Look At Me

I read your blog about Jackie O. and was reflectively grateful Sunday while in church and I submitted a prayer card for Wendy and I donated $50.00 again to the Salvation Army as per your request. I jotted a few things down while in church because the service was disjointedly uninspiring and I quit paying attention. I just finished this piece and was questioning myself as to whether it had possibility as a poem or just an opt ed. It is a pure thought and my opinion but I deem not new to anyone of my persuasion. I don't even know what to call them; pondering, musings, reflection, or opinion. Call me and give me your opinion. Love Ya! Dad

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A child laughs and says: Mama! Look at me!

Aren’t we all the same? Craving attention!

My dog barks and races about

Is he not saying; Master! Look at me!

Is it inherent in all of us to achieve?

To excel in expectation of praise

What is it called/ Pride, Ego, Character?

Is it the ethic in which we believe?

What is it called when the Rooster shows?

Telling the hens; Hey! Look at me!

The adolescent matures and asks his parents

Aren’t you proud? Please! Look at me!

Throughout life we seek acknowledgement

The soldier salutes; I am strong! Look at me!

The hunter poses with his kill: telling his friends

I am skilled and able! Look at me!

Proud parents hold up their child

Look world! Look at what we’ve done!

Grandparents beam with ecstatic gleam

A new life: A new world for it to claim

Why does mankind so often go astray?

To achieve is natural and sublime

But when does it become evil?

Bastardizing it with selfish indulgence

Oh! But the evil! The unquenchable greed!

Alas! When enough is never enough!

Are they privileged royalty?

Deeming themselves predestined?

To control and manipulate their realm

The word is avarice, rapacious desire!

Ugly and vile in every perception

But those of us who envy, aren’t we sad?

Forgetting to be thankful in all things

A rich man is not he who has everything

Which is never, ever enough

It is the man who needs the least

He who has just enough

Life promises you nothing

Except death and taxes

Simple ambition! A good thing

The will and opportunity to succeed

Life does not promise you success,

You are not entitled

Your decisions, your drive, your will

Is what empowers you, not circumstance?

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Look at Me, Revised

A child laughs and says: Mama! Mama! Look at me! Aren’t we all the same? Isn’t there something within us all that craves attention? When my dog barks and races about me with his inane antics, isn’t he saying; Master! Look at me! I‘m yours!

I deem that it is inherent in all of us to achieve, to excel in expectation of some sort of praise or acknowledgement. What is it called; Pride, Ego, Reward? Is it the work ethic in which we believe?

What is it called when the rooster crows and flaps his wings, telling the hens; Hey! Look at me! I am so elegant and grand! The adolescent matures and asks his parents, aren’t you proud? Please! Look at me! I am no longer a child!

Throughout life we seek acknowledgement, the soldier salutes; I am strong! Look at me! The hunter poses with his kill: telling his friends, I am skilled and able! Look at me! Proud parents hold up their child, Look world! Look at what we have done! From our loins this precious thing, a new life: A new world to claim! A celebration!

Why is this trait absent in so many? To accept the norm, to be satisfied with the status quo. What do you call it; Laziness, lack of ambition? An uninspired trek through the mundane events of one’s life, no dreams, no fantasies, no hopes of achievement or excelling past one’s peers.

I am suspect of today’s culture which is emphasizing equality for all (communism) (socialism), doing away with classes which they equate with race or social status. The progressive democratic liberal movement ideology is to pit the poor against the rich or anyone that is better off than they are. To punish those that are successful.

They don’t want winners or champions but give everyone a participation trophy. They don’t want to be offended and put their hands over their ears when someone disagrees with them. The blacks accuse each other of trying to be white when they excel or seek a better life.

There are four basic races in America; Whites, Blacks, Asians and Hispanics but one, the blacks have turned to rioting, looting and burning of their inter-city ghettos, confronting police and authority at every level. There seems to be nothing that appeases them and I see America devolving into further racial chaos. The “Black Lives Matter Movement” is nothing more than the blacks hating America.

I also despise the other end of the spectrum, the greed that is so perverse in our culture. Why does mankind go astray? To achieve is natural and sublime, but when does it become evil, polluting; achievement with a selfish indulgence.

Oh! But the unquenchable greed! Alas! When enough is never enough! Are they privileged royalty, deeming themselves predestined; to control and manipulate their realm? The “Privileged Class” Everyone in Washington DC belongs to this class and they are corrupt!

The word is avarice, rapacious desire, ugly and vile in every perception. But those of us who envy, aren’t we as sad, forgetting to be thankful in all things.

A rich man is not he who has everything which is never, ever enough. It is the man who needs the least, He who has just enough.

Life promises you nothing except death and taxes. Simple ambition! A good thing, the will and opportunity to succeed. Life does not promise you success, you are not entitled.

Your decisions, your drive, your will is what empowers you, not circumstance?

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Look at Me!, Revised

THOMAS G MOORE, JANUARY 7, 2016

Mama! Mama! Look at me

My cartwheel a spinning

I am the apple in your eye

Your love and hope unending

My hope is for you to aspire

To achieve the higher tier

To excel, May it be your desire

To bask in the acclaim of our peers

Motivation, the ethic of few

But peculiarly scarce tis true

Is it wrong when you construe

I am better at this than you?

Acclaim has such a special ring

Causing our hearts to sing

Acknowledging that thing within

The subliminal need to be seen

An idiom is retained by rote

Such is our hope, a token for posterity

We produce a story, a note

Ink upon paper, creative propriety

Down the lonely colonnade

Past volumes of emotional memories

Remnants of ourselves promenade

Dusty wisps of lost fantasies

To leave something of ourselves

To prove we once existed

To prove we did our jobs well

Probity and character, we persevered