What Would Nellis Say?

There is only one truth

 

In this world of instant gratification,

Where information is transmitted

In a flash, where honesty and lies

Get tangled in a clash of verbal combat

Between friends and lovers

There is only one truth

 

When great swathes of humanity

Get caught up in the grip

Of indoctrination to believe

And accept preposterous nonsense

As a substitute for reality

There is still, only one truth

 

When infamous liars 

Grant permission to hate,

To see all “those” people

As an inferior sub-race

Threatening ethnic purity

Truth is tarnished and twisted

 

When facts are invented out of the ether,

When the very fabric of our principles

Is shredded and discarded

In favor of regimented factions

That abhor empathy and common sense

There is no hope for the simple truth

 

When philosophical disagreements

Become woven into social divisions

That grow and fester into cultural

Conflict, dividing us into opposing camps

Threatening violence as the only solution

Truth dies with the first shot

 

When veneration of false idols

Tramples the bonds that bind us

Into a nation, a congenial society

That once transformed discord

Into harmonies and solutions

Truth has no value

 

When being right

Becomes more gratifying

Than being honest

Or caring

Or inclusive

Truth becomes irrelevant

 

When we have no use for truth,

A treasure more dear

Than winning arguments

Or senseless conflicts,

Love and friendship

Get squandered in the scuffle

 

When facts are twisted

And manipulated

Into smear and slander

To solicit fear and anger

To increase the ratings

And pump up the profits

 

The lies and the liars win,

We concede the best

Of the what we might have been

And reject honor and integrity

By ignoring and denying

What we know to be true

 

When the right to outrage

Becomes an addiction, 

When demonizing

Those who confront 

The bigotry and lies

Becomes entertainment,

 

When we are blind to seeing

Virtue in each other,

In the very soul of our being,

We have granted power

To the contemptable

Who have dispensed with truth

 

Which begs the question

Of what we stand for,

What have we become

In the years since far too many

Bowed to treachery and deceit,

When we all knew better,

 

And rejected those we once

Loved and cherished

Before we abandoned honesty

And accepted deception

Instead of embracing

The simple truth

 

We all know the way back

To all we cherish and defend,

Depends on our ability

To retreat from confrontation

And embrace our better angels 

Because, in our hearts, we know

 

There is only one truth