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Generational Ideals

Cannon

My grandfather was a share-cropper
Working someone else’s land
My father and uncles worked in industry
Making machines run for corporations
My brothers are tradesmen
Creating things of wood and stone and metal and plastic
I was and am a servant of the state
A manager of programs and a leader of troops
Making plans and enforcing policies that are not my own
I’m also an academic
Writing papers to influence others
Or to teach them the things I know
But I can not shake the feeling that
Despite better compensation
Each of the generations
Have moved farther from truth
For thought it may not carry much honor
In this modern age we live in
There is something honest and basic
That can only be found
Through working in the soil.

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Morning Sun

Bryan Batson

The morning sun rises
Over the Lake of the Ozarks
On a family vacation
In a Post-COVID age
Nearly the Fourth of July
Bass boats and jet skis
Compete with the starlings
Singing the song
Of summertime bliss

From the banks I skip stones
Contemplating the future
Along with the past
The warmth of the sun
And the dark brooding water
Under the surface
Embraced in the cool waves
Lies a sweet respite
From the heat of the sun
And the memories of the desert.

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Remember

drumbeat

Some came by choice and some did not,
their service to our country makes it certain
that someone misses the one who fought
and others just draw the curtain.

We remember the ones who went away
but did not return to those who loved them,
So cherish the ones who won their way
and now are gone without a requiem.

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The Seal and the Motto

The Seal and the Motto

The Great Seal
E Pluribus Unum
Out of many, one

The National Motto
In God We Trust
In Deo Speramus Nobis

It is a new age
With fewer than half of Americans
Participating in organized religion

It is a new age
When polarity in our politics
Is the highest since our Civil War

If we only write the motto
On our money, and not our hearts
We easily become bankrupt

If we only seek unity
Without compromise
The only thing sealed is our fate

We live in an age
That revels in self
At the cost of unity

We live in an age
That revels in wealth
At the cost of faith

Poverty of Spirit and
Self-centered divisiveness
Are only symptoms of what plagues us

The lights are slowly dimming
From our city on a hill
And the eyes of the world are upon us

While a single candle glows faintly
Millions flickering together rival the sun
E Pluribus Unum

In times of troubles
Prepare against the worst by living for the best
In God we trust

In the reign of those who divide us
Focus on those that join us
Trust the greater good to unify us in spite of ourselves

In God We Trust
Out of the many, one

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We

Chasm

We can try to be fair.
We will grab and hold fast.
We can be the first to care.
We will always be the last.

We will be a shining light.
We can push back on the caring.
We will light a candle in the night.
We can call kindness a red herring.

We can be the change we need.
We will revel in our leisure.
We can try to plant a seed.
We will pay for blood and treasure.

We can be a loving place.
We will cherish your dismay.
We can seek out good and grace.
We will look the other way.