Episode 5: Choices

by Katia, Twilit Deklamohedrin and Deznahdorean of the Fourth Generation

I

Generations ago
Choices were made
Words were spoken 
That could not be taken back
That drove a wedge between varying ideals
Hardening them into opposing stances

The strength of our differences
Became the “Evil of The Others”

Alienation
Became battle

Disagreement
Became Violence

Our sisters and brothers
Died
Ushering in an age of darkness
Hatred gathered in pockets
The powerful grew frightened

Never before had so many spoken out…
Sung songs of peace
Insisted on sane solutions
Chosen Sanity and Understanding

Millions objected vocally, visibly
Until their voices were muffled
By the machines of war

Humanity was so close then
But fell so far

Once the fighting began
War being the complicated thing it is
Death being as final as it is
Compassion was curbed
Again we were reminded
A war is never really won

A stalemate settled over the lands
The battles shifted
From the battelfields
To the streets
From the mission of soldiers
To the lives of citizens
Death and retribution
Crept into the dreams of children
And generations passed

II

Yesterday
Choices were made

An explosion was averted
An act of savagery prevented,
Answered with an act of kindness
Thoughtful words
Stirring latent imagination

At the individual level
Where all change blossoms
One hateful stranger
Unknowingly 
Becomes a friend

We don’t kill friends

III

Right now
A choice is being made
A choice for change
To again object vocally
To what has been

An appeal, not to the powerful frightened
We’ve spent generations doing it their way
But to the person just like me
On the other side

© 2003