Who Started It?

After a certain point,
It no longer matters who started it,
And the only thing that does matter,
Is who will stop.

The joke

We tear and hurt each other,
And so ourselves,
Over petty differences,
Phantoms without substance.
We don’t learn,
We never learn.

We ignore pain and suffering not our own,
When it suits our purposes.
Yet it surprises us when pain and frustration,
Turns to anger that strikes us to sorrow and fear.
And in that fear we lash out in return,
Pain breeding pain without pause or end.

Small voices say, “Stop, enough!”
Louder voices call for vengeance.
Repaying death with death;
Murderers and martyrs to futility.
Like fighting terror with fear,
A joke.

So much potential,
So much beauty and generosity,
And yet we fall back to hate and fear so easily.
We see the picture and we see nothing.
Maybe we should open our eyes,
If we can anymore.

We say never again,
Again, again and again.
Yet time and again,
We forget.
Another joke?
But who’s laughing?

Holy War

Holy War?
To kill in the name of life, of divinity?
One of the worst kinds of hypocrisy