ATTACKS: Paris and elsewhere
/Attacks in Paris and elsewhere
Were not the work of terrorists.
Nor should we publicize the claim
Attackers were first Islamists.
Defining those responsible
Though terror certainly occurred
Requires cool precision so,
"Extremists" is the final word.
Extremists are combatants in
The war on terror that's inside.
That's where we battle emptiness
A feeling we cannot abide.
We could be allies in this war
The way we were before our 'birth'.
We followed Mother Nature's Law
Like every living thing on earth.
We reached out to the limits of
Capacities designed by genes,
To others, and to Nature's God,
Without conflicting, binding memes.
It's the ideal reaction to
The void which 'Eve' uncovered when
She asked of 'Adam', "Why am I?";
Although they didn't know it then.
Instead they tried a way to fill
The void but didn't have success.
Succeeding generations tried
With more, but only left us less.
Although we try to fill it with
Religions and philosophies,
With money and the stuff it buys,
With facts and love and families,
With many occupations, and
With all sorts of preeminence,
With alcohol and drugs and sex,
Our trying more just makes less sense
Because each try diminishes
The meaning felt with the ideal.
The less ideal reaction means
The more of emptiness we feel.
We start to battle with it when
We try to fill it with a meme.
Though we add more the battle ends
When we take one to the extreme.
It matters not which meme we take.
One more extremist we will be.
Our one last try for meaning will
Cause terror in humanity.
As long as there are memes in life
Extremists will continue to
Cause terror; so to win the war
There's only one thing we can do.
Discard the memes that we've made up,
Collectively our fatal flaw.
When conflict ends we can unite
And follow Mother Nature's Law.
