Out With the Old Ways and in With the New

by Ernie McCray

I’m enjoying every moment
of the immense joy I’m feeling
from having witnessed good win over evil
at the polls,
as it’s a good start for the healing
our souls will be needing
for how we’ve been battered
for a much too long time
like soldiers
on a battlefield,
some of us losing their lives
due to too many of our political leaders
not giving a damn
about our suffering.

However, though, as we pull ourselves together,

scrambling to get back on our feet,

so, we can create pathways

leading to a better tomorrow,

I suggest we do so with passion

and thoughtfulness

and steadiness

in the manner we went about

creating our present reality,

this current chapter in our lives,

this wonderful “New Day,”

keeping our humanity firmly intact

and committing ourselves to embracing fresh life-affirming ways

of being

and looking at things,

seeking to rise high above and beyond how we’ve been treated

by a heartless regime

and give thought to countering some of our recent thinking,

the talk going around regarding how

we need to be ruthless now,

saying:

no “healing the nation,”

no “moving on,”

no “reaching across the aisle,”

no “if they go low, we go high,”

also declaring, and I totally agree,

that the criminals who made such a mess of our country

need to be subpoenaed and impeached

and prosecuted and imprisoned…

But I have to say that

healing the nation,

as crippled as it happens to be,

should be our number one priority

if we’re to move on.

and we should most certainly

reach out across the aisle,

our arms opened wide,

with messages of what we want done

and how we intend to get the rebuilding of our nation done,

and let the other side know that they are welcome

to join the work and the fun

and make it clear to them that we’re already up and running

and if they’re not down with the cause

they’re on their own

and to us, it’s no loss…

And I have to go on to say,

without pause,

that such conduct,

rather than being looked at as merciless,

should be defined as

being responsible

being reasonable

being respectful

and holding any culprits accountable for all the crimes

they committed when they were going low,

is the epitome of going high

in my eyes

and such attending to justice being served should be done

with heads held high,

honorably.

For the love of country

and its very well-being

now and in the future

we have to stay vigilantly engaged

in doing what’s morally right

and bid the old wrong-doing ways

a long overdue goodbye.