From the slaughter house floor to the industry of war
Is it just the price we pay for a burger and gas?
We always tell the kids that the choices we make
And the actions we take have consequences.
Yet we shield them from seeing or hearing
the consequences of our collective choices.
But I say, “Let them see.”
Let them see the fearful eyes of a gentle cow
Being beaten on the slaughter house floor.
“Let them hear.”
Let them hear the screams of a family
Huddled in a corner of their Baghdad home
As we “shock and awe” their nations
With our bombs of massive destruction.
“Let them enter.”
Let them enter hospitals filled with dead
and wounded children, some without limbs
And mothers and fathers who cry out in mourning.
Let them bear witness.
Let them wail and let them grieve
That they might learn compassion.
Let them sound the alarm –
As prophets to a nation whose
Heart has turned to stone.
Then let them make choices better than ours
Until they can rightfully declare that we are, indeed,
A nation that values all life and tries to do no harm.
