By Tom Rodriguez
We are born Tabula Rasa,
Infantile blank slates
That immediately start
To get written upon
Mothers, fathers and grandparents
All begin to fill the blank slate
Pre-school, Grade school and high school
Learning and memories expand the slate
Children’s behavior begins in the home
Love and tolerance
Hate and prejudice
Which ones will you teach your children
What does it matter
If someone is Asian, Black, Latino,
or Native American
Aren’t we are all the same
What does it matter
If someone is Baptist, Buddhist,
Catholic, Muslim or Protestant
Don’t we all pray to one God
Why does the white one
Hate the Black one
And why does the rich one
Not help the poor one
Why do Southerners hate Northerners
And Northerners hate Southerners
Why do Republicans hate Democrats
And why do Democrats hate Republicans
Why haven’t they learned
That revenge keeps hate alive
And why do people have to hate at all
Aren’t we all children of God
Hate is never an answer to our problems
Lies, deceit and hypocrisy are also not the answers
Anarchy and Insurrection are absolutely not answers
Only truth and compromise will solve our problems
Haters and racists
Will not and cannot
Deceive you or destroy you
Unless you let them
There is nothing so pointless
As being afraid
Of people who
Are not worthy of your fear
Does it make any sense at all
To spend our short lives hating
Knowing we came into the world with nothing
And we will leave it with nothing
We have one world
We have one life
And we are one people
When will we begin to live
As if we know that
