Day 600, 9-11

Today is 9-11; some call it “Twin Towers Day,”

The day airplane hijackers took three thousand lives away.

Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon, a country field,

Four crashes in 2001, our wounds have still not healed.

 

We’ve spent a trillion dollars on wars in the Middle East,

Spent several thousand soldiers’ lives but terror has not ceased.

Some say Al Qaeda is still strong; they’re just as troublesome.

The Middle East is all aflame; some rage while some are numb.

 

Our presidents give speeches; we remember those who died.

It mostly has been tribalism on which we’ve relied.

That means, let’s kill the bad guys and build walls to keep them out

But tribalism caused it all; read history if you doubt.

 

And, here at home we separate: religion, gender, race.

At this stage of our evolution, it’s true every place.

The cause is part biology and part theology.

Together now, they seem to make a fatal synergy.

 

The gods of ancient Babylon and Egypt are no more.

The gods of Greece and Rome are now just part of ancient lore.

So history teaches that religions all change, by and by.

The process though, is slow; we know that many more will die.

 

Biology is slower.  Are there tribalism genes?

Whence comes our fear of difference?  Why did Jews fight Philistines?

Skin color, tribal custom, even gender separates.

Variety’s a fact, how evolution operates.

 

We’ve made up gods, discovered natural laws; we understand

Variety arose as humans spread to every land.

We tamed some plants and animals and now we dominate.

Our greatest cultures have emerged when we cooperate.

 

We humans fill the Earth; we are one great society

And we may choose to fear or celebrate variety.