer learn from it?

We can go to space if we have the funds 

Donate money to anyone

We can travel the world to volunteer 

As long as there are layovers to cheer

But not everyone is allowed to go 

Hard to believe, but the world is round and not fair

And then there are she and he and their affairs

Kissing one and making life with another

How do you explain what we've read and seen to each other? 

There's a key hole to peep and another to pry in 

When you're older we hope that you use the right one

Until then please watch both sides
Read this and that and then make up your own damn minds
Learn how to think and how to discover
The world is not ours, but it's ours to wonder and uncover 

Me and you in the crazy of days 

One step turns into four and then five, and more
We are the ones who we need to rely on
For the mouth that we feed becomes what we need, and so on