Standing Out

Rotten childhood, don't ask.

Standing Out

The popular rock band Yes once sang:

I've seen all good people,

Turn their heads each day,

So satisfied, I'm on my way.

Expressing a common attitude,

Because, the nail that stands out,

The ones that rise above all the rest,

That which, seldom, appears to fit in,

What catches the public eye, too much;

Frequently, is just pounded down hard!

Bob Marley was singing sentimentally,

"How long shall they kill our prophets,

While, we stand aside and look?

Some say, it's just a part of it,

We've got to fulfill the book.

Won't you help... me sing,

These songs of freedom,

It's all... I ever had,

Redemption songs.”

Then a man shot him.

After merely two days,

He got back up on stage,

Insisting he keep working.

Those making things worse,

Those spreading more hatred,

Those desiring, a hell on earth,

He told anyone who asked him,

Never paused, to take a day off!

John Lennon they flat out killed;

Gunning him down at close range,

As if it he had insulted their honor,

For singing that love is all you need,

And, asking us to give peace a chance.

Once as a small child I stood out, and got pounded down hard!

Pounded in the dirt until I couldn't tell which way was up,

By my own parents, siblings, country, and entire culture.

Thrown into the deepest blackest hole in all Calcutta!

Where crap was constantly raining down upon me!

So I learned how to dig all the faster and deeper,

How to hide, from a ton of crap coming down!

To never standout, if it can be avoided at all,

That standing out is a mistake when others,

Decide who may talk and who must listen!

Decide who may live and who will suffer!

The Athenians killed my master, Socrates,

For having the audacity, to ask questions,

Of those fools, who were willing to listen.

Setting an all time low standard for greed,

Zombies killing all those asking questions,

Neutrality, became exceedingly unpatriotic!

The meaning of words we have always used!

Goes flying straight out the nearest window;

Three Stooges contesting, what stupid means!

When money does the driving none is steering!

When nobody, even agrees with the dictionary!

When none ever dares ask the simple questions!

The lights can be on, when nobody is ever home!

When everyone is reduced, to going on autopilot.

When they’re busy playing with their cellphones!

Lead a horse to water, you’ll never make it think.

When words have become, but mindless weapons!

Few dare to actually listen, to questions anymore!

No one dares to ever stand out, speaking the truth!

Nobody dares to still stand out, even the slight bit!

The wealthy placing bets whilst goading people on!

Billionaires created, by any popular undying thirst.

Giving mindless zombies all the violence they crave.

Insisting, nobody might ever really trust each other,

Never if we kill people, for simply asking questions!

Implying we require, their elaborate interpretations!

We require thoughtful planning as well as reactions!

Detailed instructions for stomping upon any middle.

Fighting for the freedom of all those willing to fight!

Fighting for our freedom, to keep fighting each other!

Fighting for the freedom to say what freedom means!

For every mindless zombie knows s**t rolls downhill.

To ensure our never-ending fighting, never really ends!

To ensure no one actually dares, to listen to questions,

Meaning, any further discussion is out of the question!

When none may even agree, on the common dictionary,

The law of the excluded middle masquerades as reason!

Whenever neutrality, becomes the worst of all fashions,

When none may even agree, on the definitions of words!

Because the mainstream, never wanted to hear the truth!

The law of contention eternally stomps upon the middle!

Masquerading as whatever tough love they can think up!

Committing mass suicide while quarreling over ideology,

The lemmings invariably marching right over their cliffs,

Blaming one another for their demise all the way down,

Endless complaints never failing to fall upon deaf ears.

For in the game of cutthroat poker nobody ever listens,

When it is every man for himself there are no winners,

Claiming they have no choice in the name of freedom!

That standing out, can only be used as a distraction,

While actually talking is the most dangerous thing!

Reflecting all chicken flock pecking order thinking,

Pay attention to our bullshit instead of that crap,

But see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil is evil,

Merely Three Stooges slapstick comedy routines.

Old Vaudeville style, physical slapstick comedy!

That pays much more attention to angry bullshit!

I've seen all good people turn their heads each day,

Reckoning whether to run in the opposite direction.

Three Stooges pecking orders are a fall back position,

For a collective group shortage of memory and brains;

To preserve the flock by protecting collective memories,

Using negative memories at least the flock has a chance.

The flock awaiting the day, they become more self-aware,

When the lights are still on and somebody is actually home!

Comedians complaining about their foolish mindless masses,

Refusing to laugh at anything, not based upon the stupid truth,

When anyone caught standing out with the truth gets shot down,

And those foolish enough to ask questions get strung up by a lynch mob!