We – Ploughshares to Swords
I’m not sure when it began
I think it was when We beat Them in the revolution
We mourned and celebrated our dead
We created a new society based on freedom and liberty and justice
We recognized and glorified the value of You and Me
And realized that our strength came from We
After We had beaten Them it was agreed that We would never be Them
We thought great thoughts and wrote them down as rules and laws
We built a great society
We valued You and Me
And We acted out of freedom and equality, for these are the things that We valued
I’m not sure when it began
I think it had been there all along
We slowly began to lose the way We valued You and Me
We forgot that our society was built on You and Me
We became We and They
And they acted a lot like Them.
For They there was no concern for We, only a focus on Me
They slowly took down the things that made the We society
They gathered great wealth and shut We out
They twisted the words that We used to speak
And here are some of the things that They did
They took away the ability to unite.
Because We can only prosper when it combines You and Me.
They sent the jobs overseas.
Because if I don’t have to pay You there is much more for Me
They found ways to buy representatives, officials and judges.
Because Now Government answers only to Me
They found ways to limit the Voting of We.
Because They didn’t want to hear the voice of We
They squandered our national resources and ran up great debt.
Because that allowed for collecting from We and giving to Me
They ignored the philosophies of freedom, liberty and justice.
Because They thought that those were not good for We, only for Me
They vilified ideas that were different from Me.
Because They thoughts are right thoughts so We thoughts can’t be
They attacked education.
Because We should not think.
And They got what they wanted
Because We did not speak
Along the way You and Me forgot that We could disagree
They grew angry and formed separate camps
They must think this way and They must think that
They are the left and They are the right
And stuck in the middle sit You and Me
I’m not sure when it began
I think it happened pretty quick
We remembered that We only exists with You and Me
We cried out to They, and They ignored We
We tried to restore the great society
And They fought it with every stride
They didn’t realize how much they had to lose
Because They didn’t know how much They had
They didn’t realize We had gotten so strong
Because for so long They focused only on Me
They seemed to think, that We were an inconvenience
Because focusing on We takes focus from Me
On the day the revolution began,
They grew angry, for
We didn’t have a permit for a revolution and
They felt We would interfere with their ability to enjoy the park
And They didn’t know that We had become Them!
And so the revolution began.
Kevin W. Tharp
Originally written Oct. 8, 2011 and posted to FaceBook. This version changes one line to make it clearer:
edited Version: “Because They thought that those were not good for We, only for Me”
original version: “Because those were not good for We, only for Me”