"Unfair!"

A meditation on judgments

Tell me, please, if you know

The answer

*

To why little kids are stricken

With cancer,

*

And while you're at it,

If you don't mind,

*

Tell me why people are

Born deaf and blind.

*

Don't speak of punishment;

I've heard that before,

*

But that god went out

With the second world war,

*

And as for past lives,

The recurring role,

*

Do they ever tell you

When you're up for parole?

*

As for me, I'm afraid

I must yield,

*

For I've not seen the rules

Nor the whole playing field,

*

So I'll just wait alertly,

Watch and compare,

*

Before I point fingers

And shout "Unfair!"

Author's Note

We may never know why stuff happens. On the other hand, do we have to know?

Reviews

[GlendaK]

Sounds like you're not sure of much.

[John the Baptist]

Thanks. Like Socrates, I know nothing.

[lildot]

Wow! I haven't written for a while and just posted my latest poem which I feel parallels this poem. Again, your prose is succinct. The read is quick and enjoyable. I love your style. Lil' dot.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

we all express or witness things that make us want to cry out "unfair!" and the silence that often answers us is so disheatening. but, do we have to know? that's a thought-provoking question. maybe it isn't our place to.

[John the Baptist]

Thanks. Some things remain beyond our knowledge at this point in our evolution.

[Coyote Poetry]

Like you my friend. I have seen the ugly of life. Hard to understand sometimes. Once I thought my life was hard. I saw starvation in Africa three times with the Army in the nineties. I learn my life wasn't hard.
"And I say, Father Time,
Do your worst,"
The above lines I do understand. We learn, we can overcome anything with old age. Thank you for sharing the outstanding poetry and your thoughts.
Coyote

[John the Baptist]

Thanks, C. Many things seem unfair to our minds, but we never see the whole of the big picture.

[Gee]

S**t often happens to the wrong folk, good folk, whilst many a bad b*****d sails through life with few if any ailments...UNFAIR
Enjoyed this cleverly put together piece

[John the Baptist]

Thanks, Gee. Sometimes the bad guys get theirs, too. Think of Hitler in the bunker, or Al Capone. Still, a lot remains inexplicable. I simply watch without judging.

[Mauricio Montoya]

Wow John coming from you I have read again, okay when I was born and the doctor slap me when I saw the light saying in a scream, that's not fair I've done nothing wrong to get my a*s whipped on the first day of life, God said there will be many more.
Thank you for sharing.
Ps good read.

[John the Baptist]

Thanks. Quite a speech for your first day of life.

[Mauricio Montoya]

Yeah,lol I try to find humor in life, but I read your write good food for thought read again thank you for sharing.

[Green]

So many things seem far beyond my ability to understand them or why they happen and yet sometimes I just can’t help myself from asking why. I know I either won’t find an answer, or worse won’t be satisfied with what I find. Maybe one day we’ll all know the answers although I hope that if we do reach such a state of enlightenment we actually work to end these things instead of perpetuating them.

[carl]

Admittedly the most puzzling of all questions is Why? Cope out perhaps by some views but in my opinion is, We get only glimpses because we are incapable of understanding the complete answer. I am currently reading a book by C S Lewis called The Problem of Pain in which he tries to consider the necessity of pain in our existence. it is in some way tied to man's free will and the nature of living in a fallen world ( not just the pain perpetrated by man but also that which seems to be inherent in existence ) . As I said, I see glimpses, and don't know if I will see more than that. I appreciate your work and share in your dilemma if it is fair to call it that. It is the ones we see as being innocent that cause us the most confusion and that we see as "unfair" ( whether it is that or not, this too I do not yet know - but neither do I believe it to be punishment ) It speaks of compassion which is rightly felt. -carl

[John the Baptist]

Thanks, Carl. Most people speak well of nature, but fairness is not a natural concept. Think of mother birds pushing feeble offspring out of the nest. No, fairness is strictly a human concept, and I don't know how strictly we can apply it to the physical world.