we want our ice cream!

 the immaturity of the country

we are an immature country,

and we have been from the start,

we are far better at our individuality

than we are at community,

we speak better than we listen,

we want but we don’t want to pay,

these days some feel the rights fought for in the American Revolution

are the rights to deny science and the need for wearing a protective mask,

we didn’t want to pay for the French and Indian War

so we fought a revolution,

we didn’t want to be taxed 

so the early country needed Alexander Hamilton

to push us to pay our debts,

Congress has little trouble spending now

but ignores how to pay for tax cuts and benefits,

I think of us as spoiled children

who can’t stand to be thwarted,

growing up is too challenging

so we shout “Me! Me!”

at the same time we are wise as a country,

with a heart large enough to care and act

for the “least of these, our brethren,” 

we can give of our time, our resources, with abandon,

we can pass up the extra dessert,

and do what is better for body and soul, 

we keep being on the cusp of maturity,

with two voices whispering to us,

one urges us to do whatever we want,

one urges us to understand we are but one of many,

youth is a great gift,

as the child in us holds us

to belief, to innocence, to joy,

our challenge as a country 

is to hold to the best

that the child gives us,

while also learning 

to embrace the other and their needs,

as maturity whispers us to do,

meanwhile, the climate slaps us

with drought, with fire, 

with unprecedented wind and rain storms,

to get us to wake up,

a pandemic kills more of us than have died in a war,

and many don’t seem to notice,

science can help save us but not if we ignore it

while we stamp our feet, 

screw up our faces, 

and demand ice-cream.

by Henry H. Walker

January 2, ‘21